The story
Fabrimetal, short for the Federation of Enterprises in the Metal Industry (Dutch: Federatie van de ondernemingen der metaalwerkende nijverheid, French: Fédération des entreprises de l'industrie des fabrications métalliques, Fabrimétal), was established in 1946 on the foundations of the Federation of Manufacturers (Dutch: Federatie van Fabrikanten, French: Fédération des constructeurs), founded in 1906. At its peak, Fabrimetal represented 1200 enterprises in the metalworking industry, electronic construction and the processing of plastics.
The name change from Fabrimetal to Agoria was announced on 9 November 2000 by then managing director Philippe de Buck and president John Cordier. The old name was thought to refer too explicitly to the metalworking industry, and it was the organisation's aim to recruit new companies from the technology sector.
Currently, Agoria counts more than 1900 member companies from the manufacturing industry, and the digital and telecom sectors. With a €125.20 billion turnover in 2018, these sectors jointly represent no less than 9% of the added value of the private sector in Belgium. Agoria's member companies represent an overall 320,000 direct jobs, about 10% of the Belgian private sector. Agoria is the largest federation within the Federation of Belgian Enterprises (Dutch: Verbond van Belgische Ondernemingen, VBO, French: Fédération des Entreprises de Belgique, FEB).
From Wikipedia’s article on Agoria, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5