RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – As soon as he was discharged from the Santa Maggiore hospital in São Paulo, where he was recovering from the novel coronavirus, entrepreneur Luciano Hang learned about the appalling situation of Manaus (AM) healthcare units, with a shortage of basic supplies such as oxygen and ventilators.
In a conversation with comedian Tirulipa, son of federal deputy Tiririca (PL-SP), the Havan store chain owner was moved by the situation and decided to donate 200 oxygen cylinders to hospitals in Manaus. “I called a friend of mine who supplies cylinders and said: ‘Get me 200. I don’t care how much it costs, how it’s going to get there, I just want it to be available tomorrow,'” he said.
Controversies aside, Hang is trying to cling to work to overcome this difficult moment of losing a loved one. Owner and one of the founders of the largest department store chain in the country, the Havan retailer established in Brusque in Brazil´s southern Santa Catarina state, the entrepreneur wants to sustain the chain’s steep growth across the country.
There are currently 155 units located in 17 states. With an investment estimated at R$400 (US$74) million, the company’s expansion plan includes the opening of between 20 and 25 stores this year – two establishments were opened in January and 15 future stores are under construction. The goal is to reach turnover of R$16(US$3)billion, an increase of almost 50% compared to 2020. “Last year we made R$1.3 billion in profit, 30% more than in 2019. We continue to be different in the market. We accomplished this in a very difficult year,” he celebrates.
A fierce supporter of President Jair Bolsonaro, Hang does not shy away from criticizing São Paulo governor João Doria (PSDB). “They turned the state of São Paulo into a cemetery. Everything is closed. They are terrorizing people,” he complains. Last Friday morning, the entrepreneur got into a helicopter and flew from Brusque to Bauru, in the interior of São Paulo, to head a protest against the PSDB government’s restrictive measures.
The inland city is in the red phase, the most restrictive in the São Paulo Plan, which monitors the operation of economic sectors based on the number of Covid-19 cases in each region. On top of a sound truck alongside the city’s mayor, Suellen Rosim, and Senator Major Olimpio, he pledged to expand the Havan unit in the region.
After abandoning its IPO on the São Paulo stock exchange, the B3, in October 2020, the chain intends to use its own revenue to enhance its digital transformation projects, through the Havan Labs innovation lab and the Havan Bank fintech.
“Everything follows the same planning. We will implement a technology school within Havan to train more skilled professionals,” he promises.
In 2020, the retailer was criticized by analysts for trying to raise R$10 billion in the market, in a move that would value the company at R$100 billion, a figure that was considered excessive.
Despite the excellent numbers in its balance sheet, its poor presence in e-commerce was seen as one of the company’s obstacles in reaching the desired valuation. Today, he said he is no longer thinking about an IPO, but does not rule out returning to the market in the future.
“At the start of last year, we saw that the number of companies going public was rising and we decided to go public too. But then we saw that investors withered away. And I decided to pull out,” he says. “Time will tell if we will think about an IPO again. I’m not thinking about it today.”
Son of textile industry workers – Havan in its early days was itself a textile plant – Hang calls for the government to prioritize the country’s industry. Recently, companies from several sectors decided to abandon their production lines in Brazil.
“We need to support Brazilian industry. What I advocate today in conversations with the president is that we need to reduce the public machine to produce in Brazil so that the country may once again be an exporter of industrialized products and not only of raw materials,” he advises. “I don’t want to be a billionaire among poor people.”
The entrepreneur is confident in the elected presidents of Congress, Arthur Lira, of the Chamber, and of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco. “I hope they have the spirit of change. I think the Bolsonaro government is starting now,” he says, voicing hope for the approval of liberal reforms and the privatization of state-owned companies.
“Congress must be allowed to sell all state-owned companies. They are nothing more than clothes hangers [creating unnecessary jobs] for politicians who take money from citizens,” he adds.
Source: Veja