The story
A small business precursor of Grupo Corripio was established in 1917 when Ramón Corripio arrived for the first time in the Dominican Republic from Spain. Ramón received further support when his brother Manuel Corripio (1908–2004) arrived in 1921. They established the business with a modest sum of RD$3,000 pesos; they had lost much of their initial investment after the 1930 San Zenón hurricane. In the wake of the tragedy the Royal Bank of Canada offered to discount its clients debt by 50%. However, the Corripio brothers, who had incurred debt to the bank, preferred settling their commitments. This decision helped establish a solid reputation and opened new doors and sources for financing.
According to Manuel's son and the current president of Grupo Corripio, Mr. José Luis Corripio (Pepín), the family enterprise was developed from years of intense work, with the entire family (including his mother) following a labor ritual that began at 6:00 am and ended at midnight. An emphasis on savings and monitoring costs was a critical internal component. Manuel even delayed purchasing a home for several years because he preferred investing available capital into his businesses.
A determining period in the Group's development occurred after the fall of dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo (d. 1961) and the April Revolution, the political uprising of April 1965 that led to the second occupation of the Dominican Republic by the US military. These events catalyzed an unprecedented opening of the country's domestic market and the Corripio family took advantage of the opportunity by investing in several new businesses. According to Jose Luis Corripio, a critical factor in the group's future success was remaining confident in the Dominican Republic, even at times when domestic turmoil and uncertainty caused other businesses to flee.
Pepín Corripio initiated another stage of the company's growth by diversifying their investments in a variety of new business sectors. Among the first sectors the Group targeted was the gasoline industry, which was inspired by Pepín's observation of the commodities necessity in Dominicans performance of daily activities.
From Wikipedia’s article on Grupo Corripio, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4