January 26, 2010 Together As One

Volume 13 | Issue 1

Grupo Froylan offers a high level of quality and competitive prices, Jeffrey Matthews reports.

The strong economic growth in Brazil this decade has led to a boom in construction, as rising wealth has increased demand for new housing, offices, retail space and industrial plants. The economic crisis that has shaken the world this year has had much less effect here than in other countries, and the country’s construction industry has continued to grow rapidly.

Grupo Froylan started out in 1978 as a construction company, and over the years has grown into a group of five companies operating in different, but related, areas. Froylan Engenharia is the construction company; MMTelecom installs telephone and Internet connections for Brazilian telecommunications companies; Contest provides quality control and testing services for construction companies; Briccal is a construction supplies company, and JFR Incorporadora is a real estate developer, designing projects and hiring other companies to carry them out.

“Our companies are symbiotic,” said Froylan Pinto Santos, the group’s president and son of its founder. “Our builder gets construction materials at cost; the quality control company tests these materials; our construction company does telecom installations, etc., etc. Each one has its independent actions, but they can work together as well. This is also good for our clients, because they can get various services by hiring one company, and we can offer a good price because of the savings we get from working together.”

The construction company started out specializing in road construction and maintenance, and still has a lot of work in that area. Since its founding, though, the builder has also branched out into other areas, and now does a lot of residential projects. By the end of this year Froylan will have finished six residential buildings in a new city being built outside Brasilia, the country’s capital.

The attention paid to details and to ensuring only the highest quality has paid off for the company over the years. Sales have grown about 20 percent per year for the past three years, with MMTelecom sales increasing the most. The company expects similar growth rates in coming years, as the country shakes off the effects of the economic crisis and economic growth creates demand for new roads and infrastructure. Increasingly, wealthy Brazilians will also seek out homes built by Grupo Froylan, attracted by the company’s reputation.

“The stronger the economy, the more it creates employment, and that increases wealth and demand for our services,” explained Santos. “The Brazilian people have more money to buy new houses, to put in Internet and a telephone, or to buy a car, meaning more roads are needed. When our clients think of us, they know that they’re not just buying a regular apartment, they know it’s an apartment from Grupo Froylan,” said Santos. “All those homes we’re building in Aguas Claras are already 100 percent sold even before they’re finished, because they’re Froylan homes.”

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