Eugenio Mendoza was the fourth son of seven children, he had four brothers and two sisters and was the only one who did not pursue a university education, choosing instead to go into business by starting his first company at the age of eighteen.
His business organization, "El Grupo Mendoza" became the largest industrial conglomerate in the 1970s encompassing everything from cement, construction, heavy machinery, paint, paper mills, animal feed, banking, and insurance to car manufacturing today known as General Motors of Venezuela.