Article extracted from elEconomista. 

Around 40 schoolchildren from the Miguel Delibes school in Aldeamayor de San Martín (Valladolid) completed their participation in the entrepreneurship promotion program “Family Business in the classroom” today with a visit to the headquarters of the gift goods firm Almacenes Javier, located in that Valladolid town.

The students, who are in sixth grade, were received at the company by its director, Neil Fernández, who showed them the facilities of this family company, with more than 10,000 square meters, and explained to them on the ground the operation of its warehouse and distribution system.

During the visit, the students also toured the permanent exhibition that the company has, where they could see a sample of the more than 4,500 different references of products that Almacenes Javier sells among more than 3,500 customers throughout the country.

The visit is the continuation of the talk that the director of Almacenes Javier gave last January to schoolchildren at the CEIP Miguel Delibes and in which he brought them closer to the origins and trajectory of this Valladolid family business.

Then he explained that the company was founded in 1947 by his grandfather initially dedicated to the sale of costume jewelry and toys, and that later it was expanding its activity to jewelry and gift items, being currently focused on the commercialization of gift items for tourists, in a constant evolution to adapt to the market.

He also highlighted to the students the characteristics of the family business and its weight in the economy and the values of this type of companies, among which he cited entrepreneurship, closeness, leadership, roots, commitment, effort, and continuity.

This visit has concluded the Valladolid participation in the Program “Family Business in the classroom” that are developing the Family Business Association of Castilla y León (EFCL) and the Ministry of Education throughout the Community in order to promote entrepreneurial and business vocations among the youngest.

Together with Almacenes Javier and CEIP Miguel Delibes, the companies Ibersnacks and Bodegas Grupo Yllera have also taken part in this initiative in the province of Valladolid, together with the educational centers CEIP Pedro I de Tordesillas and IES La Merced de Valladolid.

n total, 19 companies associated with EFCL and 22 schools throughout the region participate in the program, so that more than 700 primary and secondary students are able to benefit from this pioneering program in the country.

“Family Business in the classroom” is part of the initiative “The Fruit of Values” launched by EFCL to disseminate the contribution of the family business in its environment and the characteristic values that define this type of companies and their promoters and that are directly related to education, such as effort, constancy, commitment, entrepreneurship, leadership, or responsibility.