Gruma S.A.B. de C.V. is an impressive processor of corn in Mexico. Conceived in the late 1940s before its subsequent foundation as the brainchild of the late Mexican billionaire Roberto González Barrera, the enterprise blossomed quickly after receiving a sizable loan from the Governor of Nuevo León back at the time, the General Bonifacio Salinas Leal. Moreover, after successfully repaying the loan with cash and stock in the company in full, Roberto González Barrera began embarking on an audacious career as a shrewd and self-made entrepreneur securing friendships with politicians in Mexico as well as with prominent entrepreneurs of the Mexican business establishment throughout his life. In fact, having encountered hardship growing up poor and then middle class before reaching his 18th birthday, he knew the importance of befriending affluent individuals who could bankroll his projects. On the other hand, the crucial breakthrough early on initiating his career in the business came when he decided to establish a corn mill with backing from his father after having visualized the potential such a business venture could have taking into consideration the expected growing demand in Mexico for corn-flour which is the main ingredient of popular staples found in the diet of Mexicans like tortillas.
Today, the titanic Mexican company the late Roberto González Barrera built from scratch trades in Mexico after being a Mexican blue chip and constituent of the stock market index there known as the IPC. Likewise, holding a solid presence worldwide and hence constituting a powerful Mexican multinational, the company has a total of 79 processing plants across six wholly-owned subsidiaries as well as a joint-venture scattered throughout 17 Mexican states, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, America, China, Australia, Malaysia, Venezuela, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Russia. Altogether, the seven divisions comprise the single largest maker of tortillas worldwide based here in Texas known as Mission Foods Corporation. They also comprise the biggest maker of corn-flour around the globe and based in Mexico known as Grupo Industrial Maseca S.A. along with a distribution unit to market the products the latter makes under its brands in countries where it does not operate processing plants. In addition, the other subsidiaries include a joint-venture with Archer Daniels Midland Corporation producing and marketing wheat-flour in Mexico being the industry leader there, an operation covering its entire presence in Central America producing and marketing corn-flour under its worldwide and namesake leading brand known as “MASECA”, the Venezuelan operation producing and marketing corn-flour challenging in the process a long history of dominance there by Empresas Polar S.A. and a manufacturer of specialized machinery based in Mexico required for the processing of corn and wheat.
To conclude, having achieved global dominance in both corn-flour and tortillas, Gruma stands among the top owners in Mexico of iconic brands. Nevertheless, this was the accomplishment of decades of hard work and wise decisions with bold determination doing robust investments in PPE, distribution and marketing consolidating an industry leadership with sales reaching $ 5 billion a year today. Similarly, employing close to 20,000 workers of various nationalities now, Gruma has plenty of room to keep on growing internationally after having a strong desire from members of the controlling clan and rightful heirs to the fortune the late Roberto González Barrera left behind, who was also nicknamed during his life in Mexico as the “King of Tortillas”, the González Moreno family. Accordingly, they keep control of the publicly-traded company by delegating day-to-day responsibilities in their handpicked management with the intent of benefiting all the stakeholders involved in a harmonious and lucrative way.