Dos Santos International was built from the ambitions of a young, Portuguese immigrant.  Joe was brought to the land of opportunity in 1959.  After working for other companies for over 20 years, Joe wanted to start family company.  This came to fruition on July 7, 1997, with the founding of Dos Santos International.

DSI began as a venture from Joe’s residence in Winfield, AL USA.  Joe’s son, Marc, was a senior in high school at that time, but contributed greatly to the founding.  Joe’s daughter Amy joined DSI in 2007. She left her radio broadcasting career in order to become the DSI marketing manager.

In 1979, Joe undertook a major study to devlop a means of moving and elevating large quantities of bulk materials, including coarse products such as rocks, aggregate, coal, etc at the steepest possible inclines.  It was also his intent to use only existing and commerically available hardware in order to achieve the most economically feasible and easily maintained high angle conveyor design.

The Sandwich Belt high angle conveyor is the most reliable, cost efficeint high angle conveyor system in the world. 

In his own words Joe Dos Santos recounts the journey from a carefree childhood to the realization of a dream:

From my carefree early childhood first in Portugal until age 8 then in the USA, I wondered about God and my relationship with Him and the world and my place in it. As I grew and matured, I gravitated physically to athletics and intellectually to math and science. In the former I relished the competition while in the latter I possibly saw a path towards understanding life and worth. I was always fascinated by the composition. While most people are happy to occupy their space without a need to justify themselves in the big picture, not having the full perspective frustrated me. So, I continuously sought justification in the total picture. In athletics and business, I strove to be a part of something bigger than myself and part of something that would endure after my departure from this life. I admired those that accomplished these things and wondered why not me? So as early as my late teenage years I was fascinated by the idea of a family company then, towards that end, in my education and early career I began to make the deliberate effort to hone my abilities through education then experience in order to someday realize this fascination. I began to share my thoughts with friends and colleagues so that ultimately, I came to expect this of myself as others expected this of me. I shared with friends that “if I go into retirement not having started my business, I will just grow old and bitter”.

There was a big obstacle to my dream. I had a great career that included a good salary, innovative work that I brought to reality, implemented and presented on a worldwide stage. By 1995 at age 44 I feared that my dream would not be realized as the risk appeared to far outweigh the benefit. Within the next two years however things changed in a way that made easy my decision to make the move. So, in the middle of 1997, at age 46 I resigned my previous position and founded Dos Santos International.

This important move was facilitated by the support of my family, particularly my wife and partner in life, Maria who, after our marriage in 1972 carried us financially by working throughout my college years. We both came from humble beginnings so, like me she appreciated what we had but did not fear the challenge of trying times.

Our family also proved to be my strength in business. Starting Dos Santos International in 1997, the middle of the internet explosion my most important support came from an unlikely source, my 17-year-old son, Marcus. Marc had always taken interest in my work occasionally accompanying me on sales presentations. Marc had become very knowledgeable and articulate in all things computers. During his high school years Marc had developed a small business where, for a small fee he set up local educators and some businesses on the internet.

So, at the DSI founding Marc downloaded various brochure forms that we turned into DSI brochures and flyers. Marc also created the first DSI Website. So it is with pride that I am happy to truly share the DSI founding with my son, Marcus J. dos Santos. In 1998 Marc began his university education at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and after four years there followed by two years at a high-tech research company in Boston, he joined me at Dos Santos International. We formed our partnership and incorporated the Company formally in 2006.

Dos Santos International, a family business added another family member in 2007 when (my daughter) Amy Duncan became our marketing manager after her previous career in radio broadcasting.

Now in 2024, 27 years since the founding we remain a small company with a big global footprint thanks to the professional experts that make up our company and indeed have become part of the family. Though successful on a world stage the Dos Santos potential is far from realized making the future as exciting today as at the founding.