The past 46 years have been an incredible journey, spanning the personal and professional imagination of those who are still delighted to continue to share their lives with the Group on a daily basis.
Someone once said if you find a job you enjoy doing, you will never have to work a day in your life. I am living the dream of a lifetime, because I start each day of work, with enthusiasm and willingness to learn from my younger colleagues and make my life's experience available to everyone.
The 1970s were a privileged learning experience, with Américo and António Amorim, at the then Corticeira Amorim, Lda, and with all my colleagues who clarified any doubts I had.
In the mid 1980s, the group's four biggest cork companies launched Public Offerings for part of their share capital. Teams were created, assisted by an external consultant and a financial entity, which motivated a great deal of delicate and stimulating work, without the use of computers or excel sheets. The intellectual, technical and physical demands that such working conditions entailed are difficult to imagine in a world where everyone now has a powerful computer in their pocket. But they were a great success!
The fall of the Berlin Wall, in November 1989, and the collapse of the Soviet Union fulfilled the prediction made by Mr Américo Amorim, after one of his trips to France in 1962, following the independence of Algeria: “Europe will extend from the Ural Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean in my lifetime”.
Everything was advancing at a new and very fast speed, with the pride and capacity for growth created by the group’s acquisitions in various business sectors.
Certification of Corticeira Amorim-Indústria, SA according to the ISO 9000/2000 standard, reflected a firm commitment to quality. I decided to attend the internal quality auditor course, in view of its importance and the advantages it offered for my duties.
Recruitment of highly qualified technical staff boosted our growth and innovation, which were fundamental in the first decade of this new millennium, due to the constant challenges to the cork stopper. Even today, I am delighted to spend some time talking to these staff members about our history.
The best testimony I can convey is the feeling that I belong to the Group; I also view it as "mine", and I am proud to have helped it grow, consolidate and ensure its continuity.
Young people today, aided by the support and advice from more experienced staff, guarantee that this new decade will be one of sustained growth, continuous innovation, with a commitment to human and technical resources, and the ambition of achieving more and better every day, with quality and safety.I appreciate the capacity to conciliate life experience with the technical knowledge of young people which enables a perfect symbiosis, in an organisation that aims to be cohesive, loyal, effective and strives to achieve excellence.
Corticeira Amorim's history will continue to depend on pride, tenacity and will. It will always be a factor that enhances the economy, the social well-being of employees, families and society in general.
I am proud to be part of the Amorim Group.
Fernando Pessoa in “Mensagem” (Message) wrote: "Stones in the road? I save every single one, and one day I´ll build a castle.
Difficulties? Many! Surpassed? All of them… Difficulties that helped foster a stronger feeling of Gratitude, so I can leave a constant, clear and resolute Welcome to the Amorim Family!
After so many years, my greatest pride is the conviction that my work, always anchored in loyalty, feeling and the certainty of accomplishment, was worthwhile!
I end my testimony with a profound feeling of gratitude to the AMORIM FAMILY and all its employees; which is perhaps unique due to shortfalls of my writing skills, but is enormous it terms of my desire to ensure that the group continues over time.
