Alejandro Egea Montero passed away yesterday and has left us to continue his journey in the afterlife. A friend of life that today I remember with sincere joy for so much he left us. Young and full of ideas, he was a creative businessman and a true brother.
I met Alejandro at the University of Costa Rica, when we met in the classrooms of the School of Economics. We were studying Business Administration, and we coincided in many courses. However, although we had the same problems, the same doubts and difficulties while studying, Ale was one of those who managed to stand out with the best grades, while the rest of us had to scratch our heads trying to understand how he did it.
We kept in touch and although life has flown by, he was one of the first clients of Consumer, as Tribu used to be called. As Manager at Café Britt, it was Alejandro who brought Steve Aronson into our living rooms to begin what was a positive, constructive and fascinating relationship. Alejandro, who came from a background of intense experience in exporting coffee and opening non-traditional markets around the world, focused on the idea of making sure that wherever there was a tourist, there was Café Britt. In fact, it was with his participation that the unprecedented success that is Britt, which in its early days was led by the brilliance of Alejandro Egea, took off.
In the meantime, he and Ana Balbina brought Alejandro into the world, and then took him to my wife Alexandra’s kindergarten, where the friendship grew to the level of couples, always spontaneous, positive and embracing. In fact, Mauricio later joined this family of friends and thus, they have built a home of work, passion, creativity and struggle.
From Britt, Alejandro joined us at Dipo to become the first General Manager. Thus began a transformation to the culture of a family business that chose to be managed by professionals. Because of this, Alejandro developed a close friendship with my father, who rests in peace, and with my brothers. The relationship intensified, became closer and became a lifelong bond, because his contribution was great, significant and relevant, in the beginnings of the modernization of a company that he managed with elegance, perseverance, creativity, passion and tolerance.
In his development beyond Dipo, Alejandro continued in HB Fuller, for example, as in the technological and surprising Sui Generis, of my brother Carlos, as well as in many other projects, to show that restlessness and creativity in business requires only a dreamer, a doer and a manager, conditions that all met in this wonderful human being that was Alejandro.
I do not intend to make a faithful account but a simple scamoteo by some of the memories that jump to my mind of a friend forever. Alejandro Egea is gone and remains forever in our hearts.
To his family, an eternal embrace of love and unconditionality.
