The Federlegno-Arredo assembly – during a private session held at the beginning of July – elected Rosario Messina as new President of Federlegno-Arredo. Messina, Cosmit President since 1999, succeeded Roberto Snaidero who was in charge for 6 years.
Born in Sicily and proud of it, the first of 5 children, he worked in Rinascente and then Zanussi as sales manager. In the early 1970’s he moved to Brianza and, after working as sales manager for important companies, in the years when design was emerging at global level, Messina became an entrepreneur and set up Flou in 1978, the company in Meda leader in the “culture of sleeping”.
Messina has obtained endless awards during his career, including “Industrialist of the year”, the title Commendatore of the Italian Republic, the “Made in Italy Awards”, the golden medal for industrial merit, and many more.
Married to Cettina, Flou Vicepresident, Messina has three children (Cristina, Massimiliano and Manuela), all working in the company.
“During my term, I will be open to advice coming from all associated industries, so that I can be everyone’s president”. In his first speech, with clear signs of emotion, Messina presented the guidelines of his mandate. “Together, at all levels, enhancing specific characteristics and expertise, we have to work to let all companies, big and small ones, enhance the product quality. Sense of belonging, collaborative attitude and goal sharing.: these are the successful features of the Italian enterprise, which is the reference for an association like ours, focused on the needs of each individual”.
Rosario Messina stressed his commitment to keep the quality of “made in Italy” high: “Italy has the opportunity to promote, with a simple offer, a way of life. Italian companies have to be able to keep the quality standards acknowledged worldwide, so as to go through market difficulties with enthusiasm.” We have to remember the trend towards internationalization: “Internazionalization is a must: we have to do it because the world is our market; during these years, Federlegno-Arredo, with missions and initiatives, has supported all companies in this huge market and we will continue to do it.”
During his speech, the new elected president also mentioned the important issue of training. “The value of Italian products is related to unique handicraft skills; these are to be cultivated, cherished and developed so that young generations can revive their interest in manual creativity, a capacity that allows to feed individual value into a complex production chain. That’s why, I’ll work to introduce a basic school education that prepares students for their future profession and I will cultivate contacts with schools to define a unified project”.
“But doing well is not enough, you have to inform, communicate your product, let companies speak through their products”, said Rosario Messina. “Communication is becoming more and more important. Our Web sites and our exhibitions are just an example of the tools we have. The Federation Web site is to be enriched to become a real search engine, a business development and promotion tool; besides, it’s meant to be a virtual place for consumers, where they can find real products and services and more, a permanently lighted showcase full of products, price lists and advertisements.
Communication also flows through exhibitions: the Saloni first and foremost, with +29% visitors in the latest edition. But also Made expo, which has become a reference point from the very beginning, showed that it can face the international markets. “Made expo represented the whole construction industry – said Rosario Messina – enhancing and representing all building sectors and materials. Wood, in particular, stands out as a protagonist, opening up great innovation and market opportunities not only in furniture, but also in architecture, construction and urban design. We have to work to promote this ancient raw material which still holds many secrets to be unfolded and used”.
Rosario Messina ended up his speech by focusing on the strength of the Federation, which represents an example of quality industry around the world, creativity, efficiency and innovation, and which can build up a successful team only through collaboration, synergy, promotion of diversity and peculiarities.
