I am not German, but I have rather peculiar parents who decided to call me Andrea. To support myself while studying oriental languages in Venice, I started working as a bartender and hostess, at the age of 15. I was an assistant/salesperson for a designer of glass products in Murano, looking after contacts with foreign clients. I studied Chinese, Korean, Manchurian (the language of the last dynasty of Chinese emperors), English, French and German. I got to know Multiconsult last year while taking part in the Lombardy Export Trade project LET. This gave rise to the idea of opening up a one-person Multiconsult office in Sondrio in the technology hub. I work with small companies. For example, there’s a craftsman that created a collection in solid wood, and wanted to launch his products overseas. My job was to create a sales network for exporting. Similarly with other clients: a meat-processing plant in Val Chiavenna, another craftsman that makes handles for digging tools… there is different excitement every day; there are projects that I follow up on all on my own and others that I refer on to someone in the company. My main expertise in my work is in the method and the approach. Initially, as I do not know the product, I spend entire days trying to fully understand the procedures and techniques, ascertaining what they can sell and to whom. Then step-by-step we identify the relevant markets starting in Europe, and if the logistics are there, we move beyond the borders of Europe. My method is to never give up, always persevering, using gentle persistence.
