Few people manifest a passion as great as Francisco Masella, a Brazilian who with almost forty years in the industry becomes our professional of the month in Brazilby Vanesa Restrepo
Passionate about security, this is how Francisco Masella could be described, a Brazilian who has spent most of his life in the middle of electronic circuits and who still today dedicates 16 hours a day to that work in the company Spya Alarmes, of which he is founder. His time is divided between his offices, shops, international fairs and books on security, but it does not seem to be enough.
From the moment he gets up, Masella starts working. He enters his office in the city of São Paulo at 9:00 in the morning and there he remains, performing various tasks until 8:00 at night. Then, he makes his way back home, where he almost always continues his work until 1:00 in the morning.
So much dedication has only one explanation: his work makes him happy. The passion he feels for security allows him to feel fulfilled and, from there, he develops his life.
But this industry is not the only reason for Masella to live; the family also has its space and motivation to work on a daily basis. She dedicates the weekends and the little free time she has left between trips and the office.
Playing to be a technician
In adolescence, our professional of the month had his first contact with the circuits and his fascination helped him to soon decide to be an electronic technician. During his time in study, Masella alternated classes with some jobs in which he mounted cytophones, alarms, sound amplifiers and other devices. By then, his great support was the readings he made: "I always related to foreign electonic magazines."
These works encouraged the imagination of Francisco, who in a short time was already doing the tests of his first devices. "After a period of work, I started manufacturing a cytophone that I sold, but I had a lot of difficulties in the installation, so I lost the business," he explains.
Fortunately, this problem did not affect the professional development of our guest, who, however, gave up the idea of working with cytophones and chose to seek more experience: "to learn how to install I looked for employment in a company that manufactures and installs alarms". The company was the most important of the time, but Francis didn't know it. "There I learned to install, at the beginning I had a lot of difficulties, but the process was very good for me."
Since then, Francisco Masella has not parted a single minute of the Brazilian security industry.
Enterprising
Already in 1983 the entrepreneurial spirit touched Francisco again, who started the most important project of his life: the company Spya Alarmes. In the company of other partners, the nascent company was dedicated to manufacturing and installing its products for the final consumer.
In the 90's with the arrival of commercial and market opening, as well as the beginning of the globalization process, Spya Alarmes made an alliance with Napco Security Systems, through which they began to import new products with advanced technology.
These international alliances began a stage of experimentation in the company that aroused the interest of other installers and companies in the area that went on to request the products for purchase. "With a great demand for these new technology and higher quality products in the country, the company saw at that time a market with great potential and opted for the distribution of electronic security systems in its first Spya Express store, in the traditional Belém neighborhood of the city of São Paulo, with exclusive attention to professionals in the segment."
This concept of stores with specialized attention had a great reception in Brazil, to the point that today there are eight stores that, with a similar structure, serve the national market.
This concept of personalized attention and added value through customer service is, for Masella, one of the elements that can make the difference between one company and another. "The products may be of better quality, but if there is customer service, I stay," he explains while commenting that this is the situation that happened to him with the Taiwanese. According to him, the excellent customer service helped to mark his preference for the products of this Asian country over others of similar quality.
The formula for success in stores, devised by Francisco Masella is simple: "unique and personalized attention, focusing on quality, the choice of products to be marketed, customer service and training of professionals in the sector through free courses," he says.
A market with a future
The nearly 40 years at the service of the security industry in Brazil allow our professional of the month to speak properly about the development and current situation of this.
For Masella there are still many elements in which Brazilians must advance, mainly in relation to the development of new technologies and the constant updating of technicians.
"Even our people do not have a culture of security, neither the entrepreneurs of the sector nor the final consumer," says Masella, who also believes that it takes a long way for the country to be at the optimal level.
"There are many installations of cameras, DVRs, capture plates; many video surveillance products installed, but companies do not monitor, or better, do not charge image monitoring, most offer the service for free and as for alarms, they still install many without tracking, it is strange, but it happens. "
Regarding the future of the sector, Francisco points out that there is still a long way to go, especially in the development of our own production plants. "Unfortunately for decades we lost access to technologies and today we don't have component factories."
According to Masella, the technological update is a key piece that influences the results of the companies in his country: "Even today many electronic security companies produce equipment with the same concepts of 25 years ago, but there is no lack of work in the sector for those who do it with honesty and dedication."
In the same way, he affirms that it is necessary to work even more in the training of human resources: "Most of the entrepreneurs in the sector do not have good technical or business training, we do not have our own technologies in the area of security, there is not enough demand for large firms to establish themselves in Brazil, we are still in the past in many industries of the sector"
Innate leadership
Reading and helping are two of the main qualities that make a person successful. In the case of Francisco Masella there are several elements that have helped him to succeed professionally. "A good manager has to be honest, hardworking, study and look for all the information regarding his segment, share that information, teach and always be willing to help."
Therefore, most of Masella's daily readings refer to information about the sector, books that show new products, research, as well as others dedicated to customer service, management, development, etc.
In his work, he acknowledges that not everything has been perfect and that he has had some problems with colleagues and employees who do not have proper treatment with customers or who do not share information with their colleagues. "I have difficulties with some collaborators who sin because of lack of focus and dedication to work, because of passivity, selfishness and self-centeredness"
On the personal side, the activities of the countryside and the visits to the beach with the family are two of the activities that most satisfy him in his free time, in which he also usually listens to music, although he recognizes that he does not have any favorite genre. "I take advantage of the time with my family or international fairs to have some moments of pleasure. The rest of the time is work."
Leave your comment