Jorge Gomez millionaire businessman story, the one who lived in a prefabricated bathroom. They say that the best memories are made up of small moments. Jorge Gómez, the entrepreneur who invented himself, is in Monaco. He stops the march of his Pagani Zonda C12 and, while listening to a song by Gustavo Cerati, suddenly cries. Maybe he remembers his childhood. The family home in La Matanza, in Lomas del Mirador, was a prefabricated, pitch, with black cardboard roof. In the short days, of long and cold nights that pierced the bones, winter was the worst enemy. Outside the house was the manual pump to draw water. Inside, there was not even a bathroom. The fuentón presented itself as the best shower possible. Perhaps, however, crying is simply the thrill of feeling the 555 horsepower engine of one of the most exclusive, sophisticated and powerful cars in the world. "I dream awake what I want to happen to me," he says and emphasizes every word. Doña Rosa, her mother, who is 85 today, believes that her son is doing well because he continues to pray every day in a different church and lights candles asking for him.
It was the last day of school. His mother, a catamarque and tireless worker who sewed shirts in quantity for a manufacturer of Once, and his father-tractor, worker, and employee of a foundry company-invested everything they had to send him to a private school. They moved from the town of Comodoro Py, in Bragado, to La Matanza. His friends and colleagues commented on his future: some said they wanted to be doctors, other lawyers. Jorge, however, snapped: "I'm going to make money." I didn't know how, but I was certain. He was not afraid to cheer up and try.
Jorge Gomez millionaire businessman story
Gomez, an only child, grew up knowing what luxuries were: everything he and his family couldn't have. They didn't have a car, they never went on vacation and the sodas were just for the weekend.
Rosa dressed him every Sunday in an impolite white to attend Mass, while repeating to him that he was capable, intelligent and that he could do whatever he set out to do. For Gomez, a car fan, life was always like a race. You have to accelerate, risk, sometimes stop, but never stop.
Eccentric by conviction, he spent shoes walking and listening to those who knew more than him. A brief description of its beginnings would say what follows. Profession and vocation: seller. He was employed in a dependency relationship for only six months in his life. He had a local bijouterie. He made chocolate mousse and, as he boasts, popularized it in restaurants when it was a luxury dessert, along with his first partner, who died years later when they assaulted the pizzeria he owned and shot him. He sold cold cuts and cheeses - until the mice invaded the warehouse - he owned a supermarket, a freight agency, a shop selling cookies to the weight and a food house with food and pie service. All before the age of 25.
Sometimes he had two or three personal business cards, since he did several jobs at once. When he started to make a matrix for plastic boxes, the time he grew economically, the first matrix scammed him. In a row, he bought from a neighbor a revolver Bagual 22, old and deteriorated, which he did not intend to use.
His racconto would also say that, when a toy manufacturer that had melted, offered two thousand automatic boxes, he sold them in a month. Gomez almost begged him to do more, many more. He could not convince him and the only option was then to buy the machines and the factory. He had no money, sold his house, the Taunus coupé and the Jeep and went to live with his mother-in-law. Always thoroughly. That's how he started with Roker 37 years ago, his electrical materials company, which today has more than 100 employees.
A brief review of his life would detail that the company's factory, which has 7200 square meters and a Ferrari-shaped piece of furniture in the main office, was purchased in 2002. Gomez had no money to face the operation and the country was going through one of its worst economic and endemic crises. The seller, a financier, needed liquidity and wanted to get rid of the facilities because he was afraid of usurping them. He asked, he almost begged, to buy it and the transaction was completed by the modest, almost surreal, figure of $ 4,400. Yes, 60 installments for that amount, adjustable by the US rate, which at that time was about 5%. Today the rent of that property alone would be worth about 10 thousand dollars a month. "In every crisis there is always an opportunity," says Gomez.
If you were asked why the name Roker, he would answer that it came up at random, and it was his partner's idea. If you inquire a little more, perhaps I would say that it was an excellent decision. Soon after they patented it, a renowned cell phone company wanted that name for one of its models. They were paid 65 thousand dollars to use it.
A separate chapter would record his passion for cars, art and some of his crazy things. The company's finance officer usually grabs his head when Gomez asks, without prior notice, cash to buy a car or a paint.
Your resume would stress, surely, that you have no shame or fear of ridicule, most often a quality, even if you have ever played against it. And of course, I would point out that he was the first Argentine and Latin American to have a car from the famous Argentine designer and builder Horacio Pagani, without having the necessary money. He convinced him to buy his personal car in installments. For a vehicle that does not fall below 2 million euros, and there is a waiting list to be able to make one, it is more than a good anecdote.
If there were a section for his personal life, he would point out that he is 61 years old, is Sagittarian and outgoing. I would add that one of his favorite bands is The Beatles, who is not interested in football, to the point that he went from being a follower of San Lorenzo to Boca, something for which his wife, Gabriela, fan of that sport and River, up to date today he reproaches him.
That his two oldest children, Mariano, 35, and Federico, 33, work in the factory. The first is general manager and the second marketing manager, and they prefer the low profile just like Solana, 30, Victoria 17 and Valentina, 16. He has two grandchildren, Charo and León, both three years old, and there's a third one on the way, Marcos.
Maybe he would also say that his father, Rodolfo Marcelino, who was all called Rolo, had problems with alcohol. Jorge suffered a lot when he was young when he saw him drunk and was ashamed of the whole situation. The relationship just improved - he would add in the review of his personal life - when he was already an adult. When he died, he had to do therapy to be able to forgive him and, even so, he could not do it. One day he dreamed that they hugged. He woke up scared and drenched in sweat. The scene was too real. It was only then that the wound healed. There was no more rancor.
Jorge Gomez millionaire businessman story
The synthesis would not fail to mention that for him his mother was stronger than Rocky himself, and that he often calls her that. He worked endless days so that nothing was missing and to take care of him. On bad days, when alcohol seized Rolo, he was not afraid to face it, despite the difference in size and complexion. She, of small and skinny stature; He was large and robust in composition. Many times family disputes ended with police intervention.
Jorge cries when he remembers. The past becomes latent. And the screams, louder and louder. Confusion reigns. Now he is in the prefabricated house again. Rolo slaps Rosa. She defends herself. You feel the noise. As if it were a dagger, it crosses the skin. He just stuck a knife in Rolo's hand. That was the last time he hit his wife.
There were also good and joyful days, I would point out the personal description. And there were many. Both Rosa, his heroine, and Rolo, supported him to forge his future. They trusted that the boy, with a broad and optimistic smile, would reach the goals he had, regardless of the magnitude of those dreams. When Jorge was 18 and finished school, his parents were hired as managers of a building in Recoleta. They bet on the future. They sold their house and gave their son all the money. He knew he had to take care of him, it was his lifelong savings. And I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur.
It's a December morning and the heavy rain minimizes visibility. In the El Golf neighborhood in Nordelta, however, a three-meter sculpture stands out in one of the houses. A hand leaves the earth with a pencil and draws the silhouette of a car. It is the Pagani Zonda C12.
For its creation the remains of the first car that Pagani bought were used. The Toyota Corolla of the year 81 was abandoned, in lousy condition, and was located by an admirer of him, Diego Posso. It cost only $ 200 and for Gomez its real value was invaluable. It was El Capo's car! - as he says of him - of the artist, of the designer, of the builder of Casilda who would reach worldwide fame with his carmaker Pagani Automobili. And also his friend. Then he had one of his many eccentric ideas: turn it into a work of art. The young Uruguayan Joaquín Arbiza Brianza was in charge of its realization.
Pagani and Gómez met at the Geneva Motor Show in 2000. The businessman was dazzled by the supercar made of carbon fiber, with a 12-cylinder engine. At first it was going to be called Fangio F1, but before the death of the runner, they thought of the name of Zonda, the most representative wind in the country.
When he proposed to buy his personal car in installments, which also had the Nürburgring record, Pagani thought he was joking and that the transaction for 340 thousand euros would never be made. However he took it for a ride, so he tested the car. He did it and it was love at first sight. He also showed him the braking system. From 200 kilometers to 0 in 4.4 seconds.
Jorge Gomez millionaire businessman story
- I sell these cars to billionaires (he smiled)
- But I'm not a billionaire. I'm Argentinean. I don't know, we can make a savings plan, he said, without blushing.
- Ok, from here to the end of the year, he replied.
They agreed that he should advance 80 thousand euros to a friend of Pagani in Argentina. When he went to take the money, he was not aware. Pagani would confess after he never thought he was serious. He apologized and told him that he would take apart the car and do it again, from scratch, to compensate him for having misjudged him. Thus began a friendship that would consolidate over the years. That careless man, who kept smiling, in the end was the one who spoke most seriously.
The car was ready in 2005. At the Pagani factory in Italy everyone applauded when they uncovered the blanket that covered it. When Gomez saw it, with those curves and that unique blue, the color chosen by the designer himself embraced him. An opera sounded in the background. Then they would go together to see the Monaco Grand Prix, one in each Pagani.
"You have to be less afraid than the others," says the owner of Roker, while looking at a painting by Antonio Berni from 1983 in which he sees his father reflected when he was building the materials house. As with the Zonda, something similar happened with the painting. They offered it in a renowned gallery of Libertador for 130 thousand dollars. For him, it was somehow part of his childhood. He had no money and the dealer was stunned when he proposed to give him in exchange the Porsche Cayenne OKM he had just bought.
The painting hangs on the wall of what he calls the Gómez Collection Museum. Is that the construction in El Golf, which highlights the hand of Pagani, opened in June 2018, officiates as a meeting between artists and friends, although it is not open to the public.
Jorge Gomez millionaire businessman story: The gallery has 650 square meters, white walls and marble floor, and is divided into two floors. Mix the world of art, luxury sports cars and some curiosities.
The main attraction is the more than 50 luxury sports car bonnets, operated by renowned artists at your request, such as Marta Minujin, Carlos Páez Vilaró, Clorindo Testa, Pablo Atchugarry, Luis Benedit, Daniela Boo, Andrés Compagnucci, Juan Doffo, Jorge Ferreyra Basso, Rogelio Polesello and Ricardo Roux.
Gomez says he doesn't know anything about art, that there are simply works that convey something special to him. In 2005 he met Páez Vilaró, in Punta Ballena. He had gone with the Zonda to Casapueblo, the building built by the Uruguayan artist 13 kilometers from Punta del Este, where he worked until his last days (died six years ago). He was shocked by the car and Gomez then told him to do something inspired by the Zonda. He drew the sunset, at Casa Pueblo and with an affectionate dedication.
If art is human creations that express a sensitive vision of the world, there are cars that, by dedication, details, and what they generate, can be considered as such. The fusion of these two worlds, through the bonnets, at first seemed crazy, but had a great reception among the artists. They could create what they wanted and felt. There was no slogan.
The idea took shape after Gomez bought the Porsche 911-997 GT2, the only one in Argentina. Beside that car he commissioned two dozen bonnets from the German factory. To them would be added the bonnets of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, the Lamborghini Gallardo, the Ferrari F355, the Chevrolet Corvette and the Pagani Zonda F.
Thus Jorge Ferreira Basso illustrated Froilan González in the hood of a Ferrari 355, winning in Silvertone, the first victory of the Italian team in Formula 1. Minujin opted for a collage of hand-painted fabrics with fluorine colors and neon lights. Pablo Atchugarry made a kind of shield on a shield trying to refer to speed.
Andrés Compagnucci, on the other hand, presented a work with an image of Meteoro, the king of the tracks and the Japanese manga. Omar Panosetti made an acrylic with the effigy of Evita, surrounded by Argentine flags and the architect Clorindo Testa chose to paint spray stripes on the hood. Páez Vilaró created the work El Espejo, an abstract nude female double and Daniela Boo painted Coca Sarli naked with her famous phrase: what do you want from me?
Each corner of the house has Gomez's own seal. To the original idea of art and bonnets, historical objects are added. Gómez is a collector, he likes to keep pieces of history. As a reader who lives a thousand lives before dying, having personal pieces of artists or athletes that marked an era is a similar sensation. Every story is a new world to discover.
Jorge Gomez millionaire businessman story: Sometimes it is an image that allows you to be part, in some way, of a unique moment. Like the photograph of boxer Mohamed Ali hugging Pele, which is located on the first floor of the museum, on October 1, 1977, when the Brazilian star left football as a player of the US Cosmos in a game in New Jersey, signed by both . Two of the greatest athletes of all time together, who were also friends.
Others may be an object. Like the second gold album of The Beatles, which is also exhibited in the gallery, or the drawer with the cuts that Ringo Starr's mother kept when her son began to become famous and amaze the world with his songs.
On the first floor of this heterogeneous collection, there are even clothes. Although of course, it has a reason. Gomez acquired the official jacket worn by Michael Schumacher at an auction that Sotheby's made at the Ferrari factory. It is one of his great treasures and he paid for it almost 80 thousand euros. Also, framed in a painting, is a Harley Davidson jacket signed by Pope Francis.
The businessman is wearing a colorful and particular shirt that reflects his personality. Mix of yellow and blue colors, with a sun stamped on the right side, near the chest, and with fire and rain also represented. He combines it with white pants and brown shoes, with the black tip. He wears a gold ring, personified, of the Pagani Zonda, and an equally extravagant watch, also made to measure in honor of what he considers the most beautiful car in the world. He still keeps his capacity for wonder intact and gets excited like a child by showing each of the objects in the house.
Gomez explains that the gallery mouse table has a particularity, like everything here. Not only is it giant in size, but it is made with the engine of the first Zonda, a V12 of Mercedes-Benz origin. The work, carried out by Arbiza Brianza, like Pagani's hand, is another example of her passion for cars. The artist, barely 27 years old, also created a sculpture of a bull, with a black beret, with pieces of a Lamborghini.
When walking the museum house, the look also stops at the stained glass windows. Cerati, with his characteristic black glasses and a guitar, Freddie Mercury with a cape holding a microphone, radiating charisma and obnubilating the public, and Elvis Presley give more life to the place. The elaboration is by Ariel Menniti, who also recreated Stan Lee, in the costume of the spiderman, his creation, and even Gomez himself, in other windows.
The businessman who is a fan of the original Batman of the 60s and of the comics, also painted a corner of the walls with his favorite characters, among which the Guazón stands out, which he usually disguises when he has the opportunity, as on his birthday 60 or when he stunned the beachmen of a US service station several years ago, interpreting it, while driving a Lamborghini.
Entertainment could also not be absent in this redoubt. A Batman flipper, model 66, premium edition, relaunched a few years ago for the most nostalgic, and another from Space Odyssey are some of the game options, as well as a ping pong table and a gold-legged football, in which he usually faces his friend Matías Rossi, a road tourism corridor. The main attraction is completed by a pool table almost unique in the world, there is only one of its kind and it is owned by an Arab sheikh. It has Murano glass legs. After seeing it in a catalog, he traveled especially to Venice to acquire it. If someone asked your price, maybe they would give you a heart attack. Its value amounts to 250 thousand euros.
Jorge Gomez millionaire businessman story: Gomez, who works in his own book about his life, in comic format, toured the world thanks to his follies, which even opened up many business opportunities.
The bonnet collection was exhibited at the Porsche museum in Germany, and was the first art show to be exhibited there. It was one of his many dreams and he looked for the opportunity. It tells the story that caught the attention of the Zonda, to the point that the organizers asked him to run the car because it overshadowed the Panamera. Thus he managed to offer them to take the sample there that was also present in a place as remote as the United Arab Emirates. When a representative from that country wrote to him, he thought it was a joke.
He is still surprised when some of his ideas end up being true and exceed expectations. Through an acquaintance, he contacted Christie's in New York, one of the largest auction house in the world, and not only agreed to offer the hood intervened by Minujín, but was the top of his online catalog. The base price was approximately 6 thousand dollars and was sold at 80 thousand.
He then offered to auction the entire house and, again, to his surprise, they accepted. It would be the first time a museum is sold in its entirety. Although he acknowledges, he hardly carries out the operation, because this place gives him happiness. Sometimes he likes to try, see what happens. To reverse later there is time.
The entrepreneur enjoys every moment of his life. He knows what it took to get there, those many years in which he slept only four hours because he used all his time to work. He wants to accumulate more stories to tell. Life is one, it is repeated.
Thus he participated in the Gumball Rally, a regularity competition reserved for exotic cars and multi-million dollar competitors, in a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coup. He traveled more than 100 thousand kilometers with Pagani Zonda and once made 700 kilometers to go to eat gizzards at his friend Colagreco. He allowed himself to beat him and buy a sculptor Rockefeller wanted. He ate and joked with Apple's vice president. And he was encouraged to pursue his dreams, as when he had almost closed the deal to buy his first Ferrari and that same week he lost 100 thousand dollars in the stock market, but that way and everything negotiated and bought it. Then another nine would come (eight used, and one even belonged to Maradona). Or he could also tell Cerati, when he found it by chance in Punta del Este, what he felt that time he heard his song.
Jorge Gomez millionaire businessman story: Gomez's passion is carried in the blood and skin. In his right hand he has a tattoo of the Zonda, with the number 30, the chassis number of his car, made based on a drawing that Pagani himself sent him.
In the gallery there is a framed photo of Pagani's latest work. He has a dedication for Gomez. "Emotion and dreams are the energy of our day. This is already your Huayra. We will do it together to reflect our friendship."