Ode to Ortega, Role Model for Resilience and Strength

Efrén Lopez Ferreiro

A few weeks ago I attended a Process and Operations Management lecture, where Professor Florin Ciocan depicted the Inditex operating model and honored its founder, Amancio Ortega.

It was incredibly encouraging to see how many talented MBA students from such diverse backgrounds and nationalities respected a man who built a 100BN$ company from scratch, directly employing more than 150,000 people around the world.

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I was born and raised in Galicia, the hometown of Amancio Ortega, and I felt personally connected to the whole story. I saw first-hand how the company helped in so many ways.

Inditex provided value and opportunities not only their employees and shareholders, but the whole society in a region that was not considered an industrial hub in Spain.

For all who are in business management, Ortega is considered a role model and source of inspiration, and reminds us to keep faith in the value of hard work and humbleness as a way to thrive in life.

He has shown many, including politicians, that business may be actually a force for good (as we say at INSEAD) and not only for your own benefit.