CONSTRUCTING A VISION

RAFAEL DE LA CUADRA
TALKS TO BOB YAREHAM
 

Everybody’s talking about the construction industry at present, and whether it has hit its ceiling, reached its peak or shot its wad; so it’s nice once in a while to talk to somebody who actually knows what he’s talking about, somebody who knows and works in the industry and is in fact at present the General Secretary of FEVEC, the Valencian federation of construction companies.

Rafael de la Cuadra was born in 1965, the third of four brothers. His father was an engineer with an electricity company and the family has a wide experience of entrepreneurial activity in various sectors.

After studying economics at Valencia University and an MA in marketing and Business Management, ‘Rafa’, a man who cannot relax if he hasn’t worked a full 12 hour day, has always combined a varied working life with a voracious desire to learn new things, and has always set self-improvement as one of his main aims.

Comfortably fluent in English after various summer courses in Ireland from the age of 12 and two stays in the USA to study at Yale and West Virginia University, it was his period as Marketing Manager for a Valencian furniture company that saw him travelling the world from the USA to South America and Europe, improving his English and increasing his awareness of the importance of a global perspective, one of the topics he speaks about with passion if you can tie him down to a chair long enough.

Before the furniture company he had directed a car maintenance and parking complex, a real estate company and a construction company,

But it was while working as Credit Manager, and then Finance Manager for a paper company that he got his first multinational experience when the company was involved in a merger of French, American and British owners. However, when they wanted to send him to run a branch outside Valencia, he had to leave, and made the move to the furniture company.

Apart from his ‘jobs’, Rafa has been constantly involved in collaborating with family businesses, such as Valencia’s first ever Health and Safety company, or the biggest brick company in the Valencian Community, producing 600 tons a day, or the oldest textile company in Europe, ‘Garin 1820’, dating back to 1820 as the name implies. He also has a 50% share in a consultancy company.

And yet it is his passion for giving Valencia a world-wide perspective and a higher profile that has always occupied his thoughts, and when he was offered the General Secretaryship of FEVEC, he realised, and his President agreed, that this was the opportunity to really do something useful and practical to help the Valencian business community to adapt to changing times through modernisation, international links and training programmes.

Since taking over at FEVEC in September 2006 he has created a team of young, experienced professionals with international perspectives, and collaborated closely with the Valencia Exportation Agency (IVEX) to ensure that no opportunity is missed, travelling extensively to Morocco, USA and Rumania, to name a few recent examples, and signing trade agreements with many countries.

He has also initiated important collaborations between Valencian Universities and emerging countries to help design and bring about educational programmes (the first kicks off in January 2008) that will see aspiring construction sector professionals coming to Valencia to perfect their training and ensure that they know Valencia’s potential well when they move on into positions of power and influence in the not too distant future.

The impressive expansion of the Valencian construction industry has created a euphoria that supposes certain dangers, and Rafa knows that now is not the time to rest upon laurels or to live off past glories, but to search for new opportunities on a global scale, which will mean relocation of part of many companies’ operations abroad; consequently, a knowledge of modern languages is essential, which is why Rafa, like so many forward-looking entrepreneurs of today, sends his children to bi-lingual schools and ensures that adequate language training programmes are operational wherever he works.

Another key advance has been his visits to and contacts with the United Nations and the World Bank, to ensure that Valencian companies are fully aware of the possibilities of obtaining procurement contracts, and know how to successfully apply for them. A weekly newsletter informs members of all these possibilities.

Changing mentalities is not an easy job, but Valencia is changing dramatically, a new generation with a broader perspective is maturing, and the high profile obtained through successes such as Valencia Football Club, the America’s Cup, Formula One and the City of Arts and Sciences must, in Rafa’s opinion, be harnessed so that Valencia can become a successful and globally well-known location for medium-sized events, as well as a European version of Florida, an attractive retirement area for both Europeans and others.

Those who feel that Valencia is too small a city to face a global challenge might believe that to try and change this perspective is like trying to paddle (Rafa’s favourite sport) upstream, although he prefers the metaphor of pushing a snowball off a mountain and watching it gather more snow, as a way of expressing his hope that his initiatives and enthusiasm will help overcome existing problems in Valencia’s traditional industries, and bring about a prosperous ‘mañana’.

©2007/2008 Bob Yareham.

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