La Fageda - milking the markets

“If we had had any idea about the world of business and starting a company we would never have tried because objectively the project was crazy. Yes, I am convinced: we did it because we didn´t know it was impossible.”  Christóbal Colón, President of La Fageda Corporation. 

Last week I went on a school outing. Tere´s class was studying the business model of La Fageda - a dairy company in the Garrotxa national park, northern Cataluña - and they were invited to take a tour of the set-up. I gladly tagged along. 

What makes La Fageda unique is that the business was started to create jobs for those suffering from mentally illnesses. Colón, a psychologist, realised how important work was to give his patients a sense of purpose, increase their self-esteem and achieve a level of independence.  After years of “labour-therapy” in which he simulated a working environment, he decided to start a real company to create real conditions. La Fageda was, therefore, born as a means of offering more authentic psychological treatment: It also happened to be a massive business success. 

La Fageda means wood of beech trees, in Catalan, and as we turned off the main road we crawled along a single-track road with the sun blinking through budding beeches. I could not quite believe that this was the entrance to a dairy production farm and factory with profits of 9 million Euros in 10 years. It all seemed far too simple and, most surprising of all, beautiful. 

On arrival we were given a tour of the farm which homes 500 Canadian Friesians. Fine ladies all, sitting together, chewing the cud and listening to Bach. From the rural ideal it is a few dozen yards to the factory where the milk, yoghurts and puddings are made. The milk passes directly to the factory throw a conditioned pipe-line and we saw the employees regulating the fermentation process and packaging the products. 

The company employs 86 workers with psychological disabilities and mental illnesses. All employees have psychiatric support whenever they should need it and they have created that utopia in business – happy workers and healthy profits. 

What really compounded the excellence of La Fageda, in my mind, is that there is no mention of the employees’ mental problems. In the world of business the aim is profit and without a doubt portraying a philanthropic angle would increase sales and the company´s value in the public´s eyes. However, our guide said it would be wrong to highlight “disabilities” for a job well done. It would be professionally hypocritical to reward someone´s labors with a wage and then profit from their supposed limitations on mental grounds. The focus is on finding and nurturing the employees´ abilities, as is true of any successful organization. 

In fact it is now me who is focusing too much on La Fageda´s workers and ignoring their present raison d’état. The aim of La Fageda today is to produce delicious dairy products of the highest quality and I can say, categorically, that their greek yoghurt definitely has a dollop of ambrosia and a sprinkle of Bach.