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 EuroRent founder won’t let his vision of the
future be blinded by the present
September,
2000
By
Brian Alm Editor
For those of you who missed it, let me just quickly recap last month’s editorial, which pointed out that rental is global, evidence of which is that Rental Management now has subscribers in 50 countries. As rental gets bigger, the globe gets smaller: rental people the world over share the same concerns, ideas, solutions and visions. And they come to the A.R.A. convention and to Rental Management to trade thoughts about how to deal with the problems that vex and the opportunities that beckon, and to tell their stories.
These stories from around the planet are remarkably similar: the owner of an independent company who started by scrubbing plates and changing oil and is now bringing up the kids the same way … the small company up against the large consolidator’s clout, capital and purchasing power … the highly leveraged public company striving to balance debt and cash flow to maintain inventory breadth, availability and price advantage despite plummeting stock prices and eroding multiples … the art of market identification and tuning the inventory mix for optimal utilization and return … the quandary over whether to stay with the known or push the envelope and probe niches that may hold great opportunity if you can survive the risk …
The questions, issues and concerns rental people voice are universal: rental is a common language, and we have reported the rental story in that language from three continents. Now this month, we bring you the story of Robert Tropato and the first tool-rental company in continental Europe, EuroRent, which he founded. EuroRent is a one-store operation in Antwerp, Belgium, sandwiched between Holland and France — both of which are rental powerhouses. France — smaller than Texas — has 4,000 rental companies. And the big chains in The Netherlands — about the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined — have around 70 stores. Yet Tropato chuckles at the suggestion that this competitive environment might be intimidating. “What do I have to be afraid of?” he asks. He refuses to let his vision of the future be blinded by the present. He became the pioneer of tool rental in Europe at the age of 46 and now, at 69, he says: “I love what I am doing. I am too young to retire!” Tropato mentions Germany, next door, and his eyes twinkle — he loves a challenge.
Perhaps more accurately, Tropato loves to find answers to business questions. Take all that potential competition in Holland and France, for example. Tropato found a solution that was not only effective but profitable: form a manufacturing company and make things exclusively for the rental market — make them rental-tough and irresistibly good, and sell them to those large rental companies. Tropato is happy to see those companies do well: they’re now his customers.
Tropato began by learning from others in other countries; wherever there was an answer to a rental question, he went. He has remained a student of his business. And now people from other countries are coming to Antwerp to learn about rental from him.
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