Steve Jordan talks to Angels Gallardo from Inter S&R in Barcelona as she talks about taking the helm of her mother’s company and steering a course through the pandemic storm.
Working in the family firm is not always easy. Yes, as the upcoming generation you are in a privileged position, which doesn’t always help of course. But come the time when it’s right for you to take on a bigger role in the business, it can become tense. Add to that the stresses of handling a global pandemic and you have, potentially, a perfect storm.
Angels Gallardo took over as CEO of her mother’s company, Inter S&R in Barcelona, in 2017. It was the start of both a dream and a challenge.
Angels had been on the fringes of the moving industry for many years. It was back in the 1970s that her mum, Maria Dolores Martinez, took a job in the accounts department at Interdean in Barcelona. “After working with the company for some time she became very strong on business administration,” said Angels.
The time came for Maria Dolores to start out on her own which, in 1993, saw her create Inter S&R. Angels, as a child, would spend time in the office with her and so became familiar with terms such as containers, loading, shipping and packing. As she got older Angles would begin to help out at the company but she didn’t particularly like any job. “My dad joked that I wanted to be the general manager right from the start,” she said ...
Photo: Angels Gallardo (right) and Maria Delores Martinez.