For the past four decades, practically everyone who talked with entrepreneur Víctor Méndez Capellán, would leave with a bit of life or business wisdom and advice. The creator of the Vimenca brand, Victor Méndez Capellán died at 94 years of age.
He was generous with advice to others so these would not make the mistakes he had made. In 2010, he wrote an autobiographical book entitled “Si yo pude, ¡tú también!, consejos para una vida exitosa,” where he tells important chapters of his life and shares tips on how he became a legendary entrepreneur in the Dominican Republic.
Méndez Capellán was a self-made man who made his first pesos shining shoes. He was known as a man who would turn a negative into a positive and had the Midas touch.
He had a travel agency and also was the representative of American Express. When American Express moved to be represented by a major bank, he secured the representation of Western Union and opened the Vimenca bank.
Méndez Capellán was born in the municipality of Salcedo in 1928, in the municipality of Salcedo, in the Hermanas Mirabal province. He founded Vimenca in the 1950s as a wholesale lottery ticket company. A decade later, the brand expanded into other business lines, including becoming a IATA-approved travel agency. He also started Refrigeración Dominicana. The idea came about when owning a refrigerator was considered “a luxury.” The business would buy used refrigerators, modernize them and sell them in installments.
Méndez Capellán told El Dia in an interview that he got his first taste of doing business when he helped a government employee sell her share of the lottery tickets and little by little, he came to have one hundred lottery ticket sellers under his tutelage. This experience helped him to forge his own business years later.
It was not until 1950 that he founded Vimenca, first as a wholesale lottery ticket company. The company would later become a travel agency, remittance company, and courier among other ventures to serve his targeted public.
He was married to Finetta Saba, who had passed away in September 2020 and with whom he had three children. Known to be a loving husband and man of many details, many on social media acknowledged he chose 14 February to surprise his beloved wife with his return to her side in heaven on St. Valentine’s Day.
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Listin Diario
Diario Libre
15 February 2023