Successful method

By Márcio Kroehn_247 – Hugo Marques da Rosa, from Rio Grande do Sul, traveled from Porto Alegre to São Paulo in 1967 with many dreams and little money. An engineering student at the Polytechnic School, he lived in Crusp, the residential complex of the University of São Paulo, for his first two years. But in December 68, tanks from the military dictatorship invaded the place to arrest "subversive" students, spreading panic among the students. Marques da Rosa was left on the street and, without the financial resources to support himself in the São Paulo capital, he needed to invent a solution. What to do? He tried teaching at a preparatory course in Piracicaba, but it was difficult to reconcile the commute with full-time dedication to his studies at Poli. The solution came from an idea by his Crusp colleague, Abel Packer: to create a concrete block company.

Brazil was experiencing a boom in the construction industry, and brickyards couldn't keep up with brick production. Packer knew someone who could rent the machinery; they just needed to find a place to start producing concrete blocks. A third name was involved in this partnership: Henrique de Campos Meirelles, also a student, who was president of the Central Bank of Brazil from 2003 to 2010. To create Diagrama, the partners tried the city of Mairiporã, due to its proximity to suppliers of materials, but it didn't work out. They chose a city in the ABC region, specifically Diadema, and took advantage of the area's booming business. "Diagrama was formed with a lot of creativity and the smallest possible investment," says Marques da Rosa, who provided the initial capital for the company: the difference between selling his Ford Corcel and buying a Volkswagen Beetle, so he wouldn't be without a car.

The first problem Diagrama faced was Packer's trip into political exile – who, years later, would become director of BIREME, the Latin American and Caribbean System of Information in Health Sciences. Before the first concrete block was sold, the company only had Marques da Rosa and Meirelles as partners. If that was the first setback, the first business lesson they learned came next: be honest with suppliers. Without working capital, purchases needed to be paid after the production was sold. But on the due date for the first shipment of supplies, they had no way to settle the debt. “We went to the construction depot, told them we wouldn't be able to pay on the initial deadline. It was extraordinary, and we managed to get more time, without interest. Contacting the creditor was the best thing we did,” says Marques da Rosa.

Meirelles left Diagrama a year later, and in his place, Marques da Rosa invited Victor Foroni, who was also studying engineering, with whom he would create one of the most innovative and creative civil construction companies in the country. Método Engenharia was founded in 1973 and took Diagrama's place in the lives of engineers Foroni and Marques da Rosa. The concrete block company served as a practical lesson in entrepreneurship: how to deal with suppliers, how to evaluate competitors, and how to position oneself in competitive markets. “I got to know the construction industry and saw that the most difficult part was planning the production processes, which was improvised. It was paradise for a production engineer like me,” says Marques da Rosa.

Método became, especially throughout the 80s, a symbol of modernity and business innovation in a scenario marked by stagnation and aging in the construction industry. In a sector with high staff turnover, low workforce qualification, and working conditions similar to those of the English Industrial Revolution, Método brought surprising advances such as the cleanliness and organization of its construction sites, the hiring of nutritionists to replace packed lunches, literacy programs for workers in classrooms set up by the company, and uniforms for all employees. “Our workers were called Playmobil figures, because of their helmets and yellow raincoats on rainy days. But they lacked self-esteem, and we invested in their training,” says Marques da Rosa.

The most difficult phase occurred in the early 80s. With many public contracts, Método was surprised by the cuts in investments from city halls in 1982. The fiscal adjustment carried out that year paralyzed numerous works that were underway. "Everything stopped overnight," recalls Marques da Rosa. The 3,5 employees who started that year were reduced to 700. At the Cultural Center alone, which was under Método's responsibility, 1,7 people lost their jobs. Monthly revenue, which exceeded US$4 million, was reduced to US$800. "We made a first major decision, which was not to work with governments anymore, a decision I maintain to this day," says the construction company's partner.

In nearly four decades of operation in the Brazilian market, Método has accumulated more joys than sorrows, more victories than defeats, more gains than losses. One of the bad periods was the separation of Foroni and Marques da Rosa in July 2004, after 31 years of partnership. But, as it always has, Método reinvented itself, this time with only one of its founders. "I still want to innovate," says Marques da Rosa.

Resilience, the foundations of the Made in Brazil entrepreneur.

By Ricardo Bellino - If there's one characteristic that stands out in the career of engineer Hugo Marques da Rosa, 58, owner of the construction company Método, it's his ability to get involved in extreme situations – and get out of them. While still a student, he was arrested three times by the military regime. The first time was during the famous UNE (National Union of Students) congress in 1968, in Ibiúna, in the interior of São Paulo. During one of his stays in the dungeons of the dictatorship, he even shared a cell with former minister José Dirceu. In 1995, he accepted the invitation of then-governor Mário Covas to head the Secretariat of Water Resources, Sanitation and Public Works of São Paulo, which included the troubled Sabesp, the state sanitation company. In four years, Rosa not only solved the state-owned company's problems but also managed to increase its value almost 20 times. Today, the businessman faces a new challenge. His mission is to give Método, the construction company he founded in 1973, a new lease on life. Método experienced its peak in the early 90s and then plunged into a deep financial crisis. A victim of its own success, Método grew beyond its capacity and made a strategic error by counting on a capital injection that never materialized. The result was a debt that approached R$100 million and depressed the company's results for almost a decade.

The great lesson we can take from this story is that an entrepreneur is someone who adapts to circumstances, is not afraid to take risks, and overcome challenges. This adaptability, known as "resilience," defines the true spirit of the Made in Brazil entrepreneur.

Resilience, what a word! The word comes from the Latin "resilio," which means to return to the natural state. The concept of resilience in the human sciences is "the capacity of an individual to maintain healthy behavior in an unhealthy environment, that is, the individual's ability to overcome and build themselves up positively in the face of adversity."

The beauty and motivation of resilience lie in your ability to choose how to perceive and respond to adverse situations. The concept comes from physics and is applied to human behavior, allowing for changes in attitudes and quality of life in the face of the daily chaos of demands, deadlines, pressures, tension, and accumulated stress. People cannot know whether or not they will get angry when something unexpected happens in their lives, but they can define how long they want to nurture that feeling, as well as how to channel that emotion into constructive action.