How did you join the Leather Industry?

The tannery I work for, INDUCOL, is fully dedicated to the production of Iberian “merino” lamb double-face skins for clothing. Taking into account that the leather clothing manufacturing companies in Portugal were very few and with a market trend that was not favourable, considering that such labour-intensive activities were starting to move to other countries with lower wages, very soon after its foundation, INDUCOL felt the need to export to continue their development. More than 30 years ago the founder of INDUCOL, and still its current manager, was looking for someone that spoke English to start developing foreign markets and that person was me!

At that time it was a great challenge, and it still is today, but with the big difference was that, 30 years ago, very few Portuguese tanneries exported. Nowadays, INDUCOL is one of the biggest players in the double face skins market worldwide and registered a very considerable development as a company. It has been a great adventure and today INDUCOL is part of a group – INDUCOL GROUP – with a sister company, INDUTAN, specializing in nappa skins, that has followed INDUCOL’s steps in the development of the foreign markets.

What is the job that you are performing in the leather industry?

I am the Sales Manager of INDUCOL and I am responsible for the overall commercial strategy of the company and for majority of the sales and promotion of the company and its products. It's a quite challenging job considering that almost all of INDUCOL's customers are abroad and I spend most of my time travelling to meet them directly or to attend one of the 8 international leather trade fairs in which INDUCOL participates.

It’s very tiring sometimes, but at the end of the day it’s always very rewarding to be a part of an organization with INDUCOL’s capacity and potential.

It’s a very great responsibility having to assure sales that can guarantee workload for a company that employs more than 200 workers.

What qualification / training did you have to join the Leather Industry?

The largest part of my specific qualifications on which the leather industry is concerned were acquired in the development of my work. When I started there were no specific courses or lessons we could take on the leather industry and therefore my learning was made on the job. Also for the knowledge of languages, I developed this skill as I was contacting with my customers and representing INDUCOL in international trade fairs.

When not abroad I spent much time in the factory to know the production process and to know the leather articles.

What do you most appreciate about your work?

The intensity with which the whole of the business is developed. The preparation of the leather collections and the presentation to customers in international fairs is a work routine that repeats itself year after year but it’s always different!  The tannery is always developing new products and attracting new customers and in my work, I must have the capability to follow all this change and keep insight on the need to innovate.