The 1980's
World exploration and a new beginning
Friedhelm Rose used his unplanned freedom to discover the world. He first drove through the United States for eight months and saw more states than most Americans in their entire life. Then he went on his greatest adventure. From Porta Westfalica he embarked on a year-long journey through Africa, which at the time was underdeveloped. He crossed the Sahara, the Congo and East Africa. After his trip he moved back to the USA. In Florida he founded the "Rose of Vero Beach Inc.". They built turnkey houses and sold them. At times he also ran a plantation with orange trees and got to know life as a farmer. But despite all the successes in the USA, his heart was still attached to the development of new housing ideas. In 1985, the housing pioneer registered a new patent: a housing with only one channel in each corner of the housing, through which both the wall mounting and the screw connection could be made. But the patent would be of no use to him without a company that also produced this case. So he sold everything he had in Florida and invested a large part of his capital in a new company: ROLEC Housing Systems GmbH. At 51 years of age, he dared to start again from scratch. A conversation with his son Matthias was decisive for his decision to get back into the housing business. He joined the new company in 1986 as an equal partner. In 1987 ROLEC moved into the newly built premises on Kreuzbreite in Rinteln. In 1989 his daughter Betty Rose, who had learned her trade at the Bernstein company in Minden, also joined the family business. The start of a company history that is still being rewritten.