#372: Amancio Ortega: The Genius Behind the Inditex Group

Amancio Ortega is one of the wealthiest people in the world. Ortega is the founder of Inditex, a pioneer of fast fashion, an entrepreneur with over 60 years of experience, and has created a business model that is studied in universities that he could not access. His life story is inspiring, educational, and full of valuable ideas for future generations of founders. This episode is what I learned from reading This is Amancio Ortega: The Man Who Created Zara by Covadonga O'Shea.  ---- Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more.  ---- Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book ---- Notes and highlights from the episode:  I remembered a comment that Luis Miguel Dominguin made to me years ago, when he was at the peak of his glory and his son, still a child, played in the garden of his house. "This child will never be a bullfighter. To face a bull you have to go hungry.”  The important thing is to set goals in life and put all your soul into fulfilling them.  I have dreamed of growing the company since I was nobody.  We gave it every day. My priority has always been the company, and I have committed myself to it, with full dedication, from day one.  Ortega is a man of mission. He is so convinced of what he is and what he has to do.  I was convinced that I had to dominate the customer.  Ortega starts with the customer and work backwards: “I am going to manufacture what the customer wants.”  I met Ortega when Zara did not exist. He only had the factories. In those years when nobody thought about technology within our sector, in which there was almost no computer science or mobile phones, he wanted to have a good team in technology.  He built a groundbreaking and avant-garde textile distribution company.