The choice made by Ornella Seca: less income in order to be able to look after employees and clients and to help those in need.

By Sara Fornaro

Published in Città Nuova N.20/2012 on 25/10/2012

A dinner at a restaurant was the last thing Ornella Seca renounced on.  We must look after our budgets and if someone prefers to lay off at the first sign of a crisis, there are also those who, as this business owner did, is willing to bring a meal from home to promote values she believes in.

We are in a little city in Central Italy.  Ornella, after having climbed all the steps of the Insurance World’s ladder – from secretary to consultant, from collaborator to agent –is now administering five offices for an insurance agency with 4.700 clients, providing work to six dependents and 7 collaborators.  A big open family even for those in need: a choice, born in 2002 by adhering to the  Economy of Communion (EoC).

On August 17, 2012,  João Tadeu Gallo, one of the first EoC business owners in Brazil, left us, handing over to others ‘the testimony’ of a new way to do business.

By Ângela Pelizzon and Luiz Colella

João Tadeu Gallo, EoC businessman from Ribeirão Preto-SP, left us to go to the Father’s house, after three years of living his illness as an example of life, fighting against a tumor which manifested itself three times in different ways.  João though, fought without ever complaining and with the certainty of victory: we have no doubts that he won the battle, and conquered Heaven.   He had founded the Ferroleto Comercial in 1989, a steel tube business.  His adhesion to the Economy of Communion started at its first hour in 1991.  This is told us by Samantha Gallo, his daughter, and Mário Sérgio Ramos: “We assure you that nothing will change at Ferroleto.  From January 2011 we had assumed responsibility for the activity and together with our collaborators we continue to make decisions with the same values he taught us during the past 23 years of business.  A great thank you for all the prayers and words of encouragement we have received by many of you during this period.” 

Drawn by the values of the Economy of Communion, a bank worker, together with her children, becomes a winning businesswoman. Today, her “Todo Brillo” business is providing work for 600 people.

Published in: focolare.org on 16/06/2012

"In 1993," says Maria Elena Gonzales del Paraguay, “when I first heard Chiara Lubich speaking about the Economy of Communion (EoC), I was left feeling very surprised by the fact that she was inviting businesses to divide their profits into three parts: for the needy, for the development of the business and for the formation of young people in the values of the project based on a “culture of giving” as opposed to a “culture of possessing”. It was like a tidal wave that overturned my life.

At the time I was working in a bank where the profits – as we all know – ended up in the hands of shareholders. I began to think about my managerial qualities for I would one day have to give an account to God and to my neighbor. And so I decided to join the EoC project as a way for me to say “yes” to God, placing my abilities at the service of those around me.

Mundell & Associates, Inc.:  Managing When Faith Really Matters

An Economy of Communion Business Case Study was recently published in the Case Research Journal, a publication of the North American Case Research Association. The case is ideal for students, academics and EoC enthusiasts looking to gain a deeper understanding of core operating principles and challenges brought about when seeking to create a culture of communion within a business workplace.

The Case is readily available for purchase online using the instructions below.  All proceeds from the purchase of this case will go directly to supporting the Economy of Communion.

An experience of one of our leading enterpreneur from the USA

by John Mundell

I wanted to take this moment to wish everyone a blessed and special Holy Week, filled with opportunities to reflect on our lives as Christians, but also on our work in the world of business and economics. For me, this week marks all that makes us who we are in the EoC:  the institution of the Eucharist/Communion, Jesus Crucified and Forsaken (“My God, my God….”), and the Resurrection. Our experience of living this business lifestyle of communion gives us the chance to follow Jesus’ path in an exceptional way:  together!   With His presence in our midst and with our decision to become ‘one’, we understand the costs, but also the fruits of this communion.   

A business born from the Communion of know-how and more...

By Adriana Mendes

“I had long dreamed of opening an EoC business in the Ginetta Industrial Park (Igarassu-PE). After a few years of trying and of conducting market research in Brazil, during the 20th anniversary Assembly of the EoC in Sau Paolo, I met  Jussara Gomes, an entrepreneur of the EoC who founded the Gicalli company, a business that has been in operation for 18 years in Rio de Janeiro.” This is how Aparecida Pina, better known as Cida, an expert in social communications, tells about the start of the business venture named Lado C (Side C, creative pieces) at the end of January 2012. Cida  is now in charge of the sales department, in addition to coordinating the general management of the business.

Cida’s dream was immediately shared also by  Nadja Palmeira from Maceió-AL, who had the same desire and thus became a partner. (in the photo: Nadja on the left and Cida on the right)

Saturday 25 February 2012, the citizens of the Mariapolis Ginetta, besides many people of Vargem Grande Paulista-SP and of Salto payed their last respects to José Celso Becca, known to them as "Becca"

By Adriana Mendes

Who was José Celso Becca, as a person, businessman, father and husband, son, brother and friend who today we feel the duty to remember?

"This guy is crazy just like me. If he makes it to sell with his winning smile... we are set. He is a good person, intelligent, honest, courageous. He lives one hundred kilometers away from the Spartaco Industiral Park, has  a job, a wife, five children and does not know how to say no... because he is the Economy of Communion."

This is what François Neveux wrote in his dairy in recalling his encounter with Becca back in ‘94, when he invited him to join his daring business project at the Spartaco Industrial Park, which later took shape into “Rotogine.”  Becca responded affirmatively to the invitation and with generosity. Alongside  François and many others, Becca was one of the pioneers of the EoC.

At Augsburg, an EoC pilot project of Contecta Immobilienverwaltung GmbH brings savings of 88% on energy costs in a residential complex

by Winfried Baetz-Braunias

“"Improving energy performance of a condominium complex is a real challenge. Decisions and funding must be approved collectively by the entire community of owners,” says Thomas Hüttl,  EoC entrepreneur and owner, with his wife Christine, of Contecta Immobilienverwaltung GmbH in Gersthofen near Augsburg in Bavara.

Contecta, with nine collaborators currently administering approximately 2,500 homes in the region of Augsburg and Dresden, received a €15,000 prize for energy innovation from LEW, a regional producer of electricity, for a complete energy reconstruction of the first of 18 buildings of a residential complex built in 1954 located in Augsburg.

Still on the Flood in Liguria: very concrete answers

by Giacomo Linaro*

On October 25th I found myself in Monterosso for work.  There was a scheduled meeting for the Board of Directors of “Consortium of Padre Semeria,” with which we manage a large Residential Center (a nursing home and tourist facilities), on the hills of the town. The rapid and violent flood forced us all to contain the first damages of the water coming through the windows and doors drying them quickly, together with the nursing home workers, parents and all those who could help. Soon the town of Monterosso was isolated, because the lights went out; but since we had an independent generator, we had no problems.

There were great interests in the Rosignano Marittimo "straw" Library project that was presented by the EoC business in Turin

The new Rosignano Marittimo Library, created by AREA PROGETTI, the EoC architectural firm of Turin in collaboration with Una2 of Genoa, was one of two Italian projects selected to be presented at the World Sustainable Building Conference. The event, held at Helsinki from 18 to 21 October 2011, brought together architects from around the world and many were of academia, engaged in new technology research to make new constructions more sustainable.

In the architecture world panorama, Rosignano Library has aroused great interest in the use of straw as insulation and cladding, and the complex system that takes advantage of the natural ventilation breeze, typical of the seaside, greatly reducing energy consumption.