"I set up my company in 1962 and started from scratch: I only have a third class degree, which I took in the army, but I knew how to surround myself with the best professionals and I always thought ahead; 50 years ago I bought one of the first computers in the region and everyone called me crazy, but I knew it was the future," he boasts. Navigating by sight, without embarking on adventures, viewms to be the secret of the entrepreneur who has always run the business with "his feet firmly on the ground".
"Our warehouses and other infrastructures are all our own, built as the business grew: we don't pay rent and we don't owe anything to the banks either," notes José Lourenço. Because independence is one of the house's points of honor, José Lourenço Pneus has always made a point of not tying itself to the market.
"We are importers and exporters, but we specialize above all in being retailers, which allows us to sell to large companies such as Alves Ribeiro, Tecnovia, Teixeira Duarte, among others," says José Lourenço. With the brands it sells, autonomy is also key, says the founder: "We are known throughout Europe for being Michelin partners, but we didn't want to open franchises and we also sell other leading brands, such as Continental, for example."
The family empire, which today also includes new generations of the family, namely José Lourenço's children and grandchildren, in addition to José Lourenço Pneus, also includes José Lourenço e Filhos, dedicated to gas stations and the agricultural business, with around 500 hectares of forest.