22 March, 2019

Our purpose

Everyone knows the importance of a company’s purpose; the importance of stating it and its value as a cohesive and guiding element to define the company’s benchmarks, decisions, actions and processes.

Over the last few months, on several occasions, I have heard talk about or read articles referring to the purpose of companies. This has led me to reflect on ours.

It can certainly feel uncomfortable to define the reason why your company ultimately exists. It means publicly undressing yourself, with a subsequent obligation to maintain clarity and transparency as you do so.

It’s always been clear to me what Orbea’s purpose is. And while I have sifted through different filters from which we view the company, I have always preferred it the same way: that we exist to enrich different people and teams who are intimately acquainted with our soul.

By doing so, we have made a statement. Our purpose, our reason for being as a company, is very simple: TO CHANGE THE WORLD.

To change the world means doing things in a COOPERATIVE manner. We believe that a different way of managing business is possible, where work prevails over capital, and where everyone makes an impact. It’s a model where success is distributed more fairly, more evenly, and takes on deeper meaning when we can transform it into employment. We know it is not a perfect model, but we are convinced that it is the best model to build a better world, and we know that it is our responsibility to contribute to it.

Changing the world is also why we make BICYCLES. Bicycles are called upon to serve as the element of mobility and provide sustainability for our planet. They make it possible to stop depleting the world that we must hand over to future generations. Young people have already understood for some time now that they must change their behaviors, and they have done so. They have understood that sharing is more valuable than possessing, and less is almost always more. Many people have already understood that using bicycles makes us healthier and much happier, and by pedaling, we are also building a better world. We are extremely lucky to work for them, for the true protagonists of this change, for those who will change the world.

Our purpose is that: simple and clear. Two traits that make us stronger than anyone. Two traits which, if we were ever to lose them, would mean we would lose our reason for being; we would be losing our soul.

Jon Fernández, CEO Orbea