Results as CEO
Felipe Gómez García has achieved double-digit growth for the company year after year. Today, Granvita, its flagship brand, leads the oatmeal and granola category in Mexico in retail, according to Nielsen. Other brands in its portfolio are Avena Number 1, Avenitas and Hojuelitas.
At the national level, Grupo Vida employs 1,500 people and 350 abroad. They have an oat plant in Chile, the company is called Avena de los Andes. Another in Canada in the province of Alberta, and they participate in another Canadian firm, Buffalo Great Meal, and in a Peruvian one, Industrias Unidas del Perú, where they are part of the partners, but do not operate directly.
In Mexico, the company operates seven plants: the main ones, for oats, granola and bars, are in the municipality of Arenal, in Jalisco; in Zapopan they have another biscuit and wheat plant; in the municipality of Sayula they have two more plants and in Tlacomulco, in the State of Mexico, one of dehydrated fruits. “We are about to finish an expansion in the production capacity of the Avena plant in the State of Mexico and storage of raw material,” he details.
Before being the CEO of Grupo Vida, Felipe participated in the Chamber of the Food Industry of Jalisco (CIAJ) as president of the board of directors in the period 2012 – 2014. He managed to increase the affiliation of companies to the CIAJ by more than 40%. during his three years at the head of the organization.
He also served as vice-coordinator of the Council of Industrial Chambers of Jalisco (CCIJ) from 2013 to 2014. And a year later he was vice-president of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers (CONCAMIN) in Mexico City.
He is the founder and president of the Board of Directors of Imagina en Movimiento, AC, which is dedicated to training public and private institutions for the care and diagnosis of autism.
“I try to be a leader at the service of others. My job is to make their work easier, define the direction in which we want to go and after that trust 100% in the management of the team. I am a facilitator in terms of investing in new technologies to ensure efficiency or quantity of work. An coach and without a doubt I like to share with them the most important business decisions”, he mentions.
the third generation
In Mexico, one in six family businesses survives to the third generation, according to Ipade. Grupo Vida wants to be that company operated by the grandchildren of the founder, Felipe Gómez Fajardo.
For the CEO, companies, as economic entities that transcend generations, must comply with stages. The phase that touched his father was that of entrepreneurship, where the important thing was to be born and grow. The second phase is institutionalization, “what I have to do is operate the company and make it stop depending on people and make it depend on processes. Lay strong foundations so that the company can grow on a large scale.”
And the grandchildren, he comments, will have the Expansion phase. Today, one of her sons is already working in the commercial area of the company, while studying Communications. Her youngest daughter, 15, will enter the company’s ranks next September to begin her training process.
Felipe Gómez García is convinced that Grupo Vida ceased to be his for years. The family business, he says, belongs to the community. And it is a great responsibility because 1,500 families depend on the company to provide for their homes. In that sense, “the new generations must assume themselves as the temporary custodians of this heritage. And to the extent that we can generate more jobs, we will continue betting on the company”, he affirms.
In his opinion, the children and grandchildren of the founders should move away from the idea of junior, where there is no awareness of what it is to earn a penny. On the contrary, he points out, as children of owners it is doubly difficult. “I remember that as CEO I told my collaborators: do not think that I am like my father, I am like you, I worked for my father and I continue to work for him. Although sometimes the blood does not let them finish believing you.
“That is why you have to show that you are there not because of your last name, but because of your skills, merits, work and leadership capacity. And not only do you have to convince the stakeholders, but you also have to take care of the legacy. It’s fun, but the pressure is doubly intense”, he concludes.