FonARCom is the second-ranking fund in Italy for professional training. We met the CEO Andrea Cafà, whose work is key to support Italian businesses.
Mr. Cafà, could you briefly tell us about FonARCom and the training services you offer?
FonARCom is an inter-professional fund that finances ongoing training for businesses. It was established 13 years ago at the initiative of CIFA Italia, a business association, and the CoNSal trading union.
Today, FonARCom is the second-ranking fund in Italy and works with over 160,000 businesses, for more than 200,000 workers overall.
E-commerce and internationalization have been widely discussed lately.
Our country is going through a stagnation phase. Growth has stalled, and expanding businesses abroad is essential to find new markets. Yet, we should not forget that our economic and production structure is completely different than what other European countries have – in Italy, 93% of the companies are micro or small businesses with 9 workers or less, and it is not in their power to go abroad, nor to digitalize their business and turn to e-commerce.
Quality and excellence are crucial to any successful business. What’s your take on this?
I totally agree. Any entrepreneur, and medium business in general, should be able to rely on organizations specifically dedicated to supporting its development. They might be either institutional organizations or funds like FonARCom, which provides training programs as a resource to benefit from growth opportunities both for the company and its staff and the entrepreneur themselves, especially if they are looking into offering their products abroad and gain a foothold on new markets.
Further support may come from institutional channels such as ICE Invitalia, especially as to digitalization, which enables entrepreneurs to better promote their products and business.
Can any entrepreneur have access to your fund?
Of course, anyone can benefit from FonARCom’s services, any entrepreneur willing to join the fund, clearly.
We intend to offer tangible support and help to businesses, as they inevitably have to rely on their human capital, whose training needs to be accurate and continuously updated.
Interview made by Anita Lo Mastro senior advisor of Excellence Magazine
