I have given and received many hugs throughout my professional life. As a lawyer, as a jurist in extremely responsible cases, as administrator and president of Caixa Agrícola de Torres Vedras. The hug is always distinctive because we only remember it when the relationship with the other person is strong or when the occasion is special – almost always due to victories and defeats, as draws are generally not useful for future memory.
I tell you.
Jorge Nunes had just expressed gratitude for the award he received from António José dos Santos at the Global Innovation Coop Summit. An award that distinguishes the career of a cooperative member and is named after the businessman who, with his twin brother, José António, built one of the most beautiful projects in the history of our country in the last hundred years, Valouro. In a brief note of context, perhaps necessary in times of forgetfulness, I want to write that Jorge Nunes, leader of Caixa Agrícola de Santiago do Cacém, is the cooperativist’s cooperativist. He was the main mentor of the strategy that allowed the agricultural banks, after the nationalization of banking in 1974, to be autonomous. He was also the one who founded FENACAM, Caixa Central and Insurance Companies, which he believed was the best way to face the future. Together we would be stronger.
António José dos Santos, at the time president of Caixa de Torres Vedras, and I myself, with roles that offered me the possibility of observing the cooperative universe, feared that freedom could turn into a new prison. The idea of being more robust together is fair and correct, but through intercooperation. But we know that circumstances, and leadership, and power, are always lurking in centralized structures. António José was right to remain independent. I wanted what I want: to take on the cooperative banking business in its entirety, not to transfer the responsibility we have to the community, associates and customers and the banking authorities.
Hearing Jorge Nunes’ praise, his admission that he did not imagine that the agricultural banks could be imprisoned again, this time themselves and the leaders they chose, left the room in absolute silence. Hearing him state that any agricultural fund cannot allocate expenses for concrete requests for help from its community without external authorization, made it clear that the founding principle of cooperativism is violated. I immediately remembered the fable of Ouroboros in which a snake devours its own tail, which will end up being fatal as it will end up reaching its head and that will be the end of it all.
These were the two hugs I received. From two extraordinary men. António José, a central figure in my life, a major businessman, who for over 30 years has built the solvency of Caixa Agrícola, which I have the honor of presiding over. Perhaps the freest person I know who has never embarked on siren songs. And Jorge Nunes, someone who has the same weight in his community as Rui Nabeiro. An entrepreneur who played barefoot on the street in his childhood, but who, with talent and enormous magnetism, managed to make an example of his life. The two built wealth, but offered the community homes, schools, hope and a future.
The way they both embraced me, luminous and without any shadow, left me with the responsibility of not defrauding them. I will also dedicate my life to this, not capitulating on principles, not hesitating on the path that is fair, that is right, that is the path towards always having better results without giving up having institutions with a soul, that fight for the good. Thank you both for this immense hug.
President of the Torres Vedras Mutual Agricultural Credit Bank
manuel.guerreiro@ccamtv.pt