The EY Entrepreneur of the Year award, which for nearly thirty years has celebrated entrepreneurial excellence in the various countries of the world, this year had a special observer for Italy: LUISS student Fosco Riani. Enrolled in his third year of Political Science and the author of current affairs programs at RadioLUISS, Fosco was chosen to be the envoy to the event in Milan, giving an exclusive look at the stories of the best Italian entrepreneurs.
"It was fun to see the Stock Exchange in a context that was totally different than the one we usually picture. Then it was exciting to be able to interact with all of the guests at the event, Italian entrepreneurs who made themselves available to talk to me, even informally.” Sharing positive examples of Italian companies and making them a source of inspiration for future managers is in fact the goal of the evening promoted by Ernst & Young and the reason why the company wanted university students to know about the event as well. "The part of the ceremony I liked the best were the videos that introduced the different winners: each of them told a story of a successful company, of family traditions, commitment and courage. A point of view that is very different than the one we see in daily journalism."
Before being invited, Fosco did not know about the EY award. He was chosen to represent LUISS because of his knowledge of storytelling through social media and his work over the past few years as a reporter at RadioLUISS. "I believe that social media has been really successful as a tool for storytelling because it allows us to do so directly and those who follow social networks have the sensation of getting not just the official version of what is going on, but also what is behind the scenes. In addition, unlike in other media, interaction through social media is immediate and it forces you to be concise and say what is essential."
But apart from social networks, radio is the primary means by which Fosco likes to express his passion for current events. “Before coming to LUISS, I had never thought that doing radio could be useful for my growth as well as entertaining. In radio I found a good team that involved me immediately in various activities, allowing me to be useful by doing what I was passionate about and what came easiest for me." A passion that he is continuing to pursue with an internship at Enel.Radio, the radio network for people who work in that energy company: "Unlike these professional radio situations, where the roles are well-defined, at RadioLUISS we all wear a lot of hats and anyone can take part in content creation at any point, from concept to broadcast. I find that it is really educational and it gives me a lot of satisfaction."
Now that he has been asked to talk about the best of Italian entrepreneurship, Fosco says he feels confident about the companies that represent Italy in the world. "I think that everything is summed up in the words of the Entrepreneur of the Year 2014, Oscar Farinetti, who replaced think global, act local with think local, act global. As Italians we have the good fortune not just of ‘living in beauty and knowing how to create it’ as Lapo Elkann has said, but of being able to innovate while maintaining our long tradition as a virtue. Italian innovation has always been around, it’s just that these days it often takes place abroad."