This year the El.En. Group celebrates its 40th anniversary. How was this group conceived? Where was it started?
The story is very similar to those often told about the inception of large American companies. El.En. was founded in Florence in a 3-room apartment belonging to my family. An apartment that, for sentimental reasons, we never sold. In 1976, shortly after graduating from college, I decided to start a small single-shareholder company because I could never be someone else’s employee and I wanted to open my own business. That small company made electronic systems used to replace the electromechanical systems in weaving looms. I then expanded the activity thanks to a collaboration with the University of Florence for work dealing with the hydraulic sector of the Tuscany Region. The breakthrough came in 1981. Speaking with Prof. Leonardo Masotti, to whom I presented my thesis and who, seeing that my small company was expanding and had good growth potential, decided to join my project. He enthusiastically accepted immediately, at one necessary condition: The professor would not be part of the company, but instead it would be his wife, Barbara Bazzocchi. The reason was simple; she had administrative training and a marked entrepreneurial spirit. In the early 1990s, we founded DEKA from the merging of three companies and, after achieving success in Tuscany, we also expanded beyond regional boundaries thanks to the work of agents and distributors.
What makes El.En. stand out is its important history, never to be forgotten, but also its forward-facing stance. How can these two facets of tradition and innovation be combined?
In a nutshell, passion and not backing down from work. And, especially, maintaining an approach of humility when confronting the problems that arise and the market, without ever being conceited. I have always deemed this last point crucial and have insisted on it with everyone working with me. To have both these souls, bound to tradition and innovation, you have to really work hard. We’re convinced you need to keep a strong policy of direct presence in the markets with our brands but also dialog with some competitors complementary to us. As with the automotive world, often a step ahead of market trends, the world of technology is always facing ever-rising costs. These costs must be amortized through partnerships and mergers to be able to ride the wave. I personally understood, already 30 years back, how important it was to create a synergy between various companies with supervisory direction capable of making the most out of each situation. Marketing is not enough for a company like ours; we also need strong innovation.
What milestones and landmarks has the Group achieved in its first 40 years?
Many anecdotes and special moments have marked the history of our Group. I like to remember a couple. In the 1990s, the Italian Space Agency contacted us to commission power electronics for the electron beam gun mounted on the space shuttle for the Tethered Satellite experiment.
It was a challenge declined by many large companies. We, on the other hand, a small company with reckless courage, deemed it doable and our results proved to be excellent.
A few years later, Quanta, with another large company, made lidar laser, used to map the hole in the ozone layer. Mounted onto a Russian airplane in Antarctica, it monitored the severity of the hole in the ozone layer. That laser is currently in the Museum of Aeronautics in Milan.
Another key moment for our company was when it was listed on the stock exchange in December 2000. This came about after my 1999 trip to China which extended to Hong Kong. I had been speaking with a group of stockbrokers who prospected the idea of listing the Group. I came back to Italy and discussed it with our members and Mrs. Bazzocchi immediately came on board and started contacting banks and later Andrea Cangioli with great efficiency. That’s how we ended up at the Gallia in Milan for the gala evening and listed at 26 euros. During that night, however, the US market crashed and sent shockwaves throughout the world. So we went from the euphoria of being listed to the disappointment of returning home with an Autogrill sandwich. After a year the stock had dropped to 9 euros, but we never stopped. Work continued going very well and we continued growing. And yet the listing launched us in the United States, which then represented 50% of the world market.
El.En. continued to grow in the subsequent years, becoming a leader in the global laser market. What makes the company stand out? What are the characteristics that make it unique? We have always focused on technological development, making our Group a driver of innovation. In some circumstances, however, we can also be followers. Such as with products that really do interest us and drive growth opportunities. Our focus must remain laser and high technology applications. The true guarantee is remaining innovators. We’ve always offered the market a continuous stream of ideas and over 40 years we’ve never stopped growing. This is what makes us most proud.
