Adeje, in the year 1968, was a small municipality with only 6,500 inhabitants and where emigration, agriculture, and the beginnings of a timid tourist and service activity set the pace of its society. In that environment, a young man of just 13 years, from a humble and hardworking family, juggled, with enormous determination and effort, the studies of the time with work in his father’s forge, tasks in the family gardens and farms, and his beginnings as a waiter in a party hall. Just 4 years later, at 17, this young man from Adeje founded, with his father’s surname as the main name, the parent company that gave birth to one of the most successful business projects in contemporary Adeje society.
More than half a century later, on the afternoon of last Friday, Zacarías Miguel Galindo González was honoured by the town that saw him born and acknowledged by its city council with the title of Favourite Son of the Historic Village of Adeje, according to the unanimous agreement of the Municipal Council, in a session held on May 31, which the corporation’s secretary, Javier García Morales, was in charge of explaining to all the people present at the institutional event for the presentation of the award.
A moment of the act. / E. D.
It is Adeje’s recognition of the son of the blacksmith, Miguel. An Adeje that, in just five decades, has grown by leaps and bounds and that, not by chance, has seen some of its residents play essential roles and be directly responsible for the economic and social development of the municipality, placing it among the most prosperous in Canary Islands. But, although it may seem strange, Galindo did not start his successful business career in tourism-related ventures. It was in his father’s forge and through agriculture that he forged his skills and enormous entrepreneurial vision. Zacarías Miguel has been one of those men who, with his own hands, and with the indispensable support of his family, has contributed to building the present recognised and identifiable Adeje. Hence the undisputed recognition of that journey.
The motivations behind the award
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Following the municipal secretary, the mayor of Adeje was in charge of explaining the causes and motivations that led the corporation to present this distinction. “It is the first time it has been awarded in 200 years of history of this municipality and it embodies the values of the people of the south, the tough people who had to work in a hostile land,” stated Rodríguez Fraga, for whom “Miguel, his family, his parents, his brother Paco, whom we must also remember today, have embodied those values and have contributed that set of principles that also have to do with solidarity and love for their land and their people.”
Miguel Galindo is recognised as a Favourite Son / E. D.
For the mayor, this is a fair recognition, “a tribute to a person we all feel proud of, who was born and flourished in his town, alongside his lifelong people, without giving up his roots and the love for his land”. “Therefore, on behalf of all Adeje men and women today, with this tribute, we thank Miguel Galindo for all his work and his career, in which he has always included Adeje, helping to create employment and opportunities for his fellow citizens. For his dedication to education, culture, or traditions,” he added.
Next, visibly moved, the honouree took the floor. The first thing Galindo González wanted to do was to thank the mayor and the municipal corporation for this recognition, which is supported by all municipal groups, “something I especially appreciate and which is a great honour and makes me very emotional,” he stated. He mentioned his whole family, his grandfather and his father, both blacksmiths, his godmother; he explained episodes of his childhood, such as the day of his first communion, when his feet bled because he played football with shoes one size smaller and borrowed clothes. “For me, it was very difficult to start from scratch, without a penny, with great efforts and sacrifices, but today I thank God for having what I have, a great family, friends, and a strong and important business group that operates in different countries and does so from here, from Adeje,” commented Zacarías Miguel.
A moment of the act. / E. D.
“I had to give up studying Fine Arts because it pained me to see the effort my family had to make to pay for my studies, I returned home and started working with my father and with my.
My grandfather always said, “That served me well to witness how my village progressed and grew, how its people prospered,” with emotion.
The Recognition Event
Years later, the first company, Manuel Galindo and Sons, was born. They focused on installing pipes for irrigating banana plantations using water extracted from galleries and wells in the high areas of the municipality. It was a very demanding job from which they also obtained drinking water from great depths. Five years later, in their father’s small workshop, they began manufacturing agricultural machinery to the point where they patented a mechanical device that simplified the arduous task, in those years, of washing and drying banana clusters. It was a great success that quickly spread to all the plantations and cooperatives in the region and on the island.
At the tribute held last Friday at the former Franciscan Convent dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, those beginnings were emotionally remembered. Over 200 people honoured and celebrated, alongside the Galindo family, a recognition that, as the honouree himself pointed out, “does not only bear my name, but also that of my father, my mother, or my siblings, because we all dedicated our lives to working and contributing our part for the growth and progress of Adeje, of which we have always been passionate.”
Among the attendees were the Mayor of Adeje leading the local Corporation, the Vice President of the Government of the Canaries, Manuel Domínguez; Senators Pedro Martín and Emilio Navarro; mayors from the region, military and police representatives, and a broad representation from the consular corps, among others. Also present were the individuals and companies that endorsed and initiated the process of awarding this distinction, such as representatives from the Business Circle of the South of Tenerife (CEST), Quirón Hospitals, the Family Business Association of the Canaries, the Chamber of Commerce, the CEOE, the Volunteer Firefighters of Adeje, or the Costa Adeje School, among many others.
A moment from the recognition ceremony for Miguel Galindo / E. D.
The second family business, founded in 1982, was named Perfotene and specialised in drilling water wells. The successes of this work also came quickly, and they discovered water sources that are well-known and crucial even today, such as the San Juan Well (1984) or the San Sebastián Well (1985). That company was the seed of what we now know as the Adeje water company, Entemanser, founded in 1987, which soon, through various public tenders, secured potable water services not only in Adeje but also in other municipalities on the island.
From there, Miguel Galindo and his family’s trajectory continued to reap successes, from the Costa Adeje International School, a private educational institution with over a thousand students and 140 professionals in its service, to the operation of service or construction contracts in the Dominican Republic, Panama, and the United States, spanning across various sectors like services, construction, or sports, through golf.
“I want to thank all the people who have helped me get to where I am, those who accompanied me in the early years, my father and my brother Paco,” he said, “now I proudly see how my children Aaron and Azael or my wife, Amaya, are also part of the companies. And so many people who help us in our tasks.” “I hope and trust that, over the years, the jobs and positions we have created in all of them can be maintained,” he added.
The international trajectory has not prevented Galindo González from always looking towards Adeje, with a determined contribution to the development of all kinds of cultural and social activities that have defined the municipality. Undoubtedly, this contribution has been important for positioning Adeje as a local, regional, and national reference in activities of the significance of the Adeje Summer University (UVA), where thousands of students from the south have been trained, or Holy Week. His altruistic work has not stopped there as he has collaborated in improving religious centres, made significant donations, engaged in solidarity actions such as combating hunger, raising awareness for cancer patients and their families, or through all the altruistic activities of the Southern Tenerife Rotary Club, of which he is a part, alongside the Volunteer Firefighters of Adeje or the South CIT.
Following the institutional event, a cocktail and reception were held by Galindo González, attended by all the invited guests and featuring a performance by Los Sabandeños.
