Investor Visa Italy Investor Visa Italy / 3 | Page 14

INVESTOR VISA ITALY
POINTS OF VIEW
Luca Cico:
Hong Kong and Macau are open for business with Italy
Interview by Edoardo Bonatti
12
Luca Cico is the President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong
and Macau since 2017. He has a solid multicultural background boasting
multiple experiences in Europe and in the Asia Pacific area in leading multi-
nationals such as Mars, Colgate Palmolive, Pirelli, Ferrero, Bacardi and Coty in
which he had managing roles in Asia Pacific regional market since 2000.
INVESTORVISA – You can boast a long experience in the Asian markets:
what have you learned during all these years helped you in your role as
President of the Chamber?
CICO – At the attitudinal level, I have always kept my curiosity, flexibility,
proactivity and, much more importantly, reactivity. Having had experience in
different sectors in many (if not all) of the Pacific Asia countries helps to
understand more easily the problems faced by our members, potential
members, and our many partners. Being a born & bred corporate animal, I
manage the Chamber as a company, in terms of governance (planning
processes, reporting, P&L management, and transparency), administration and
development of human resources – our “fixed” team has an average age lower
than 28 years old. This helps them, as well as the about 40 Italian interns that
we host annually, in having more in having professional opportunities outside
the Chamber, and out of the product and services portfolio management.
Hong Kong and Macau are, by their very nature, some very special places
in which a foreign Chamber of Commerce can operate. Are there any
services or special activities promoted by the Chamber with respect to
its Chinese and international counterparts?
The classic services are our B2B ones (aimed at companies interested in
entering the local market: searching and selecting potential partners such as
importers and/or big retailers groups, support in the negotiation, up to the
management of the following promotional events), promotional events for our
members’ products and services and networking events (over 130 per year).
In all this, we are not different from other Chambers, but from the feedback we
receive, I would say that maybe “Italians do it better”. This has been recognized
by the fact that some of our companies have asked us to manage their
business events from conception to completion, which led us to create our
own Event Management Service. What I can say – without sounding too
prideful – is that our Annual Gala Dinner, for the number and “specific weight”
of the local political and entrepreneurial personalities present every year, is
recognized as one of the signature events of Hong Kong’s business community.
This is a very positive thing, mostly for the benefit of our sponsor partners –
which I would like to thank for their irreplaceable support – and their brand
visibility. In the end, the mission of the Chamber is and must be aimed at,
supporting the development of Made in Italy – Made by Italians.
The Chamber is very committed to supporting networking events in
addition to the more traditional activities of promoting Italian culture and
products. Can you tell us what usually emerges during these occasions?
Is there a manifest interest in Italy as a destination for investments?
What we try to do is to make it clear that Italy offers much more than that for
which it is already recognized (food & beverage, fashion), and that our much-
admired creativity is also behind the excellence in many other sectors such as
mechanics, components and business’ services such as logistics, for example.
There is some curiosity, but as it happens the Italian context, certainly not the
best as the “easiness to do business” concerns (legislative complexity,
bureaucracy more than administration, rigidity in the management of labour
relations, tax burdens for companies), represents a big obstacle.
Given their de jure status as Chinese Special Administrative Zones but de
facto management, in accordance with the principle of “one China, two
systems”, as city-states, it is more difficult to understand what happens
in the two cities when taken as units. Does the business ecosystem of
Macau and Hong Kong have its own characteristics, as to differentiate it
from the rest of the PRC’s one?
Very unlike Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau are two different regions
with special status that have very different dimensions and characteristics
between themselves. Hong Kong has a population of 7.3 million, while Macau
has 0.7 million inhabitants, a GDP of 341 billion USD opposed to the seven
billion USD of Macau. Services represent over 90% of GDP for both, mainly
gambling and tourism for Macau while in Hong Kong there are financial
services, trading and logistics, and professional services as well. It should be
noted that The Heritage Foundation once again nominated Hong Kong as the