What should those who have been elected to support entrepreneurship or the Italian economy be doing?

The elections took place and we all know how they went. Now, without going into the merits of to what extent we are or are not satisfied with the outcome, I would like to provide some food for thought

What, in my opinion, should those who have just been elected be doing to support entrepreneurship or the Italian economy?

A few weeks ago I wrote that the National Industry Plan 4.0 (now Enterprise 4.0) implemented by the Ministry of Economic Development was a positive manoeuvre for the Italian economy. Very true and I repeat it. But I believe that this is not enough for our country. I inevitably think about the myriad of micro and very small enterprises that make up a large part of our industrial fabric and which – for various reasons – cannot access the concessions of the industrial plan.

These enterprises are our backbone and we cannot think of leaving them adrift.

Access to public funds and incentives is often complex. The necessary procedures are cumbersome and, more often than not, require the support of specialist consultants who have fairly significant costs to bear. That’s why I think that

subsidised or mutually agreed tariffs and simplified procedures would perhaps also give the smallest companies the opportunity to access these type of concessions.

The aid could then involve training. How many times have we talked about it in this blog? Yet I can only feel embittered when I see that courses of various kinds on which we have enrolled our staff are cancelled due to an insufficient number of persons being enrolled. Is it a fundamental problem that is cultural or economic? Or something else?
I believe, in any case, that

One of the important paths to be pursued is that of economically stimulating the training of companies, starting from individual or family-run businesses.

This – to be completely honest – is already partly being implemented, but it is certainly not publicised enough, or – at least – not at all levels, with the consequence that perhaps those who need it most end up being left out.

Another point to develop is to help micro-enterprises on the export front.

For example, through tax breaks related to participation in foreign events, or even – and here I must inevitably return to talking about training – through the funding of language courses, because – as we all know – the lack of foreign languages is one of the largest problems that afflicts many professionals in our country.

 Then there is the issue related to excessive costs.

Four years ago I wrote that the high costs to which the Italian manufacturing industry is constantly subjected (taxes, gas prices, electricity prices, personnel costs due to excessive taxes, and so on) end up blocking any chance of growth.
At a guess I would say that the situation has not changed. In fact, to increase sales, quite a few Italian companies have found their profits being eroded, as shown by the wages that are drastically tending to shrink on the basis of increasingly reduced margins.
I therefore think that this is another important objective on which our politicians should focus, although I think it is one of the most difficult to achieve, especially if we think that during the election campaign ALL the political groups focused on promises that are impossible to maintain, instead of on requests for sacrifices in relation to a reduction in public debt and management costs. The strategy used to date has been that of not tackling the problem of public debt (which continues inexorably to grow postponing resolution to future generations), and this unfortunately has happened largely because – becoming a very serious issue – the dominant political sentiment barely goes beyond the present.

Finally I would like to return to a theme that I have already mentioned in the past

Knowing how to work together is increasingly important with a view to growth and competitiveness, but in Italy it is difficult to make alliances. This, in my opinion, is a problem that should be tackled more from a cultural and political point of view.

Not long ago I had the pleasure of meeting a young entrepreneur from a small Piedmontese mechanical company with decidedly open and innovative ideas, who was motivated and with a great deal of passion for his profession and, even more so, close to and fond of his collaborators. These are the people we need, with open minds with which we can think of aggregations and synergies that lead to increased competitiveness and knowledge. Let’s hope that the new generations are the jet of fresh and clear water that will allow us to make this important leap in quality!