THE INTERVIEW | SERGIO ROBLEDO


GH Cranes was founded in 1958 in Olaberria, Spain, by the four brothers known as the ‘Guerra hermanos’.


place with music, fun, excitement, so I bought a car and a surfboard, and I lived in a small apartment that was more than enough for me, and I enjoyed myself.” Amidst the fun, there was hard work to do, and Robledo had applied himself to opening up the Brazilian market to Spanish companies. One such company was GH Cranes, which had been working to set up a local operation since 1998, when Vicente Guerra – one of the four brothers, the ‘Guerra hermanos’, who had founded the company in Olaberria in 1958 – arrived with a team to assess the viability of establishing a local entity. They met Robledo through the embassy and


asked him to help with in-depth market research, the results of which showed promising signs that a local venture could succeed. Next, they asked him to put the findings of that research into practice, and in 2001, he became the company’s sole employee in Brazil. The beginning of the relationship was in many ways inauspicious. The Spanish word for ‘hoist’ sounded almost unintelligible for Robledo in his first meeting with the GH team. Yet there was clearly a strong personal connection,


an enthusiasm to start something new and a mutual understanding that Brazil was a land of opportunity in which GH Cranes could prosper. More than that, however, there was a strong sense that the way ahead should be steady, measured and sensible.


“GH is still a family-owned company, so everything is measured, gradual and progressive,” says Robledo. “It is not a case of big private equity money coming in and buying up everything quickly. Instead we wanted – and still want today – steady growth in markets where there is a real opportunity. We saw that in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and many other places.”


Planting a seed The seed for growth in Brazil was an agreement with local manufacturer, Rovela, to work together in a way that made the best of complementary capabilities. Rovela would focus on chain hoist and low-weight operations, while GH would handle everything else. “We started with a local partner and a small network of salespeople, then we came in with our products and processes to manufacture


cranes. We relied on local people to develop the market in terms of sales. Partnering with a small manufacturer that wanted to grow its business was a good platform, though it only lasted for six months. Partnerships are sometimes difficult and you might each have different interests,” explains Robledo. “We tried many different strategies because


there was no magic 8-ball to give us the answers.” The local enterprise started small and at that


time Argentina was struggling economically with a severe recession and a failing currency, so GH pulled partners from there to assist with growing the business in Brazil. For two years, the growing team worked hard to make contacts with key local companies and put the brand out there. All the while, growth was led by demand, enabling expansion in the sales team and the addition of specialists in electrical and mechanical engineering, as well as administrative assistants. GH makes all of its own components for its hoists, so nothing is bought in. But the Brazilian operation started out just as a warehouse rather than a manufacturing site. It stocked just ten different components for cranes, and when those


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