In 2021, we celebrate the 150th birthday of Alfredo da Silva, one of the most important Portuguese industrialists of the 19th and 20th centuries.
In a largely rural country, which came late and slowly to industrialisation, Alfredo da Silva contributed decisively to the development of the chemical, culinary oil, and textile industries in Portugal, as well as to the increase of urban and maritime transport and ship repair, the growth of banking and insurance activities and the improvement of service provision, particularly in the area of health. He created one of the largest Portuguese conglomerates – CUF (Companhia União Fabril) – based in one of the most important industrial cities in the country – Barreiro.
Heir to a family tradition of commerce, he completed an Advanced Business Studies Course in Lisbon and soon embarked on his business career, running the Companhia Aliança Fabril, Carris and the Banco Lusitano. He quickly made a name for himself with his entrepreneurial vision and his ability to bring ideas to fruition. His unusual capacity for initiative, and his desire to place Portugal on a par with other European countries, led him to introduce electric trams in Lisbon and to create, in the late 19th century, through corporate mergers, the largest industrial firm in the country − CUF − devoted to the chemical industry and destined to become the largest producer of fertiliser, which was of great significance to agricultural development. Based in Barreiro, where the largest industrial complex in the country was built, it progressively incorporated new sectors of activity, forming the largest conglomerate in Portugal.
Before long, CUF employed thousands of industrial workers, around 16 thousand throughout the country, and brought together a whole complex of social institutions that made it the most modern Portuguese business structure, with exemplary social services, ranging from the supply of domestic goods and food, sports, culture and even health, with the creation of the CUF hospital for the group’s employees, as well as the company’s social service – one of the most advanced of its time.
CUF drew together an elite group of entrepreneurs and technical experts, becoming a real school of management, where training that was both experimental and scientific provided a launch pad for some of the finest executives in the country. And by starting to commission studies, it brought to Portugal the most recognised international consultancies.
Alongside its production activities, CUF also dealt with finance, as well as the trade and transport of its products and the raw materials vital for production. Alfredo da Silva thus joined Banco Totta, founded the Império insurance company, created port and railway infrastructures for the industrial complex in Barreiro, took his first steps in shipbuilding, created the shipping company Sociedade Geral for maritime links to overseas territories under Portuguese administration from which he brought back raw materials and to which he exported his products. Another area worthy of note is the olive oil sector, from the year 1907, in Alferrarede, which CUF later enhanced with the creation of oil processing industries, launching culinary oil brands that are still going today.
When he died, in 1942, Alfredo da Silva left a vast corporate legacy, with a strong institutional culture, which formed a solid base for the development of one of the largest Portuguese conglomerates of the second half of the 20th century, which, although expropriated after the 1974 revolution, was reborn more than ten years later, under new terms, but giving continuity to a remarkable corporate and executive tradition.
As the most important business initiative to take place in Portugal in nearly a century and a half, it should be remembered and used as a model, so that the same growth in prosperity can place Portugal on the path of socio-economic progress.
