Look, the values of the farmer and the family business

BarcelonaWith a speech at times emotional in memory of his father, co-founder with other partners of what is now Fluidra, Eloi Planes has debuted before the assembly as the new president of the Family Business Institute (IEF), the lobby that groups together around a hundred of the main companies controlled by relatives in Spain. At the event, the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, and the Minister of Business, Miquel Sàmper, were also present, and the new president of the IEF has called for "a country that works and generates trust", one that considers family businesses as part of the solution, as they "provide stability, solidity, and purpose". Before his speech, there was a round table on one of the main problems affecting the country: housing.

Planes, who chairs Fluidra, a company that in 2018 absorbed the American Zodiac, has defended the characteristics of family businesses as a solution to resolve many of the country's problems. And he took advantage of the assembly being held at the Joan Miró Foundation, in Parc de Montjuïc in Barcelona, to draw parallels between the figure of the artist and his father, Joan Planes, who died last year. Both rooted in the territory, but open to the world: Miró, who became a universal figure, and Planes, who from his native Estamariu made internationalization a bet for the future.

The new president of the IEF, the first Catalan at the head of this lobby since 2020 – when Marc Puig (Puig Brands) was – has praised the values instilled in him by his father. He highlighted that he had the ability to start a business with three partners, which today is the swimming pool multinational, Fluidra, from a garage in the Poble Nou neighborhood, "like start-ups", he said jokingly. As main values, he highlighted "those of a farmer, the culture of effort, one's word, and rootedness in the community" and the relationship with the environment: "what we call sustainability today".

Entrepreneurs as a solution

These are the characteristics of the family business as an antidote to "a demanding moment, in which many of the certainties that were thought to be solid are being lost, with tension and tension". In this sense, emphatically, he assured: "We entrepreneurs are not the problem but a fundamental part of the solution". And he added that companies dominated by relatives, which are found in all sectors and territories, "are a fundamental tool for transformation": "The family business brings solidity and thought beyond immediacy". The president of the IEF insisted on the weight of legacy and the importance of continuing with what the founders of the companies created. And he assured that "the family business does not think in quarters but in generations", despite the pressure from banks, he added jokingly.

At a time when "we need a country that works, that generates trust" to compete in the world, he defended considering "what growth model we want to leave to future generations". In his opinion, "the perspective and values of the family business can contribute a lot by combining ambition and prudence". Planes, who received a long ovation from the members at the end of his speech, defended an IEF "more influential, connected with Europe and more useful for family businesses".

Message of trust

For his part, Councillor Dalmau, in addition to recognizing the role of Catalan "great business dynasties", wanted to send a message of confidence "in Catalonia and in Spain" and defended public-private collaboration. And he recalled that there is no need to remain stuck in the past because "in Catalonia we have decided to look forward". And of this country, at the same time, he criticized the "increase in decibels" that is currently experienced, without explicitly mentioning politics, and highlighted that "there are more things that unite us than separate us".

With Planes, a Catalan once again presides over this business lobby, since Marc Puig (Puig Brands) held the position from 2020 to 2022, almost two decades after his father, who died in 2021, Mariano Puig, who was president of IEF from 1995 to 1997. The reason is that one of the founders of IEF in 1992 was another of the great Catalan businessmen, Leopoldo Rodés (Havas), who died in 2015.

Rodés was followed in the presidency by Mariano Puig (Puig); José María Serra (Catalana Occident, now Occident), from 1997 to 1999; Rafael del Pino (Ferrovial), from 1999 to 2001; José Manuel Lara (Planeta), from 2001 to 2003; Alfonso Solans (Pikolin), from 2003 to 2005; Juan Roig (Mercadona), from 2005 to 2007; Simón Pedro Barceló (Grup Barceló), from 2008 to 2010; Isak Andic (Mango), from 2010 to 2012; José Manuel Entrecanales (Acciona), from 2012 to 2014; Javier Moll (Prensa Ibérica), from 2014 to 2016; Ignacio Osborne (Osborne), from 2016 to 2018; Francisco J. Riberas (Gestamp), from 2018 to 2020; Marc Puig (Puig), from 2020 to 2022; Andrés Sendagorta (Sener), from 2022 to 2024, and Ignacio Rivera (Corporación Hijos de Rivera), from 2024 to 2026.