Interview with Antonio Affinita, July 9th: investing on youth and employees is the key to a successful company
A few days ago, an article came out on the Corriere del Mezzogiorno. It’s an interview with my brother, Antonio, CEO and member of SAPA’s board of directors. It focuses on the effort related to our territory.
As you well know, it is fairly common to refer to southern Italy in negative terms, when it comes to school attendance and employment. A lot of young people go get their education elsewhere, and when they come back, they find it difficult to find adequate employment.
It is not an irreversible scenario: the province of Benevento, where we’re located, is actually the most attentive when it comes to salaries and upholding the values of equality in the man-woman relationship on the workplace.
What does that mean?First of all, it means that change is possible.
Furthermore, it suggests that people can change the way companies work.
If you know our story a little bit, you know that we’ve been keen on creating a research department the very moment the company came to be, which is why youth has always been so important to us.
Every year, through the European “Angelo Affinita” Contest, we grant three scholarships for degrees, pHds or research projects, to young people proving their value through innovation. We firmly believe that it is one of the best ways for our land to become industrially fertile and help our company, as much as others, expand and improve.
The NEET phenomenon (not engaged in education, employment or training) is the scenario in which a young person does nothing for a prolonged amount of time. My brother talks about this condition in the article, as it cannot be ignored. Our family stands as proof that it is possible to teach the values of passion, trust, dedication to work and self-sacrifice, if you properly work on your message.
SAPA has been growing considerably in the past few years, but we have never changed the way we look at our company as a family company. We believe that approach can really make a difference in terms of promoting the potential of every single person.
Below, you can find my brother’s interview. Enjoy!
Giovanni Affinita
Chief Sales Strategist and member of SAPA’s Board of Directors
