When Amancio Ortega’s name appears in the media, it’s often associated with Forbes and their richest-person rankings.

The former chief executive of Inditex fluctuates among the top tier of wealthiest people in the world and keeps a low-profile, avoiding interviews and media appearances as much as possible.

At 80-years-old, the grandfather was able to establish himself as the richest man in the world for two days, overtaking Microsoft’s Bill Gates on Wednesday and Thursday last week. Fluctuation in share prices soon returned him to second place.

So what’s the Spaniard’s secret? BBC shares it with us:

Amancio Ortega stepped down as chief executive at Zara’s owner, Inditex, five years ago.

Every day he still makes the 10km journey from his town centre house to the Inditex headquarters, based just outside the coastal town of La Coruna where he first launched the Zara brand.

Sometimes he sits down with the Zara Woman design team and they kick around ideas for the coming weeks and months – the new layout for a store, a new design for the upcoming winter collection. And if Mr Ortega has a hunch, they listen. After all he has 60 years’ experience in fashion retail, built up from humble beginnings.

But this isn’t Ortega’s first session at the top – in October 2015 he was the world’s wealthiest man for a few hours.

What does Inditex own?

• Zara
• Zara Home
• Pull & Bear
• Massimo Dutti
• Bershka
• Stradivarius
• Oysho
• Uterque

And it’s a business model not easy adoptable by other brands. You see, the company’s various fashion brands are able to bring on-trend clothing pieces to their stores quickly as production happens in Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Morocco – closer than the more popular option of Asia.

Read about how Ortega built his business HERE and remember, buy local.

[source:bbc]