Interview with Marco Franchini
Marco Franchini is the owner of a company
(F.lli Franchini Srl) based in Rimini, Italy, which plans and builds electrical
systems, heating and plumbing systems and systems for renewable energy sources
serving the biggest public infrastructures and buildings, as well as private,
in Italy and abroad.
V: What is
your business about?
M: We build
technological plants (electrical wiring, mechanical and from renewable sources).
V: Why did
you start your business?
M: It was my
father’s company and I took over when I was 18, together with my brother. But when
I took the company there were 5 employees, today the company counts 100 people.
V: What is
your annual turnover?
M: It’s
about 12 million per year, with the objective of getting to 15 million soon.
V: How much
money did you invest?
M: We are
investing money all the time. We are investing money to buy always new
technologies, equipment, vehicles. So our investment is continuous in time.
V: Who
helped you?
M: My
father, who was the initial owner of the company, and my brother, who is also
my business partner, and obviously all the co-workers.
V: What are
your target costumers?
M: My
clients are both public and private clients. Private clients are usually big
companies, shopping centres, big chain stores, etc. Normally we undertake
public procurement contracts. What makes it possible to win a public contract
is the price, and we usually offer better prices than our competitors. One of
the latest project we won is from the Palace of Venaria (Italian: Reggia di
Venaria Reale).
V: What
problems did you have?
M: I had
problems mainly when working abroad. When it comes to make works of large
entity like the ones we do, the relation with the client is very important, and
when you work in other countries the relation gets much more complicated, due
to cultural and linguistic differences. For example, we had some projects in
Romania and Morocco, but after that we decided to work exclusively in Italy.
Another problem that I often faced was finding specialist staff, with the
required skills and at the same time the will to learn a job, which requires a
lot of patience and humility, which is something hard to find nowadays.
V: What is
your lifestyle?
M: I work an
average of 11/12 hours per day. When I go on business trips, I work up to 15
hours, taking into consideration also the time for travelling.
V: What
sacrifices did you have to do?
M: I
sacrificed a lot of free time. For example, tomorrow is National holiday in
Italy but I will work anyway, cause there are schedules to meet, and I work
whenever necessary.
V: What is
the next step?
M: To
retire! Haha
All kidding aside, the objective is always to get important contracts,
especially for public works, instead of private ones, which are less reliable
in terms of payments. It is always more risky to work on private projects,
because it’s very usual to get payed very late or not payed at all, while when
you are working on public projects you are sure that the Government will pay
for it.
V: Do you
use new technologies?
M: Yes, we
are using renewable sources, like eolic and photovoltaic energy. For example,
we are being asked very often for works of upgrading the energy efficiency, for
the benefit of the environment. The upgrading process is costing quite a lot of
money to companies, but they have a payback time of 5 years, after which they
start saving a lot in terms of gas and electricity bills.
V: do you
have any tips for someone who wants to start a new business?
M: Just to
be brave enough to try, whatever your business idea is.
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