Order and Progress
They say you're at your best at 38 years old - which
certainly seems to be the case for the Coan printing company,
founded in 1969 in Tubarão in the Brazilian state of Santa
Catarina. But it's in the last 15 years that Coan has really
expanded. True to the motto of the Brazilian national flag,
"Ordem e Progresso", or "Order and Progress",
the next years should see the company experiencing no less success.
This is why the company is investing in new machines and expanding
its production area.
There's no real need to be afraid of sharks in Tubarão - whose name means "shark" and derives from the original word of its indigenous inhabitants, the tupi guarani. They called the river, on which this city of the same name lies, "Tubá-Nharô", which actually means something like "wild", "untamable" or "ferocious". For the Portuguese, the first Euroeans who penetrated into these regions, this sounded like their own word for shark, thus "Tubarão". "And that's how the river and the city got their name," explains Leandro Coan, son of the company's founder João Batista Coan, as he smiles benignly. The city lies in Brazil's south, a region settled predominantly by Italian and German immigrants during the great waves of European emigration. This is true of Tubarão as well - the Coan family also has its roots in Italy.
It was in 1969 that João Batista Coan set up his print shop in Tubarão. After João's death, it was initially his wife, Eleine Cesconeto Coan, who continued running the printing company until 1992. Daughter Maria Eduarda Coan, who was studying law at the time, and her husband Elídio Tadeu Bongiolo, as well as João's son Leandro, then took over control of the business. Here there was a clear distribution of roles. Elídio Tadeu Bongiolo, a successful businessman from Nova Veneza, managed the company jointly with his wife. and Leandro was responsible for overall production - no small task, since most of 280 employees work in production.
"In terms of the number of employees, Coan is the largest private company in the city. It's true that we're located somewhat outside of the county's really big metropolises, such as Rio de Janeiro, but that doesn't mean we have to be afraid of competing with them," says Eduarda Coan, adding: "Tubarão, with its near 90,000 inhabitants, is actually the core of the region, with a few smaller towns in the vicinity; and because of its university and sea port, it acts as a magnet for people from the surrounding area. In addition, there are many medium-sized companies here, such as aluminum and ceramic manufacturers, for instance. These companies served as our initial base for the print shop's success."
You can download the complete article on the top right-hand side.
There's no real need to be afraid of sharks in Tubarão - whose name means "shark" and derives from the original word of its indigenous inhabitants, the tupi guarani. They called the river, on which this city of the same name lies, "Tubá-Nharô", which actually means something like "wild", "untamable" or "ferocious". For the Portuguese, the first Euroeans who penetrated into these regions, this sounded like their own word for shark, thus "Tubarão". "And that's how the river and the city got their name," explains Leandro Coan, son of the company's founder João Batista Coan, as he smiles benignly. The city lies in Brazil's south, a region settled predominantly by Italian and German immigrants during the great waves of European emigration. This is true of Tubarão as well - the Coan family also has its roots in Italy.
It was in 1969 that João Batista Coan set up his print shop in Tubarão. After João's death, it was initially his wife, Eleine Cesconeto Coan, who continued running the printing company until 1992. Daughter Maria Eduarda Coan, who was studying law at the time, and her husband Elídio Tadeu Bongiolo, as well as João's son Leandro, then took over control of the business. Here there was a clear distribution of roles. Elídio Tadeu Bongiolo, a successful businessman from Nova Veneza, managed the company jointly with his wife. and Leandro was responsible for overall production - no small task, since most of 280 employees work in production.
"In terms of the number of employees, Coan is the largest private company in the city. It's true that we're located somewhat outside of the county's really big metropolises, such as Rio de Janeiro, but that doesn't mean we have to be afraid of competing with them," says Eduarda Coan, adding: "Tubarão, with its near 90,000 inhabitants, is actually the core of the region, with a few smaller towns in the vicinity; and because of its university and sea port, it acts as a magnet for people from the surrounding area. In addition, there are many medium-sized companies here, such as aluminum and ceramic manufacturers, for instance. These companies served as our initial base for the print shop's success."
You can download the complete article on the top right-hand side.
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