The secret may seem easy, but it is “a real pain”. Keeping up with the market “always, always” is what has allowed Rolear to celebrate 45 years of success. It all started with one employee, and today there are around 450 employees of a brand that is part of the Algarve’s identity. And it doesn’t want to stop there.
Opportunity is a word that really sticks to the entire history of Rolear, a company created in 1979 by Parreira Afonso, an engineer born in Azinhal (Castro Marim).
Having already worked in the electrical and mechanical fields for a few years, it was an “opportunity” that led him to embark on the adventure of creating a company.
“It wasn’t a dream I’d always had. It happened,” he says in an interview with Sul Informação, in his office at the Rolear headquarters building, in Areal Gordo, municipality of Faro.
The company, he recalls, started “from scratch”.
«I worked in industrial companies, in three or four, and I used this know-how. In the Algarve, at the time, there was nothing: only car workshops. There was no electricity or water in many places. And I saw this opportunity”, he says.
In the beginning, he recalls, Rolear was a “more technical” company. Its expansion began later, with a focus on commerce and construction.
Today, Rolear has five major areas of activity: equipment stores/distribution, distribution of piped propane gas, civil construction, a specialized technical training academy and, most recently, tourism, as the owner of the Amendoeira Golf Resort, in the municipality of Silves.
The stores, Parreira Afonso acknowledges, are what have the “greatest weight” in the company’s activity. “We have 10, in the Algarve, Lisbon and Porto, and we are preparing to open another one”, he adds.
As far as gas is concerned, they also have around “17 thousand customers across the Algarve”.
In terms of construction, Rolear has carried out several major projects in the region, such as the new home of the Algarve Association, in Faro, the Algarve Tech Hub building, on the Penha Campus of the University of Algarve (Faro), the new bus terminal in São Brás de Alportel or the remodeling of the UAlg university residences, also in the Algarve capital.
Witnessing this growth of a company that started from nothing is, for its founder António José Parreira Afonso, something “almost normal”.
“In fact, it means that we have kept up with the market. We have diversified into different areas, we were pioneers in photovoltaics, wind power, wastewater treatment plants and methane gas. The secret is that we have always been keeping up with the market, which is very annoying,” he says.
The thing is, not everything always goes well, Parreira Afonso confesses, giving the example of the “wind power business”.
Still, when asked what the secret to the company's longevity is, its founder doesn't hesitate: "enthusiasm and people. Being with them, talking to them, understanding them."
As for the future of the Algarve business world, Parreira Afonso also has a clear idea: “tourism will continue. This is a wonderful place, I’ve travelled all over the world and I’ve never found anything like it. But there’s always a need for larger companies because, if they’re not from here, they’ll have to come from abroad.”
Regarding the plans for Rolear, its founder says that they are undergoing “some reorganization”.
«Perhaps more professional management, dividing the sectors… We are becoming more and more specialized. We will see if I still have time».
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