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Francisco São Vicente is to head Drain Doctor’s company-owned operation in Portugal.
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Heading for the sun – (from left) directors Freddie Mitman, Jan Mitman and Andrew Shaw fly the flag for Drain Doctor.
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22/12/2008
Drain Doctor
DRAIN DOCTOR APPOINTS OPERATIONS MANAGER FOR PORTUGAL
Drain Doctor Plumbing – the UK’s largest emergency plumbing and drain repair service – has appointed a new operations manager to help build its first business venture in mainland Europe.
Francisco José Ferreira São Vicente has been appointed as operations manager for Portugal to help mirror Drain Doctor’s UK success. He will establish the Drain Doctor franchise business model in Portugal to provide guaranteed service 24 hours per day 365 days per year with a fixed price ‘menu’ and no call-out or out-of-hours charges.
Drain Doctor is a franchise operation with 104 owner-operated businesses operating around the UK. Francisco will help Drain Doctor establish a company-owned business in the Algarve region covering Loulé, Faro, Silves, Vilamoura, Portimão, and Lagos. He will manage the Drain Doctor Algarve operation to ensure that the concept is properly established. Francisco will then establish owner-operated franchises in the rest of the country.
Drain Doctor advertised for an operations manager in Portugal’s leading national newspaper, ‘Expresso’. Francisco was selected from a list of more than 150 applicants from all over Portugal. Applicants had to be fluent in English and be Portuguese nationals.
Francisco was chosen to be operations manager in Portugal because the Drain Doctor board felt that he had the best attitude and qualifications to build the Drain Doctor brand in Europe.
Drain Doctor director Jan Mitman said: “We are delighted that Francisco is joining Drain Doctor to assist us with the launch of the business in Portugal. He will receive all the support we can give him.
“Once the structure is in place Francisco will employ a group of technicians to cover all aspects of Drain Doctor’s service to deal with plumbing, drainage, relining and CCTV. He will initially cover the whole of the Algarve region. When the operation is as successful as we are sure it is going to be he will start franchising the system in the rest of Portugal.”
The first fully equipped Drain Doctor vans are due in Portugal by December and the company hopes to start trading by the end of the year.”
Born in Angola, Francisco moved to Portugal with his parents in 1979. He served in the Portuguese army where he learned his trade in telecommunications. On leaving the army he went into telecoms sales before spending two years working in San Francisco in the USA.
Francisco had his first contact with plumbing and drainage when he worked in the construction industry in Portugal. He worked in plumbing and electrical installation and in central heating and drainage in the hotel and restaurant sector before moving into real estate.
Francisco said: “The current economic downturn forced me to rethink my options. I saw the advertisement for operations manager in Expresso and decided to apply. The Drain Doctor business model offers a recession proof business.
“The plumbing and drainage systems in Portugal are very similar to those in the UK, but we do not have CCTV and no dig drainage technology in Portugal so this will give us a great competitive advantage. For example, drain lining will allow us to complete repairs without having to dig up our customers’ drains.”
When lining a drain, a resin impregnated felt tube is put into the damaged drain, inflated and then cured. This process gives the drain a new integrity without all the problems associated with excavations.
Francisco is supported in his new role by his wife Ione who is multi-lingual director of a financial services company in Portugal. Francisco and Ione have three sons and a daughter. Their eldest son has just qualified as an engineer and Francisco says he may wish to join him in the Drain Doctor business.
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