Amancio Ortega: The Fashion Magnate Supporting Spain To Fight COVID-19

Amancio Ortega Gaona is a Spanish billionaire businessman. He is the founder and former chairman of Inditex fashion group, best known for its chain of Zara clothing and accessories shops.

Amancio was born in Busdong de Arbás, Leon, Spain on March 28, 1936. He was the youngest of four children and spent his childhood in León. He left school and moved to A Coruña at the age of 14, due to the job of his father, a railway worker. Shortly after, he found a job as a shop hand for a local shirtmaker called Gala, which still sits on the same corner in downtown A Coruña, and learned to make clothes by hand.

Ortega first began his career manufacturing textiles through a small family company in 1963. He married Rosalia Mera in 1966 and in 1975, he opened his first Zara store with his wife, Mera. Sadly, the couple divorced in 1986 and Mera died in August 2013 at the age of 69. He later remarried in 2001 to his present wife, Flora.

Amancio Ortega is one of the richest men in Europe and the wealthiest clothing retailer in the world. Beside his clothing giant, Zara, Ancio also invests his dividends primarily into real estate in Madrid, Barcelona, London, Chicago, Miami and New York. As of December 2019, Ortega had a net worth of $68.3 billion, making him the second-wealthiest person in Europe and one of the six wealthiest men in the world.

In July 2017, for its second edition of the AEF awards, the Spanish Association of Foundations awarded Amancio Ortega in the 2017 Philanthropic Initiative category. He also donated 300 million euros to fighting cancer across Spain, which was invested in the purchase of 440 machines to detect the disease.

When the COVID-19 pandemic came around, The fast-fashion pioneer spent nearly $68 million (63 million euros) on medical equipment for the Spanish Health System, including 1,450 ventilators, 3 million filter masks and 1 million testing kits. Ortega’s Inditex group also allowed the Spanish government to use its factories and logistics team to manufacture masks for patients and medical workers.

Coming from one of the most affected countries in the world, the fashion magnate rose to the occasion when COVID-19 was having an unhindered onslaught against Spain. For his efforts towards providing relief and fighting the onslaught of the virus in his country, Ancio Ortega makes the Neusroom 100 list.