Enrico Zobele Senior

Enrico Zobele Senior (1886 - 1950) was a visionary entrepreneur, laying the foundations of Zobele Group. Born to native Italian speakers originally from San Sebastiano, Folgaria, Trentino, he attended the primary and secondary school in Trento and Rovereto, before continuing his education in technical-commercial subjects in Vienna, one the liveliest capital cities in Europe.

On finishing his studies, he found work in a Viennese bank where a loyal customer asked him to become a distributor for his products; shoe grease, wax and self-adhesive strips. Enrico accepted the offer, and after a short time requested a license for production in order to start up a new business in Trentino. The 1st World War put a brake on his ambitious project but, as soon as Trentino and Alto Adige were ceded to The Kingdom of Italy in 1919, Enrico opened the first Zobele small production area in Trento. The following year he married Emma Hafner, with whom he had two sons, Luigi and Fulvio, who took over the reins of the company when, after 30 years of extraordinary growth in the 30’s and the restart up of business following the 2nd World War, Enrico decided to retire from managing the business.