GENOVA (ITALPRESS) – The founder of Duferco, Bruno Bolfo died. The president of the group, Antonio Gozzi. “Today is a very sad day for the women and men of Duferco. He leaves us Bruno Bolfo, founder of our Group, the man who created our projects and made us great – says Gozzi. He went to the tip of his feet, with his sober and reserved style, confirming also in this last passage his unmistakable understatement. Bruno was a true legend in the world of global steelmaking. Young and brilliant leader of Siderexport, the trading company of Italsider last century, decided in 1979 to try the entrepreneurial adventure and founded the Duferco in Brazil with a small group of collaborators, all Ligurian. A brave pioneer.”.
“In a few years the company grows and becomes the first exporter of Brazil, feeding the steel needs of Asian markets through the nascent Brazilian steel industry. The business also grows in North America and, in the mid-1980s, the company moved first to New York and then to Europe to seize the opportunities of steel supply coming from the countries of the former Soviet Empire – explains Gozzi. But, in the mid-1990s, with extraordinary vision and genius entrepreneurial courage, Bruno includes among the first that the advent of the Internet is destined to resize the information asymmetrics on which trading is founded and starts an entry strategy in the steel production that leads us, in a few years, to become, in 2004, the thirty-fourth world producer, with almost eight million tons per year. We have plants in Italy, Belgium, France, Denmark, Macedonia, Russia, the United States, Guatemala and South Africa, with almost twenty thousand employees. It is a difficult and exciting phase: acquisitions, alliances and gigantic investments mark the growth of our family. Only in Belgium, in a few years, we invest more than a billion and a half euros between modernization and new facilities. Bruno, drawing on the professionalism of the Italian public steel industry, which in the meantime no longer exists, reconstructs a management team capable of governing a global and complex system. He does so with his keen vision, charisma and continuous attention not only to business, but especially to people working with us.”.
“Bruno was a kind and charming man, but also tenacious and determined in decisions. He understood that Duferco was now a platform to diversify in sectors close to and complementary to the steel industry. This is how the link and joint venture with the Romeo family in Novamarine is born; this is how we decide to enter the world of energy – explains the president of Duferco -. With great generosity, in the final phase of his professional activity, he favoured a delicate generational passage that led Augustus and Vittoria Gozzi to the Group. The greatest teaching that leaves us is to always dare, with optimism and confidence in young people and in the future. And then he gives us a deep conviction: doing business can be an extraordinary expression of human creativity. For me, that I have had the extraordinary privilege of working alongside him, it leaves above all a fundamental teaching: to generate value you must have balance and respect for all. Not only to employees, but also to customers, suppliers and all stakeholders. We will miss every aspect of his extraordinary personality. We will try never to betray his memory, following his example and carrying out every day our work at the service of the company and the workers. Our most sincere embrace goes to his beloved wife and children, along with the closeness and affection of the whole family Duferco.”.
-Photos press office Duferco-
(ITALPRESS).
