• Floty was born from a love for swimming

 

It was the early 1990s, and I was studying at the University of Barcelona in the afternoons while looking for a job that could provide me with some income. It was not easy, since although I had a degree and experience in the financial market, I did not have a work visa.

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Then, fate literally knocked on my door one winter Sunday. A woman introduced herself as a neighbor and asked me to urgently get some medicine for her husband. I soon returned with the medication, and they invited me inside. Her husband, an elderly gentleman, after taking the medicine and becoming calmer, wanted to know a little about me, his foreign neighbor.

 

After a few minutes of conversation, as I was saying goodbye, perhaps as a gesture of gratitude for the help I had provided, he handed me his brother’s business card and suggested that I contact him about work.

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The next day, this time I was the one knocking on his brother’s door—the door of I.C. Bernal, SL, a manufacturer and distributor of swimming equipment and other products. The receptionist directed me to Mr. Josep Bernal, his brother. We talked, had lunch, and that very same day I was hired to work at the company’s factory.

 

Mr. Bernal, who was 75 years old at the time and still swam every day, showed me over the following months the genuine love he had for swimming, which was the very reason his company existed.

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I was happy there. I worked assembling swimming pool lane lines and installing equipment in official competition pools. I became so involved with the work and with Mr. Bernal’s stories about swimming that, some time later, when I told him I was finishing my studies and intended to return to Brazil to go back to the financial market, he immediately objected: “You’re going back there, you’re going to start a company like mine, and I’m going to help you”...

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And that is how Floty was born—from a love for swimming.

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Mr. Bernal, Pepe, as he was widely known in Barcelona, unfortunately passed away in the late 1990s.

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• Floty was built through perseverance

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Back in Brazil, while trying to plan what would become Floty, I soon received the support of my brother, André de Carvalho Sá. André joined me, became involved in everything, and quickly began exploring new opportunities. Tireless, he pursued everything that was necessary, without first considering the difficulties.

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André is supportive and hardworking, and it was he who instilled perseverance in us so that we could bring to life a project that was still somewhat distant from our reality: Floty. Whenever we stumbled—and that happened more than a few times—André was there to strengthen and encourage us.

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Today, André is Floty’s Commercial Director. Always helpful and persistent, he remains determined to expand the business.

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• Floty was filled with joy

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While we were still taking our first steps, we received the wonderful news that my sister, Paula Catoira de Carvalho Sá, also wanted to dedicate herself to that fledgling company.

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Paula brought energy. Communicative and captivating, we quickly decided that she should work in sales. She asked me to take her on a client visit so that she could understand how we worked, and I, naively, imagined that we would have to make many visits together before she would be ready to work on her own.

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After our very first and only visit together, I realized that Paula would fly on her own—and fly high. She had learned the simplest part from me, because she already genuinely possessed the most important quality: Paula charmed customers with her sincere and captivating smile. She worked throughout Greater São Paulo, overflowing with joy and enthusiasm, and this positive spirit influenced both Floty and its customers, many of whom became friends.

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We all learned from Paula how rewarding it is to have customers close to us who become friends and that, honestly, it does not matter how much they buy, have bought, or have stopped buying.

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To this day, Paula makes sincere friendships wherever she goes, even with the butcher in her neighborhood, where she buys her cured ham in the city where she currently lives.

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• Floty prospered through balance

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Together, my siblings and I would not have been able to overcome such a great challenge without the indirect and unconditional support of our parents.Our father, Arthur Godoy de Carvalho Sá, a natural-born and strong-willed entrepreneur, supported us with firmness. Our mother, Darcy Catoira de Carvalho Sá, sensitive, intellectual, and endowed with remarkable common sense, was the foundation for all of us.

 

In different ways, they represented our balance, because we always knew which one of them to turn to depending on the situation we faced.

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Life took them from us too soon. He passed away on April 13, 2010, and she on August 4, 2021.

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• Floty grew stronger through determination

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One day, I was at a Floty exhibition in Catanduva, in the countryside of São Paulo, when Antonio Carlos da Silveira approached me. Dynamic, Antonio Carlos introduced himself, told me about his experience, and asked for an opportunity to sell Floty products in what was already becoming the promising countryside market of São Paulo. He was practical, determined, and won us over. He did not disappoint. After about a year, Antonio Carlos had already become a favorite among customers in the countryside of the state.

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Among the many people who joined Floty, working outside the company to strengthen relationships, we were also fortunate to have Mr. Élcio Oliveira, who worked in Rio de Janeiro and captivated everyone he met with his simplicity and generosity.

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Teresa Baffa also spent memorable years with us, traveling throughout southern Brazil without sparing any effort just to “have a cup of coffee” with anyone interested in learning a little more about Floty. Distance did not matter to her, and she traveled everywhere by bus and on foot. Teresa did not want to waste time learning how to drive.

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Highly determined and proactive, they and others who came afterward won over customers and good friends, even in the most distant and smallest towns across these vast regions of Brazil. We always had the pleasure of seeing these friendships reciprocated when people traveled from distant places to visit Floty’s booth at trade shows, more than anything, simply to give them a warm hug.

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Today, Antonio Carlos is a partner and director of one of the leading gyms in São Carlos, naturally in “his” countryside of São Paulo. Today he is, of course, a Floty customer, but that is of lesser importance compared with everything he represents to us.

 

Teresa got married and moved to Florianópolis, where she still lives today and from where she sends us warm messages expressing how much she misses us—a feeling that is mutual.

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And our dear Mr. Élcio, sadly, passed away in February 2021 in Rio de Janeiro.

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• Floty expanded through partnership and friendship

 

André was always very active in expanding Floty beyond Brazil’s borders, and perhaps as a reward for this effort, one day Eduardo Ruy Lopes came to us.

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A typical Uruguayan from Montevideo, Edu was already well known in the swimming community in his country. He was captivated by Floty, and Floty was captivated by him. The connection was so strong that, from then on, business rapidly expanded into Uruguay.

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Today, Edu is Floty’s most important partner in its operations throughout Latin America and, far beyond that, a great friend to everyone at Floty. He willingly travels to help at any exhibition in which Floty participates, even when it means being far from his home country.

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• Floty became established through pragmatism

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Floty’s factory, established since the mid-1990s in the city of Indaiatuba, in the countryside of São Paulo, grew with a focus on the quality of its processes and products and, as a result, naturally achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification.

But the years passed and everything began changing so quickly that Floty needed new leaders and greater inspiration.

 

Among the many employees who have been part of Floty’s history, whether they are still with us or have moved on, one day Valmir Gomes arrived.

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Resilient and pragmatic, Valmir was able to combine firmness and fraternity in exactly the right measure for each situation. He quickly won everyone over and contributed greatly to the company’s restructuring, which was essential to meet new market trends.

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He also helped us create a family united by the efforts essential to the success of our operations, respecting the necessary rules so that processes could flow with quality and consistency.

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On August 20, 2021, COVID took our friend Valmir from us. A painful loss for Floty, Valmir left a legacy that will never be forgotten. Like Valmir, Floty has had and continues to have the good fortune of seeing remarkable employees pass through its halls.

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We wish we could describe here the virtues of everyone who has been part of this history, as well as those who are still part of it and dedicate so much of themselves to it, but that is not possible. We have learned that what matters most is valuing the efforts and achievements of each individual, as well as those of the teams and everyone involved, and together building an environment of synergy and solidarity that makes our days, weeks, months, and years of dedication worthwhile, alongside our customers, suppliers, and partners.

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Floty’s future and the years and decades ahead will carry forward the memory of our difficulties, our merits, and our achievements.

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All of us who remain at Floty today admire it and continue to learn from it. We know that we are only passing through and that Floty will remain, that its history will continue to be built by people, and we dedicate ourselves with perseverance to ensuring that it continues to be a beautiful story.

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Floty will celebrate its 35th anniversary in 2027, and this brief account symbolizes the hundreds of people who, in one way or another, contributed to the development of Floty throughout this period.

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And of everything we have come to understand over these years, what has become most deeply rooted in our culture is that, with humility and love, people make the difference!

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If you would like to be part of this story, in any way, we at Floty will always want to hear from you.

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You will always be welcome at Floty!