EL PERIÓDICO praises the Catalan company as the spearhead of the recovery

In the year that was called to be the last of the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus -with permission of the impact that the war in Ukraine ends up having-, the iconic sausage and food firm Noel has been the winner of the Company of the Year 2021 awards, organized by EL PERIÓDICO. This Catalan company, with 82 years and three generations of history behind it, has been designated as the big winner of the night. Its CEOs, Joan Boix and Anna Boschhave collected the highest award in the 41st edition of these awards, sponsored by the Banco Sabadell.

More than 250 businessmen, managers and politicians have attended the awards ceremony with which the group Iberian Press -owner of EL PERIÓDICO- distinguishes the best corporate strategies of the year. The event, held in the building of the Llotja de Mar in Barcelona and that has regained the capacity of previous years due to the improvement in the epidemiological situation, has had the presence of the ‘president’ of the Generalitat, Pere Aragones; the ‘conseller’ d’Empresa i Treball, Roger Torrent; the Government delegate in Catalonia, Maria Eugenia Gay; and the first deputy mayor of the Barcelona City Council, James Collboni; among others.

In addition to the company of the year, the awards also recognize the best business initiatives in the fields of digitization (which has gone to the firm Girbau), innovation (GPAInnova), international projection (Carinsa), initiative (blue box) and the Leader (Anna VallesPresident of Sorigué Group).

These six companies have in common a declared will to innovate and, the vast majority, a clear international vocation. From Noel herself, who has been awarded for the variety of products she sells beyond the cooked ham with which they started it all and for exporting to more than 60 countries; to the two youngest on the campus, GPA Innova and Blue Box, who have manufactured automatic respirators for covid patients, the first, and a system to detect breast cancer through urine, the second.

Thus, in her acceptance speech, the general director of Noel has valued the pride of receiving this award in relation to a year like the past, which fully experienced the effects derived from the pandemic and which has already taken the first blows of the geopolitical crisis that was to come. Regardless of this, Anna Bosch has highlighted the “commitment, effort and professionalism” that have made Noel the company it is today, and has praised the figure of family businesses, “one of the fundamental engines” of the country.

Among the audience, the hosts of the event, the president of Prensa Ibérica, Javier Moll; the vice president, Arantza Sarasola; the CEO of the group, Aitor Molhe; the general director, Sergio Guillot; and the newspaper’s managing director, Felix Noguera; as well as by the director of EL PERIÓDICO DE CATALUNYA, Albert Saez.

Recovery

The person in charge of opening the awards ceremony was precisely the CEO of the group. Aitor Moll has recognized that these are turbulent times for society in general, and for the business community in particular. Added to the consequences of the pandemic is a war on European territory, a scenario that, according to the manager, threatens the economic recovery that began in 2021 and that had to be consolidated this year. “Uncertainty is the enemy of investment and of the essential activity of the company,” Moll lamented. “Businessmen are having to navigate avoiding shipwreck,” he added in relation to the rise in prices of energy, fuel and raw materials or the strike in the transport sector.

In this sense, the executive pointed out that these awards are a way of expressing the group’s commitment to the business fabric and of recognizing, among other things, its essential role in the economic recovery, in the generation of employment and in the creation of opportunities.

inclusive capitalism

The director of EL PERIÓDICO, Albert Sáez, has emphasized this perspective and has endorsed the newspaper’s commitment to “inclusive capitalism”, a current that is possible, he has assured, if trust networks are generated from companies. “Today this militancy is essential because it is the only way to ensure the progress of people without harming the planet, the purpose of EL PERIÓDICO”, he has sentenced.

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“It is very important that those of us who understand that companies are a key piece of collective life, those of us who understand that companies are the sum of their shareholders, their workers and their clients, are here together”, the manager had previously introduced , who celebrated in his speech being able to hold a meeting “as always”, without forgetting that the context continues to be “tremendously complex”. In this sense, Sáez has also regretted that the war has returned to our continent and that it has done so, moreover, with important economic consequences for the country.

Despite the fact that the war situation has permeated a good part of the speeches of the group and of the public institutions present at the event, there has also been space to celebrate that this year’s gala has recovered the usual capacity levels of other years and has brought together to the business leaders of Catalonia. Among the attendees were the president of Banc Sabadell, Josep Olive; the president of the Free Zone Consortium, Peter Navarro; the president of the Catalan employers association Pimec, Antoni Canete; the president of the Port of Barcelona, Damia Calvet; the vice president of Foment del Treball, Virginia Guinda; the president of Tech Barcelona, Michael Vincent; or the co-founder of Glovo, Sasha Michaud; among others.