Although she comes from a family of agricultural producers and spent her childhood in the countryside, in the
Buenos Aires town of América
,
Belén Scarella
had no plans to dedicate herself to any rural task.
After studying Business Administration at the University of Buenos Aires, he left for Spain where he lived for eight years working in the most diverse positions in Mallorcan gastronomy.
At that time, far from the daily life of the agricultural world, he never imagined the future of his life at 44 years of age.
“As kids, at 12 or 13, my brothers and I learned to drive the tractor by stepping on the bunker silo, we spread the corn that was unloaded with forks and then we stepped on them.
My father was in charge of the family establishment and my mother was more in numbers”, recalls Belén.
Belén and her mother, Liliana.
Things changed
in 1990, when his father had to sell the dairy cows and soon after his land, after suffering severe flooding
.
Without a field and with five children to support, he decided to buy a drag mincing machine and began to provide services to third parties.
That small company grew,
in 1995 he added a more modern, self-propelled machine.
and a few years later two of the four brothers from Belén joined the work team.
Things seemed to be straightening out.
Belén went to study Business Administration in Buenos Aires and when she finished, she decided to move to Spain where she lived from 2003 to 2012. “There I worked as a waitress among other things.
Later, the opportunity arose to buy a house that was rented for tourism, a life totally removed from what my family lived here, ”she reviews.
But in 2009 her father became seriously ill and Belén returned to Argentina to share time with him.
After his death,
in 2012, the company was not at its best financial moment, so Belén settled permanently in America to help with administrative management
.
In 2014 and 2017, two of his brothers asked for his part and opened the family firm.
There, without any knowledge of rural tasks, Belén decided to take the lead, together with his mother.
Belén, her two children, and her mother, Liliana, two businesswomen who grow through capacity, work and courage.
“In 2009 my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer, so during the summers of 2010 and 2011 I settled in Argentina to help my mother.
In 2012 when he passed away, I decided to stay in Argentina”, he says.
“The company was in a complex situation in terms of human and economic relations, it had grown a lot but without a head of the family after the death of dad.
My mother had recently been widowed, the family was adjusting to the new situation.
In family businesses, it is very difficult to organize when they are headless, "she reviews.
Belén and Liliana, two women who managed to get ahead with a small family business in the rural world.
The company had not defined the functions and responsibilities of each position, which generated several problems.
Thus, in 2014 one of his brothers broke up, and three years later the other did.
"Our company problems stemmed from a lack of communication between family members."
From there,
Belén and Liliana, her mother, founded Silajes América and a new stage began, unexpected and surprising for her
.
“We started totally alone, with three machines of which we had to sell one to solve all the mess we had.
My mom was always a fighter with my old man.
But imagine that
I did not know anything, I was not the candidate to run a company like this, we were in competition with my brothers who also have mincers
, they had contact with the clients and handled all the commercial part ”, she reviews.
However, she knew that her management expertise was valuable and necessary. “We had to find the right people for each position,” she says.
"One of the shortcomings was the commercial part, the client portfolio that we knew was the one managed by our brothers, so with mom we decided to settle in an area that was totally remote from our place of origin so as not to compete with our family," he says.
The situation was not easy, Belén at that time had a three-year-old son and another one who was born with a rare syndrome, Prader Willi.
The baby's illness forced her to have to make constant trips to the city of Buenos Aires while her husband continued working at his food distributor in America.
Today, happily, everyone is fine and they were able to get ahead with the young forage chopping company.
And, as if that were not enough, his mother was diagnosed with Krom's disease, which caused a great deterioration in his state of health.
Still, they kept working.
a golden team
As soon as they started the business, the two women hired an agronomist who accompanied Liliana to attract new clients.
"My mother was always ideal, she had years of experience in the field, and the ability to negotiate commercial conditions."
remember Bethlehem.
“We managed to put together a very good work team with the mechanic on the one hand, who not only deals with repairing the machines, but is also in charge of managing the team of people who work in the field, and on the other hand with an assistant administrative staff who supported us from the beginning," he says.
Good teamwork is one of the keys to success.
They were the key people to form a great work team that "is the foundation of every company, because this
cannot be achieved by one person alone
," he remarks.
Every week, the group meets.
“All decisions are discussed and made as a team.
We have confidence in our employees, we support them and support them in making decisions", explains Belén. "There are relationships that we must take care of not only with clients but also with staff and suppliers who are the ones who support you in difficult situations", she adds.
Belén is in charge of the administration of the company.
She is behind the scenes.
“A supplier knows me more than a producer.
But I give my employee enough authority to initiate the deal with the client, negotiate the price and the term.
I totally trust them.
They are the visible face, they are the ones who represent us," she says.
For her it is "extremely important that they are motivated, that they commit, that they feel valued, that they grow year after year, that they want to improve, that they can develop their career, that they feel part of it, make them part of the profits, if we do well "It's going well for all of us. You have to treat people well, transmit values, be clear, direct and comply with them," he says.
Perhaps for this reason, their employees do not rotate as frequently as they do in other companies and they remain from the beginning working together with the two women.
Chopping is a very intense job and requires a large number of people working, so it is difficult for them to find efficient workers to stay on the job.
"Our policy is not to rotate staff. I have a team that is worth gold," she says proudly.
As the chopping work is interrupted in winter, Belén and her mother created a new project so that their employees have continuity, to be able to pay their salaries and so that they do not have to go looking for another job.
After many procedures and presentations, she managed to get a place in the industrial park to make boxes, cars, among other things.
“We have already built a shed and we are going to build another one, as well as offices and fencing,” she says.
They also aimed to renew the mincers but it was impossible for them: "We started with a loan last year that had a rate of 30% in March and we ended with 70% in November, in addition to the fact that the machine did not enter the country," he says.
Belén assures that they still cannot believe the evolution they had.
“We are surprised that we are doing so well, that we were able to not only put the situation back together, but also buy more machinery, have new clients, that they call us for recommendations,” he points out.
After a few years, the two women cleaned up their accounts, consolidated and enlarged their company, and even started new industrial projects.
“Things happen for a reason, maybe I had to be next to my old lady.
I did not aspire to this, I was not the most suitable person, but I could not do nothing for my father's company.
We go through all the storms.
I look back and think that someone enlightened me from above to be able to do it”, concludes Belén.