1909 - 2019
110 YEARS OF HISTORY
We have been in the market for one hundred and ten years. We have followed the change, the independence and the development of Mozambique. It has been more than a century building and solidifying a relationship of stability and transparency with the Mozambican market.
Back then, Lourenço Marques was nothing but a small village surrounded by swamps, where life was extremely difficult and death peeped all the time. There were no comfortable houses, piped water, electricity nor streets.
In the 19thcentury, on 7 June 1896, João António de Carvalho, born in the municipality of Aveiro, Portugal, from a poor family. At only 18 years old boarded the third class German merchant-ship called Bundesrath to Mozambique.
On 22 August of the same year, about a month and a half later, arrived in the country where he stayed connected to for the rest of his life: Lourenço Marques.
Back then, Lourenço Marques was nothing but a small village surrounded by swamps, where life was extremely difficult and death peeped all the time. There were no comfortable houses, piped water, electricity nor streets.
After arriving with his small hand luggage, João António de Carvalho wandered up and down near the dock area, on Rua 18 de Maio (Street), today known as Rua Mártires de Inhaminga (Street), until he found a small business establishment selling a bit of everything, from coal and oil to grocery products and wine. He found a job and a place to live; thus, he began his life in Africa.
Eager for knowledge for having primary education only – because he could not carry on studying due to financial constraints of his family - quickly realised that besides him, people who lived in the city of Lourenço Marques, now Maputo, only had access to publications in English, coming from South Africa. They felt, therefore, the need to have access to news and other types of reading in their mother tongue.
"Carvalhinho",as affectionately known later on, began to order from Portugal some newspapers and almanacs, books from authors known at that time, and even Borda d'Água, to sell them in the establishment where he worked.
"Carvalhinho", as affectionately known later on, began to order from Portugal some newspapers and almanacs, books from authors known at that time, and even Borda d'Água, to sell them in the establishment where he worked for. For some years, the acceptance and growing success drove "Carvalhinho" to start thinking about opening an establishment dedicated solely to this type of product, as he said himself:
- "I felt bad with a bookstore in a grocery store where, sometimes, I used to show the books with the hands covered in wine and full of bacon fat ".
So, in 1908, João António de Carvalho, at 29 years old and with a very big appreciation for education - which led him to assign to himself the mission of bringing, for free, textbooks to students without resources from all points of Mozambique - he inaugurated in the then called Rua D. Luís(street), now Rua Consiglieri Pedroso(Street) – in a building of ground floor made of stone and lime, with a long porch of corrugated iron sheet and iron columns, similar to many others of that time - his Bookstore, Stationery Shop and an affiliated Typography: Minerva Central.
It was about one year later, on 1 October 1909, with the arrival of another Portuguese called Manuel Arnaldo da Silva from Porto, a very competent Typographer and great friend of "Carvalhinho", that Minerva Central - Graphic Workshops, pioneer in Mozambique, assumed a fundamental role in the print industry in Mozambique, setting up several national publications and standing up against the strong competition of articles produced in large scale from Portugal and South Africa.
The company continued its journey harmoniously for decades. After "Carvalhinho" came his brother, SebastiãoCarvalho, supported by the youngest son of the former, Jorge Furtado de Carvalho, who besides showing interest for print industry, always kept the ideal left by his Father alive, of helping those who needed.
On October 1, 1909 Minerva Central - Oficinas Gráficas, a pioneer in Mozambique, was born. It has played a key role in the Mozambican printing industry, founding several national publications facing competition from Portugal and South Africa.
The war came in 1964 and the company, like the country, experienced a dramatic period. There were ten years of sacrifices to ensure that the workers would never go home without the livelihood for their families.
In 1973, João António de Carvalho, namesake of his grandfather and son of Jorge Furtado de Carvalho, begins to help his father and later, in 1995, after the death of his father, takes over the company.
An entrepreneur like his grandfather and his other predecessors, João António de Carvalho started a genuine restructuring of the Graphic Workshops, which had some problems of management and lack of qualified staff.
He hired staff with proven professional skills, founded and equipped the new and modern sector of pre-printing, PrePress, he substantially improved the working conditions with powerful air conditioning units, promoted the use of uniform for staff, set up an electronic point system and improved the accounting system.He also modernised the facilities, creating a reception area for customers and painted the building with the same colour of the uniforms of the staff. In addition, João António de Carvalho celebrated several contracts with solid customers, which ensured good jobs and lasting stability for the company, diversifying the business areas, which created the conditions for the name Minerva Group.
With the challenge of ensuring the economic sustainability of the project that he inherited from his family and with the responsibility that gave him no truce, João António de Carvalho had great plans on the horizon, out of which some were implemented. However, all this commitment tothe future of the company made him give no due attention to his health and in 2003 passed away due to heart problems, leaving Edith Carvalho, his mother, as head of the company.
More recently,in 2017, there was a segregation of the business areas of Minerva Group.
The affiliated typography founded by "Carvalhinho", the favourite sector of the son, Jorge Furtado de Carvalho, and strongly restructured by the grandson, João António de Carvalho, continues to grow - now independent, now designated as Minerva Print - on strong centenarian foundations in the hands of his great grandson, Jayson Carvalho.
110 years ago, the dream of João António de Carvalho, " Minerva’s Carvalhinho ", came true. Today, remains as alive as back then, projecting the size and quality of the Mozambican print industry toward the future.
