Industrial Parks: Giosi Guella Business Park

Portugal - Abrigada

The home of the Portuguese EoC entrepreneurs is born in the small town of Arco – Iris, some 45 km from Lisbon

In 2000, a group of EoC entrepreneurs together with some friends of the existing Arco-Iris  bought a piece of land adjacent to the small town, with the goal of building an EoC business park there. Chiara Lubich gave it the name "Giosi Guella Business Park", after one of her first companions, and construction of the business park began in 2003. On November 6, 2010, Giosi Guella Business Park was finally  inaugurated, and this "dream" will became a reality.

There are three businesses operating in Giosi Business Park. ECNAL, a firm that does business consulting on various levels - quality, environment, security and property management - was the first business to be headquartered there in 2008. Instead, two other businesses have started operating there just two months ago: SAGEC 18-20, which offers accounting and work medicine services, and REDCAP, which works in recycling plastic and cardboard.

The moment of inauguration on November 6, 2010 was preceeded by a morning formational gathering for entrepreneurs. Among those present were Luigino Bruni, Leo Andringa and Alberto Ferrucci of the EoC International Commission.

In the afternoon, about 250 people were present, among which some local and national authorities, including the mayor of Alenquer (the village where the small town is located), university professors and a few members of Parliament. The program unfolded in a solemn atmosphere: a greeting from the co-directors of Arco Iris, the introduction by Luigino Bruni, an interview with Luis Felipe Coelho and some of the entrepreneurs that own the first businesses that located to the Giosi Business Park: Ecnal, 18.20 Sagec and RedCap. The well-appreciated presentation by Manuela Silva, an economist who has studied the EoC for years, underlined the vital importance of this reality, highlighting Chiara Lubich's prophetic vision. "When the Economy of Communion is put into practice," she affirmed,"it is destined to be a far-reaching light in the darkness of modern society, like that of a lighthouse in the midst of the ocean."

Finally, a celebration at the inauguration of the Business Park, with the unveiling of the sign that says "Giosi Guella Business Park" by the mayor and a visit of the various locations and businesses in the business park - an hour of simple but very joyful celebration. We left the small town of Arco Iris with the certainty of having participated in an historical moment, for Portugal and the EoC in the world.

The inauguration of a business park is always an awaited day...as well as a new starting point for the Economy of Communion in a nation. Abrigada, where Arco-Iris and the business park are, means "protected" in Portuguese. It's called so because of the mountain of Montejunto that protects it from the winds. On top of that mountain, radio signals are sent to spread news and to connect all the surrounding countries. We would also like that, one day, this business park "protected" at base of Montejunto will quietly spread a new style of life, renewed by the Gospel, that will form new men and women towards a society that has universal fraternity as its goal.