Early Life
Shigenobu Nagamori was born in Kyoto, Japan, in 1944, into a farming family. He decided not to follow in his family's tradition and pursued a degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic University near Tokyo.
Rise to Success
After graduating, Nagamori worked at two engineering firms before founding Nidec Corporation in 1973. Nidec quickly became the world's largest manufacturer of micromotors for hard disks and optical drives. Nagamori's leadership and strategic decisions, including aggressive mergers and acquisitions, have been key to the company's growth. He is also a non-executive director at SoftBank.
Key Business Strategies
Nagamori's strategy included expanding the product range and penetrating international markets. From the 1980s, Nagamori actively pursued mergers and acquisitions, integrating over 50 companies. In 2024, Nidec made an unsuccessful $1.7 billion takeover bid for Makino Milling Machine. Nagamori's goal is to reach ¥10 trillion ($91 billion) in revenue by 2030, focusing on motors for electric vehicles.
Philanthropy
Nagamori founded the Nagamori Foundation to support scientific and industrial development in research and technology. He has also inaugurated the "Nagamori Awards" to recognize engineers in the field of motor-related technologies. In 2017, he donated $90 million to set up an engineering research project at Kyoto Gakuen University.
