The new role, fiduciary, appointed and non-elective in nature, has been created to coordinate the Association’s Ambassadors, gather needs emerging from different territories, develop qualified relationships and maintain a constant connection with Conflombardia’s national structure, without creating an autonomous organisation and without overlapping with institutional, diplomatic or professional responsibilities.
When an organisation grows, develops new relationships and begins to have people operating on a stable basis outside Italy as well, there inevitably comes a point when it is no longer sufficient to rely on individual goodwill, personal contacts or opportunities that arise from time to time. What may initially be managed through informal relationships must progressively become a system in which information, responsibilities, stakeholders and projects are known, verifiable and connected with one another. It is precisely from this need that Conflombardia has decided to give a more defined structure to its international dimension.
Conflombardia International is not being created as a new association, does not constitute an autonomous entity separate from Conflombardia and is not intended to become a structure detached from the organisation’s life and governance. Rather, it represents the function through which we intend to organise, in a more rational and responsible manner, the relationships that are progressively being developed abroad, with the aim of transforming individual presence, territorial knowledge and institutional or business contacts into an asset that can become genuinely useful to the companies represented by the Association.
Within this process, Massimo Testa has been entrusted with the role of President of Conflombardia International, an associative responsibility that is fiduciary, appointed and non-elective in nature and must be understood in its proper dimension. It does not coincide with the statutory Presidency of Conflombardia, does not create a second Presidency within the organisation and does not automatically confer powers of legal representation, signature or assumption of obligations towards third parties. These matters remain governed by the Statute, internal regulations, formal acts and any specific delegations that may be granted.
A role arising from an organisational need, not from the desire to assign a title
Our starting point was not to identify a person to whom a new title could be assigned, but to recognise that, as Conflombardia begins to have Association Ambassadors operating in different countries, contacts with Italian companies established abroad, relationships with local stakeholders and opportunities for institutional dialogue, it becomes necessary to build a system that prevents these activities from proceeding in isolation, without a common method and without a constant connection with the national structure.
An international network does not become stronger simply because the number of people claiming to represent it increases, nor because it can display a broader geographical presence. It becomes useful when information gathered locally is verified, when that information does not remain in the hands of a single individual, when stakeholders are properly qualified and when a need expressed by a company can be transferred to the competent structure without fragmentation, improvisation or promises that cannot subsequently be fulfilled.
It is within this framework that the Presidency of Conflombardia International acquires its true meaning. Massimo Testa will progressively be called upon to facilitate the functional coordination of the network, maintain contact with the Ambassadors, gather what emerges from the various territories, distinguish between simple information and issues that require further analysis, and, where the necessary conditions exist, transform identified needs into proposals to be submitted to the national structure for assessment.
Conflombardia Ambassadors must become listening points, not merely representative figures
The same reasoning applies to the role of Conflombardia Ambassadors, a definition that must always be used with clarity because these are exclusively private associative appointments and not diplomatic, consular or State-representative functions. We do not consider this distinction to be a mere formal detail, but rather a necessary condition for maintaining institutional correctness and credibility in dealings with both public and private stakeholders.
A Conflombardia Ambassador must first and foremost be someone who knows the territory in which they operate, who experiences its economic and social dynamics on a daily basis, who meets companies, professionals and operators and who is therefore able to gather information that would be difficult to understand with the same depth by someone observing that country exclusively from Italy. However, this individual experience becomes an associative asset only when it is transferred, organised, compared and incorporated into a shared method.
For this reason, the President of Conflombardia International will not be expected to build a parallel territorial hierarchy or transform Ambassadors into autonomous structures. Instead, the role will be to foster coordination in which each Ambassador retains their ability to observe and build relationships, while avoiding a situation in which each territory becomes a small independent system that communicates, proposes or undertakes initiatives without prior discussion with Conflombardia.
Method must come before the project, and verification before promotion
The model we intend to develop is based on a principle that we increasingly apply to our work in Italy as well. We do not believe it is serious to start with a solution and then look for someone to whom it can be sold. We consider it far more useful to start from the territory, listen to people, understand what the real problem is, verify the available information, identify the necessary expertise and only then assess whether the conditions exist to transform that knowledge into a project.
This is even more important when dealing with internationalisation, because entering another country does not simply mean finding a customer, organising a business mission or identifying a potential commercial partner. It means dealing with rules, taxation, administrative procedures, labour law, contracts, authorisations, banking systems, business cultures and operating practices that may differ significantly from those in Italy and cannot be addressed through generic answers or improvised expertise.
Conflombardia International must therefore be able above all to recognise a need and direct it correctly, while also knowing when to stop when an issue falls within the competence of a Consulate, an Embassy, a public administration, a lawyer, an accountant, a consultant or a specialised professional in the country concerned. Being able to state clearly that a particular answer does not fall within the Association’s remit may represent one of the most serious forms of protection for a business.
Institutional relationships are valuable when they remain within their proper dimension
The recent meeting between Massimo Testa and the Italian Vice Consul in Arona is a concrete example of how this approach can be applied. The value of an institutional meeting does not lie in immediately turning it into an agreement, partnership or project that no one has yet defined, but in the opportunity to present the organisation, understand the role of the stakeholders involved, build mutual knowledge and assess over time whether the conditions exist to develop initiatives that respect the respective areas of responsibility.
We consider it important to emphasise this point precisely because the associative world often has a tendency to attribute to a photograph, a meeting or a handshake a significance greater than it actually possesses. The method we intend to apply is different. It leads us to view an institutional relationship as the possible beginning of a path, not as proof of a result that has yet to be built.
For the same reason, Conflombardia International should not use the word “opportunity” lightly. A commercial possibility, an investment or entry into a new market becomes a genuine opportunity only after a company has assessed its consistency with its product, its organisation, available resources, costs, rules and the actual conditions of the territory in which it intends to operate.
Massimo Testa will be responsible for coordinating, verifying and reporting what emerges from the network
The responsibility entrusted to Massimo Testa should therefore be understood above all in operational terms. His task will not simply be to represent Conflombardia International in general terms, but to contribute to the progressive construction of a system in which information from Ambassadors can be collected, proposals analysed, stakeholders qualified and potential initiatives submitted to the national structure before becoming official activities of the Association.
This also means introducing a logic of accountability, because if we want to prevent the international dimension from becoming a mere showcase, we must be able to understand over time what results it has produced, how many companies have been listened to, what needs have emerged, which stakeholders have been identified, what dossiers or analyses have been developed, what links with professionals or competent structures have been activated and which proposals have actually produced a useful outcome.
I do not therefore consider it particularly significant to be able to say that Conflombardia is present in ten, twenty or thirty countries if that presence produces no verifiable information and no tangible benefit. I consider it far more valuable to have a smaller number of territories that are genuinely covered, known people, reliable stakeholders and a method that allows a relationship to be progressively transformed into a useful tool for businesses.
The distinction between associative functions and personal interests must always remain clear
There is another issue that must be addressed openly and without hypocrisy within an international network. Many people who hold associative roles are at the same time entrepreneurs, professionals or economic operators. This is often a positive element, because it allows them to understand market problems directly, but it also makes it necessary to maintain a very clear distinction between what is done in the interest of the Association and what belongs instead to the personal or commercial activity of the individual.
The Conflombardia network cannot therefore become an instrument for automatically promoting private activities. For this reason, transparency, traceability of initiatives, proper disclosure of roles and preventive management of potential conflicts of interest must become an integral part of the functioning of Conflombardia International, protecting at the same time the organisation, the people working within it and the companies that turn to the network.
From this perspective too, the President will have an important responsibility, because building a network certainly means developing relationships, but it also means preserving the Association’s reputation over time and intervening whenever an initiative risks confusing an associative role with interests belonging to the personal sphere.
We are not interested in building an international structure that looks large on paper but is weak in reality
Conflombardia International should therefore be considered a project under development, and we have no difficulty in stating this clearly. I believe it is far more serious to say that we are building a model, progressively testing how it works and correcting it when critical issues emerge, than to present a structure as fully established merely in order to create a stronger communication effect.
The Presidency entrusted to Massimo Testa represents an important organisational step precisely because it introduces a clearly identifiable responsibility in the construction of this process. Its real effectiveness, however, will be assessed over time on the basis of the ability to coordinate people and information, maintain a constant connection with the national structure, avoid overlaps or unsustainable promises and contribute to transforming what happens in foreign territories into knowledge and relationships that can genuinely be used.
This is the international dimension we intend to build: not a parallel diplomacy and not a commercial network operating without oversight, but an internal Conflombardia function capable of observing, listening, connecting and, where all the necessary conditions exist, contributing to the development of projects that have a concrete purpose for businesses.
Massimo Testa assumes this responsibility within a process that will inevitably need to grow gradually, because international presence is not measured by the number of titles or photographs published, but by the quality of the relationships that can be built, the credibility that can be earned locally and, above all, the ability to be useful when a company asks for help in understanding a market, a problem or a possible path for development.
Conflombardia – The Union of the Community.