Six Companies Join the Alicante Centenary Business Club

Enercoop, Imprenta Segarra, Industrias Seguí, Horno del Obispo, Frutas Gironés, and Primitivo Rovira e Hijos are the six new companies that have joined the Alicante Centenary Business Club, which now includes 41 companies.

The recognition took place this Thursday during the VI Centenary Business Gala. The event was organized by the Alicante Chamber of Commerce and the Family Business Association of the province of Alicante, AEFA, at the Teatro Principal de Alicante with over 400 attendees.

The event featured the opening by the Mayor of Alicante, Luis Barcala, and speeches from the Chamber President, Carlos Baño; AEFA President, Maite Antón; the second Vice President of the Diputación, Marina Sáez, and the Territorial Director of Cajamar, Manuel Nieto. The event was sponsored by Cajamar, the Diputación de Alicante, and the Alicante City Council, through the Local Development Agency. The gala was supported by other entities such as KPMG, Padima, Museo Comercial, and the newspaper Información.

The first company recognized at the event was Enercoop from Crevillente; Guillermo Belso Candela, President of the Enercoop Group, and Joaquín Mas Belso, General Director of the Enercoop Group, received this recognition from Carlos Baño, President of the Alicante Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber President stated in his speech that this club was born because we had an outstanding debt with these companies, the entrepreneurs from over a century ago who, with effort and vision, started businesses that have withstood wars, economic crises, pandemics, and still stand today. Baño highlighted, "The Chamber wants to value this very important part of our economic and social fabric and continues to work to support all companies and entrepreneurs in our province with the hope that they can reach a hundred years and celebrate their achievements."

The Mayor of Alicante, Luis Barcala, was responsible for presenting the award to the company Frutas Gironés from Alicante. Santiago Gironés and Isabel Galiano from the third generation and Jaime Brotons and Ana Gironés from the fourth generation received their award after 145 years of history.

Subsequently, the Territorial Director of Cajamar, Manuel Nieto, awarded the prize to Industrias Seguí from Alcoy, received by its General Director Alfonso Diaz Segui. Nieto congratulated the honored companies for adapting to the times and enduring over a century and reinforced Cajamar's support for this initiative, which they have sponsored since its inception.

The company Horno del Obispo from Orihuela was another entity recognized at the gala. This award was presented by Miguel Ángel Paredes from KPMG, Iván Sempere from Padima, and Toni Cabot from the newspaper Información. It was received by Manolo Terrés Rogel from the third generation and Raúl Torregrosa Ramos.

The gala continued with the award presented by AEFA President, Maite Antón, and the Mayor of Elche, Pablo Ruz, to Imprenta Segarra from Elche, received by Pascual Segarra Sánchez, a third-generation member of this graphic arts company.

After the award presentation, the AEFA President took the floor and highlighted that "five of the six companies honored tonight are family-owned, and the sixth, Enercoop, also originated from the union of ten family entrepreneurs from Crevillente who joined forces to ensure the electric supply to their own companies. This demonstrates, once again, that family businesses have been and continue to be the driving force of economic and social development in our territory."

"All of them share something fundamental: emotion and reason. The emotion that drives a project and the reason, which materializes in constant innovation, necessary to advance and endure. Neither emotion without reason nor reason without emotion would be sufficient. Together, they explain why these companies have reached a hundred years of history," added Maite Antón, who concluded her speech by reminding that AEFA celebrates its 30th anniversary this year: "a milestone that invites us to look to the future with ambition. These centenary companies inspire us to continue working so that AEFA also reaches a hundred years, accompanying more and more family businesses to become centenarians."

The list of awarded entities concluded with the presentation of the award to Primitivo Rovira e Hijos from Xixona. The award to this long-standing nougat factory was presented by the second Vice President of the Diputación de Alicante, Marina Sáez, to Primitivo Rovira Cortés from the fifth generation, Beatriz and Primitivo Rovira Sanjuán from the sixth, and little Martín as a representative of the future generation.

So far, around a hundred companies in the province of Alicante have been identified that exceed one hundred years of existence and are candidates to join the club.

Annually, a gala is organized with the new centenary companies invited to join. The companies that have joined since its creation in 2019 are: