Begur hosted a benchmark economic debate organised by the Palamós Chamber of Commerce and Begur Town Council. The session gathered two highly influential voices in the Catalan business landscape: Josep Maria Martí, Chairman of Moventia; and Josep Ametller, Managing Director of Ametller Origen. The meeting was moderated by journalist Laura Rosel, who steered the conversation around the topics of family business values, future challenges and sustainability. The event was also attended by important institutional representatives, as well as Sílvia Martí, Corporate Vice-President of Moventia; Juan Giménez, General Manager of Moventis; Enric Gimeno, Manager of Moventis on the Costa Brava; and Christian Busquets, Head of Operations of Moventis on the Costa Brava.
The session highlighted how personal history and family legacy become major forces in driving companies forward. Josep Ametller said that “family origins heavily influence personal character and culture, and that transfers over to the company”. In turn, Josep Maria Martí recalled how business tradition has defined him since childhood, saying “the company made me immune from an early age, just like Asterix when they put him in the cauldron. All the grandchildren in my family have always felt huge admiration for what our grandfather did, conveying such values as sacrifice, austerity and commitment to the company”.
The Chairman of Moventia explained that the company has experienced different forms of leadership in each generation since it was set up in 1923, saying ”companies are a reflection of their leaders, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Over the four generations of history at Moventia, there have been several different leadership styles. In the third generation, my generation, the three siblings that were part of the company—my brother, sister and I—knew how to build complementarity: my brother Miquel and I have very different characters, which enabled us to complement one another, while our sister Sílvia brought feminine spirit to the table. Our executives have also embraced that way of being.”
In his talk, Josep Maria Martí also highlighted the decisive role of all the people who make up Moventia, stressing that “the executives demonstrate extraordinary commitment, but the middle managers also deserve recognition for the effort they make every single day”. From that human perspective, he also highlighted the links between the huge global challenges we face today, such as sustainable tourism, and the group’s business activity, saying “tourism is mobility. Without mobility, there is no tourism; and without mobility, there is no economy. The big challenge now is to make progress on vehicle decarbonisation”.
The debate also enabled a number of more immediate difficulties in the sector to be addressed, such as the lack of drivers. The Chairman of Moventia explained the initiative by Moventis to bring over drivers from Peru, saying “We need to incentivise traditional trades, but all the young people today want to be YouTubers. Faced with a lack of local interest, we went looking for them in Peru. We would have had a problem without them. This is the immigration we need in our country and the immigration that makes us grow”. The Chairman of Moventia was also firm in his analysis of relations with the public authorities, saying that “the country has made a strategic error by having public contracts based on bidding. A job well done has no borders and tenders based on ‘bidding’ are simply destructive”.
Beyond the challenges we face right now, Josep Maria Martí argued the need to make plans with a long-term vision, both at family businesses and in society at large, saying “time marches on and we need to make sure someone is ready to take over. We have this written down and planned for within the family”. Finally, he pointed to population growth as the largest outstanding issue in the country and, in his opinion, a strategic factor that will define the future course of the economy in the years ahead.