by Laura Ramacci

Would you tell us your entrepreneurial history and the reason why you decided to become a woman entrepreneur?

Everything started from an idea, an intuition that I immediately wished to make real. After my project became a tangible reality, the desire to improve it day by day has always been a vital stimulus that has made the company grow over the time. Therefore, I think that my will to create inevitably turned me into the woman entrepreneur that I am today, still looking ahead. I believe that everybody has a project for life. This was mine.

Who encouraged and discouraged you at the start?

At the beginning my father was very supportive, even though he knew that this choice would make me abandon my position within his company. He is an entrepreneur in a different field. I remember that when I told him that I had made my decision, he replied: "You have to follow your own way. If you really believe in what you do, you will be successful. In any case, you will gain a very useful experience".

I do not remember anyone discouraging me. If they did, they were not successful.

Your company is obtaining very important results at the internal level. What are your key factors for success and how important are research and innovation?

I believe that the key factor for our success is the attention we pay to the specific needs of customers that we follow in a personalised manner throughout the product development process from initial negotiations to after-sales support. Our business philosophy is based on customised products/services. In this way, each product is unique and the customer feels unique too.

Research and innovation are crucial elements for a company like ours, whose strategy is based on the decision to launch a new product on the market every 18 months. In order to be successful, innovation is indispensable, not only to compete, but also to anticipate competitors.

How difficult was it for you to "make your way" and be respected in a sector dominated by men?

I know that it will sound strange, but I had no difficulties in making my way. I have always felt respected by my male counterparts. It is unquestionable that in the entrepreneurial sector - like in all fields where "power" is at stake - men prevail and that, for thousands of years, women have been "relegated" to minor roles.

However, I think that women are also responsible for this situation because we do not really believe in what we do and often we face situations in the wrong way. I mean that sometimes men feel authorised to impinge upon "our leadership" because we are not determined in exerting and defending it. I think that the secret is never to betray oneself or one's own project, whatever the consequences!

How do you recruit your staff and what kind of a leader are you?

The term leader comes from "leading", which means, recalling its ancient Viking origin, "conducting, guiding". Therefore, a leader is a person who has a course to follow and "guides" the others so that they can share this course. When I select my collaborators, I try to understand whether they are ready to follow the course of the company. I want them to be involved in our corporate project and feel it is their own too.

What would you suggest to a woman who is dreaming of starting up a company in this time of crisis?

I would suggest to her not to worry about crisis, because crisis is inherent in the market, like it is in the life of any of us. There will always be ups and downs, cyclically. I would tell her to believe firmly in what she is doing to make her dream come true and never stop dreaming!

You are much more than a company manager. You can fly a plane and are a very good rider. In short, you are a daring woman. Are you ever afraid of anything?

Being daring does not mean never being afraid. I believe that fear is an unnatural interior state induced by ourselves, by our memories of situations that we could not face because we were not prepared for them. Starting from this assumption, when I am afraid of something, I start thinking that I have to try hard and find the solution… Because there is always a solution!