“At Boston’s MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), you find some of the sharpest minds in the world. But if you isolate them and scatter each to a different corner of the planet, they will struggle to realise their full potential.” Julià Ferrer, managing director of Frigorífics Ferrer, uses this image to illustrate how a company’s growth extends far beyond its own internal capabilities. Beyond sheer talent and commercial vision, expansion also hinges on the bonds an enterprise weaves across the local region, the knowledge shared with its ecosystem, and the synergies that emerge from those connections.
A region that, for Julià Ferrer, plays a foundational role: Osona, where the company was born and remains firmly anchored today. The comarca also served this Tuesday as the backdrop for the opening session of the En Clau Familiar conversation series, spearheaded by the Associació Catalana de l’Empresa Familiar (ASCEF), EY, and The New Barcelona Post, with the collaboration for this gathering of the Consell Empresarial d’Osona (CEDO), to explore the hurdles and opportunities facing family-run firms.
The inaugural forum of the series, staged this Tuesday at the Seminari de Vic, convened representatives from Frigorífics Ferrer and Grup Gepork to examine a two-way dynamic: what a business brings to the region where it takes root, and how that environment in turn fuels its growth. Because the link between enterprise and region is never a one-way street. “Just as an enterprise leaves its imprint on the region, the region also leaves its imprint on the enterprise,” noted Rosa Tous, corporate vice-president of TOUS and president of ASCEF.
Landscape, people, customs, and culture all help define corporate identity and shape how a firm works – a footprint that does not fade when an enterprise scales or internationalises, but endures throughout its journey. Frigorífics Ferrer and Grup Gepork stand as prime examples: companies that have held their own against multinational giants, expanding without severing ties to the community that bore them.
A region that, in both instances, has actively fostered their development. As emphasised by Gemma Vivet, CEO of Grup Gepork and president of CEDO, Osona boasts a deep-seated industrial tradition, know-how handed down through generations, and a close-knit web of businesses that collaborate and trade with one another. “Osona builds upon a solid foundation: industry accounts for roughly 36% of the comarca’s gross value added – nearly double the 19% recorded across Catalonia as a whole,” she highlighted. CEDO works precisely to reinforce this corporate network and enable homegrown firms to keep growing.
Two trajectories, shared roots
Despite sharing deep roots in Osona, Frigorífics Ferrer and Grup Gepork emerged from contrasting realities: while the former was founded to address a local shortfall, the latter capitalised on the comarca’s powerhouse pork sector to fuel its growth.
Today an established frozen food distributor operating across diverse markets, Frigorífics Ferrer actually started out as an unassuming fish stall in the Vic market, launched in 1924 by the current managing director’s great-grandparents: Julià Ferrer and Manela Farga Pons. Fish was brought in daily from Barcelona – an undertaking that, at a time when delivering fresh seafood to an inland farming and livestock district proved a logistical feat, represented a formidable challenge. As the generations followed, the business expanded beyond fresh fish to focus on frozen distribution – an evolution that secured its national presence across Spain while keeping its operational hub in Vic.
While Frigorífics Ferrer was born to bridge a gap – bringing fresh fish to an inland district – Gepork sprang directly from Osona’s existing strengths: a flourishing swine sector ripe for innovation and growth. Founded in 1979 by Josep Puigdollers, the firm began in porcine genetics and artificial insemination, subsequently diversifying into veterinary distribution and animal health, all while remaining anchored in its home comarca.
The two companies also embody contrasting routes to sustaining leadership while preserving local roots. Frigorífics Ferrer remains managed by the founding family, now in its fourth generation, whereas Gepork retains family ownership alongside external executive leadership following the appointment of Francesc Giné in January 2025.
Beyond managerial distinctions, both navigate the shared imperative to continue scaling without disconnecting from the surroundings that nurtured them. That demands not only strategic corporate decision-making, but an active contribution to strengthening the broader business fabric of which they form a part.
Weaving a broad network
“Every business in the comarca, large or small, adds to this collective knowledge. The fabric is held together by many threads, never just one,” Ferrer noted. It is a web of relationships that unlocks knowledge transfer, generates commercial opportunities, and bolsters the competitive edge of the entire region. Yet reinforcing this ecosystem requires active corporate engagement, driven by everyday business choices.
“When selecting suppliers, we always strive to back local partners, provided they remain competitive and match the excellence we require. We often assume we must turn to major global consultancies, but outstanding talent can just as easily be found within the comarca,” remarked Francesc Giné, managing director of Grup Gepork, making the case for placing trust in homegrown talent.
This commitment to local talent, however, runs up against headwinds when sourcing specialised profiles. Giné pointed to this as one of the major pending challenges across the agri-food sector, which requires specialized skillsets that are not always readily available in the area. To bridge the gap, the firm collaborates with initiatives designed to attract outside professionals, seeking to generate both direct and indirect value for the surrounding community.
Beyond talent, businesses confront wider operating headwinds that can curb expansion, from regional transit and rising energy costs to geopolitical volatility. These issues fall outside the direct control of any single enterprise, placing a spotlight on public administrations to secure a stable and supportive business climate.
In this regard, Ferrer called for “greater administrative agility and regulatory certainty” to unlock capital investment and prevent red tape from bogging down commercial ventures – a priority of special urgency for family-owned businesses, which plan across long-term horizons spanning generations. He stressed the necessity of a stable framework that allows firms to invest with confidence and safeguard operational continuity.
Giné equally highlighted the need for a regulatory landscape that ensures companies can compete on equal terms. For Gepork, operating within animal healthcare, regulatory disparities can directly distort competitiveness and capital allocation. Addressing the En Clau Familiar audience, the executive pressed for coherent regulation across different tiers of administration and uniform compliance standards to avoid putting domestic companies at a disadvantage.
Growing with an eye on future generations
Beyond operating conditions, the very nature of the family firm shapes approaches to growth. The determination to safeguard a legacy and ensure continuity for future generations often leads these businesses to adopt a more measured risk posture. Decisions are weighed across long horizons, measuring potential financial upside against the fallout an operational misstep might visit upon the future of the company.
As Rosalía Soler, Audit partner at EY, observed: “A family business is not merely a family; it represents a past, a history, but above all, a future.” It is precisely this generational stewardship that can prompt family firms to exercise prudence when embarking on new projects or shouldering debt. Unlike other firms more prepared to wager on uncertain ventures to accelerate growth, family enterprises tend to favour steady, gradual progress that secures longevity.
At Frigorífics Ferrer, this philosophy has led management to pass up certain transactions to safeguard corporate independence. “Anything that puts that legacy at risk must be scrutinised with immense care,” Ferrer affirmed. At Gepork, Giné stressed that “boundaries are set by company values and corporate purpose”, which he defined as supporting the veterinary profession and delivering advanced animal health solutions.
In both cases, the central challenge remains scaling and modernising without surrendering the foundational values and regional identity that forged the enterprise. It is a conversation the En Clau Familiar series will continue to explore across its two upcoming dates: Reus on 18 November, focusing on generational succession and business continuity; and Girona on 1 December, centring on talent, corporate culture, and workforce dynamics, ahead of the tour’s conclusion.