Discontinuity, courage and change

During an interview with Claudio Cerasa – the Editor of Italian newspaper Il Foglio – I was asked to give my point of view as an entrepreneur on the crucial phase Italy is currently experiencing.

I am hoping that the upcoming few years will see the Renzi Government conclude all the good things that have been introduced so far, through reforms that make sense and even braver decisions. If we want to accomplish a season of growth, entrepreneurs and the Government need to make a pact on justice, taxes, productivity and bureaucracy. The Government needs to establish the necessary conditions for entrepreneurs to free their energies.

In the past few years, Italy has managed to become, once again and even more than before, a magnet for foreign investors, I see it every day when I’m working with 21 Investimenti. And most certainly this interest has something to do with the current climate of stability. Nevertheless, I can’t deny that our country is still facing a challenge when it comes down to productivity.

Today’s market is getting increasingly faster and leaner, consumers are changing their minds in record times, organisational models have been twisted, the employment sector is evolving at a pace that we’ve never seen before, with some jobs disappearing altogether, often in the matter of a blink of an eye. Changing is imperative, and this goes for both politics and business.

I strongly believe that a quite young ruling class, de-ideologised, at times reckless and not afraid of changing its mind – a trait that I consider positive rather than negative – would do a lot of good. I’m not interested in whether this Government is right or left wing, what I care about is what it does. And I also believe that with some things, the longer you wait, the higher is the chance that they will never see the light of day. Economically speaking, today we can safely say that we’ve overcome the worst of it, but the best has still yet to arrive.