The Challenge Is to Constantly Change and Innovate

THE MANY LIVES AND PROFESSIONS OF ALBERTO CAIMI WHO, AMONG OTHER THINGS, IS LEADER OF THE BARCELONA CHAPTER OF BOCCONI ALUMNI


If there is one thing that cannot be said of Alberto Caimi, Bocconi's degree in Economics in 1988, is that he is reluctant to throw himself into a new business venture. At the start of the year, he was appointed as the head of the Bocconi alumni in Barcelona, where he has lived for more than thirty years. Today he manages Barcelona Housing systems, an engineering and architecture company, but at one point he was also Amazon’s competitor in Spain.

➜ How did you land in Barcelona?
In order to avoid the military service, which was compulsory in Italy back then, I moved to Barcelona when I was in my penultimate year at the university. I had a Spanish friend, whom I had met in Berkeley, who asked me if I wanted to work in his family business and so I left Italy for Catalonia. I was supposed to stay a year and a half, I ended up becoming a permanent resident.
 
➜ In 1988, you graduated. What happened next?
For a while I continued with that first job, then in 1989 I became product manager for a computer wholesaler selling Lotus 123 software. At some point Lotus, given my job experience, decided to hire me. I worked for them first in Barcelona, then in Milan, where they would have liked me to stay. But I wanted to return to Spain.

➜ And so?
And so I went back, even though I did not yet have a job. I was hired by a multinational who made chemicals for pharma. I worked three years there. Then I decided to make the leap into entrepreneurship. Together with a colleague, in 1999 I founded Acuista, the first e-commerce site in Spain. At the time it was a risky bet, but it lasted 13 years.

➜ And then you paused for a while..
I took a sabbatical during which I managed the agricultural company owned by my wife's family in Tuscany, and then I worked as an independent consultant in the liquidation of a hydroelectric company and in the board of administration of another company. While I completed these projects, I joined the business venture I'm currently working on right now.

➜ Barcelona Housing Systems. What is it about?
I am Organization, HR & IT manager at this company which has developed a technology capable of cutting construction times for affordable quality housing. A technology that McKinsey has defined as benchmark to increase productivity. This project was born from the idea of the same friend I started working with in Barcelona thirty years ago. He told me: "As soon as I start this company, I want you with me." And this is how it went.

➜ In short, a life characterized by continuous change..
Whenever I thought I had completed a project, I felt I needed to move on to another one. At times with some recklessness, but always with great confidence in my abilities. Another challenge I’m dealing with is my work with Bocconi alumni: we are consolidating the network of alums here in the city and organizing career events. We also want to involve exchange students passing through Barcelona in the Chapter’s activities.
 
 

by Andrea Celauro
Translated by Alex Foti