Emmanuel Ivanovich Borel, an industrialist from the ancient family of barons Borel of French origin, was born in 1839. His ancestors fled from the St. Bartholomew's Night of 1572, moving from the French commune of Otriv to Switzerland. Emmanuel's grandfather, Jacques Borel, arrived in Russia on March 28, 1766, responding to Catherine II's Manifesto of July 8, 1763, which invited European colonists. Jean Borel settled in the Balcer colony (the village of Golyy Karamysh in the Kamyshin district of the Saratov province) and engaged in agriculture, milling, and weaving.

Emmanuel's father, Ivan Borel, founded a trading company in 1848 and in 1876 acquired land for building a mill and estate near the village of Nizhnyaya Dobrynka. The business generated significant income and expanded. Emmanuel Ivanovich began his career trading the fabric 'sarpinka,' a popular cotton material. By the end of the 1870s, he inherited the mill and business from his father. In 1870, his firm was the largest among eight producers of sarpinka, producing goods worth 150 thousand rubles a year.

After updating and improving production, Emmanuel Borel accumulated capital to purchase a steam mill with a capacity of 45 horsepower from D.Y. Uvarov in Saratov in 1877. The mill quickly became a leader in the milling industry, with only the Schmidts able to compete, but it remained a prosperous enterprise alongside the Reineke firm.

In 1892, the 'Trading House Emmanuel Borel' was established in Saratov, which by the early 20th century had become a large milling syndicate with four steam mills, nine branches, and a shipping caravan of two steamers and thirteen barges. Over time, the firm opened branches in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and other cities at important railway stations.

Without abandoning production in the districts, in 1886 the firm acquired and modernized Uvarov's steam mill in Saratov, increasing its production to 5,000 poods per day, and after reconstruction, to 11,000 poods. The mill employed up to 200 people.

Emmanuel Ivanovich was called the 'king of millers' due to the success of his firm, which became the largest in the Volga region. The Borels owned steam mills and a large trading and industrial conglomerate, reflecting the efforts of several generations.

Emmanuel Borel faced the challenges of entrepreneurship, including crop failures, price drops, and strikes. The most severe trial was the fire of 1901, but he managed to restore the mill by implementing automatic grain feeding.

The Borel family lived in Saratov. Emmanuel and his wife Elizabeth Andreyevna had 7 children and 28 grandchildren. According to archival data, the assets of the Trading House 'E.I. Borel' were valued at nearly 7 million rubles, including 11,500 desyatinas of land in the Kamyshin district and shares in the Saratov manufactory.

The Borels were awarded for the quality of their products and improvements in production at exhibitions in Russia and abroad. In the early 20th century, Saratov millers joined the 'Union of Volga Millers.' In 1905, Emmanuel Ivanovich Borel passed away, and his eldest son Emmanuel Emmanuelovich Borel took over the firm.