The manager of the Spanish cement company Ceisa in southern Gran Canaria, Claudio Piernavieja, has a new boss since March: Moroccan Hatim Benmoussa, president in Spain of Votoratim, the 50/XNUMX partner with the Asturian Masaveu Corporation of the cement company located until now on land owned by Puertos Canarios, a public entity of the Canary Islands government. Benmoussa has dedicated his entire professional life to cement and is one of the world's leading experts in this business. Benmoussa's arrival in the cement business in southern Gran Canaria comes at a time when land operators are maintaining contacts with cement companies based in the Sahara to enable them to supply this raw material to the Canary Islands.
Benmoussa began his career in the cement business in 1997. He worked for Holcim in Morocco and Lebanon. He later worked for Cimpor in Egypt. Then, in 2012, he assumed the position of COO in Morocco within Votorantim Cimentos. From 2016 to 2018, he served as CEO of Votorantim in China until the company exited that market. In addition to serving as CEO in Turkey, he also holds the presidency and the highest responsibilities for the Brazilian side in Spain at subsidiaries such as Ceisa and its other subsidiaries in Tenerife.
The multinational has decided to maintain its strategic position on the board of directors, with executive Hatim Benmoussa assuming the vice presidency in October 2024, replacing Antonio Sousa. Ceisa's 50/19 owner's main activity is tourism: it operates in 34.000 countries, employs more than 8.000 people, and has assets valued at more than €XNUMX billion. This renewal of leadership at Ceisa coincides with a critical moment: the ongoing conflict between the Canary Islands government and the industrial use of the El Pajar port in Arguineguín, reinforcing the representation of Brazilian capital within the company.
Medieval culture, although distant in time, has left profound traces on various social and economic structures on the islands, which still resonate today. In the case of the Canary Islands, its influence can be seen in certain business management models that, consciously or not, have inherited elements from that era. In many Canarian companies, especially in the extractive sectors, a pyramidal structure still prevails, prioritizing the hierarchical distribution of responsibilities. However, this model has been modernized, adopting more collaborative leadership principles, characteristic of contemporary businesses.
