São Paulo – Businessman Ueze Elias Zahran passed away on Thursday afternoon (27) in São Paulo, at age 94. A son to Lebanese parents, he was the owner of gas distribution company Copagaz and of television network Rede Matogrossense de Televisão, comprising channels TV Morena and Centro América, which are Rede Globo affiliates in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso.
Ueze was born in Bela Vista, in what is now the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, in 1924. He was the second of six children of the Lebanese immigrants Elias and Laila Zahran. He is survived by wife Lucila, daughters Márcia, Ana Karla and Simone, son Carlos Eduardo, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
As a young man, Ueze worked in family establishments in Campo Grande – a café and then a bakery. He started buying flour in São Paulo to resell in the city. That enabled him to raise cash for his future business endeavors. “This is where the Zahran Group began,” he told the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce’s Trajetórias (Trajectories) project two years ago.
After giving a gas stove to his mother as a gift – regular gas distribution wasn’t yet available in Campo Grande – he launched Copagaz, a gas bottling and distribution business, in 1955. The company is now a major industry player in Brazil. Early on, Copagaz used to also sell stoves.
Copagaz bottles and distributes over 600,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas (GLP) per year, grossing about BRL 1.8 billion a year. The fifth biggest player in the industry in Brazil, it retains a 7.81% market share, with 1,700 employees and spanning 18 states, plus the Federal District, according to information from the company itself.
In 1965, he founded TV Morena and purchased ten TV sets to leave in the city square, since people didn’t have TVs at home. At one point, he would assemble and sell Michigan-branded TV sets in the region. Later on, Ueze created TV Centro América, in Cuiabá. His channels are active in the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul.
Zahran would also breed cattle and Arabian horses out of his Chaparral farm in Mato Grosso do Sul, as well as do social work via his Zahran Foundation. In 2015, he was named a champion of the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Trajectories
October 2016 saw the Arab Chamber honor the businessman under its Trajectories project (pictured at the top of this story), whose goal was to retrace the history of Arab immigration in Brazil and its contribution to national economic, social and cultural progress by honoring outstanding members of the community.
A small book telling the Zahran’s life story was released – Ueze Elias Zahran: the son of Lebanese parents who brought gas and TVs to Brazil’s countryside.
The wake was slated for this Friday morning (28) at São Paulo’s Albert Einstein hospital. The body will be cremated early in the afternoon in a family-only ceremony.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum