The count of São Paulo

The count of São Paulo The clan behind Brazil’s first great industrial empire Some kingdoms are built in a day; others build enough factories for every day of the year. Such was the case of Indústrias Reunidas F Matarazzo (IRFM). By 1952, when Time magazine was writing profiles of Count Francisco Matarazzo Junior (the title was first bestowed on founder Francisco Senior by Italy in 1917 for his charitable endeavours during World War I), IRMF had 367 plants ranging from textiles to foodstuffs, and at that time was breaking into plastics. Francisco Matarazzo Senior had arrived in the port of Santos in 1881 without his first batch of products - the cans of lard and cheese he had planned to sell had been lost in a shipwreck, forcing him to start his Brazilian enterprise in the red. He opened a commercial house in the interior of São Paulo state, and sold so much pork lard that he eventually opened his own lard factory. In 1890, the Matarazzo clan moved to São Paulo city, and the IRMF Empire began. Early on, Matarazzo zeroed in on two important elements of modern capitalism: convince people they need something (marketing), and fabricate that something yourself, from raw material to shelf products (vertical integration). Soon it wasn’t just pork lard that was being flogged; sugar, wheat and salt were made, oils, soaps and paper were produced, alcohol and petrol distilleries sprung up - and even train building got a look in. And for a time, the products of IRFM were on the table of every house in the city. For husbands keen to save cash, a common domestic refrain emerged: Who do you think I am, a Matarazzo??