Our manager shares his experience of generational handover and the transformation of a century-old business.
Malaga, 21 October 2025
Marcos Gil Lupiañez, manager of Tortas de Aceite Carmen Lupiañez, participated as a speaker at the prestigious Family Business Forum organised by Diario SUR, which this year dedicated its annual meeting to analysing the challenges of family succession. The event, held in the Cajamar assembly hall, was sponsored by Cajamar, with the collaboration of Malaga City Council and the San Telmo Institute.
A legacy of more than 100 years in constant evolution
At the technical round table entitled "The challenges of succession in the family business", Marcos shared the experience of leading a company with more than a century of history. "We come from a company that is more than 100 years old: in 1998 we started a transformation process, bringing our product to the market, evolving but without losing the north and the essence", he explained during his intervention.
The manager of Tortas Carmen Lupiañez highlighted the fundamental role of his mother, Carmen Lupiañez, as a reference in his professional career: "I have always had a lot of enthusiasm, and my mother Carmen Lupiañez as a reference. My mother always knew what I wanted, and helped me at all times to achieve it".
Keys to successful succession
During the discussion, Marcos shared his views on the key elements for a successful generational handover:
- Transformation without losing the essence: "A successor must tackle a transformation of the company without losing the roots, and must be committed to training in order to have clear objectives. In my case, we had a product that we believed in and we have adapted it to the market so that it can reach more and more places.
- Comprehensive preparation: "You have to be prepared in every way for succession: no one is indispensable in a business, you have to start making changes and bring in qualified people to add to the company".
- Clear strategic vision: "In succession you have to be clear about the vision of the company, and what kind of growth or diversification you want: you have to make decisions, it's the only way to get there. You have to reinvent yourself, bring in new people who bring quality and modernisation".
A meeting with industry experts
The technical round table was moderated by journalist Álvaro Payo and also included the participation of Javier Martín Ruiz, operational and HR director at Costasol de Hipermercados, and Pilar Mérida-Nicolich, financial and HR director at Microcad. Previously, Macarena Selva, academic director of the Family Business Chair at San Telmo Business School, gave a keynote speech on good practices in family succession.
Sergio Durán, territorial director of Cajamar in Malaga, Granada and Melilla, closed the event by stressing that "family businesses face many challenges, but also the strength of the family as a strategic value".
The value of the family business
This type of meeting reinforces the commitment of Tortas de Aceite Carmen Lupiañez to the values of the family business: tradition, quality, innovation and future projection. As Marcos pointed out during his speech, our company is an example of how to combine more than a century of history with the ability to adapt to the current market, always maintaining the essence that has characterised us since our origins.
