Sicindustria, Luigi Rizzolo confirmed as president

Training, safety at work and bureaucratic simplification. These are the three cornerstones of Luigi Rizzolo's programme for the next four years, confirmed by the private assembly of Sicilian entrepreneurs at the helm of Sicindustria (the Confindustria association that groups together the provinces of Palermo, Trapani, Messina, Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Enna and Ragusa) attended by Riccardo Di Stefano, delegate to Education and Open Innovation by Confindustria's national president Emanuele Orsini. A Palermo-based entrepreneur in the renewable energy and construction sectors, Rizzolo was elected in 2023 to complete the mandate of the late Gregory Bongiorno.

"It will be a mandate under the sign of continuity in the method, in listening, in the determination with which we have put things in order, renewed the rules, built trust. We have laid the foundations,' said Rizzolo. 'Now we must consolidate and accelerate this work, to make Sicindustria even stronger, representative and efficient, at the service of companies and the development of the territory. In these eighteen months we have not only worked internally: we have reopened a concrete dialogue with regional institutions, tackled crucial issues such as industrial areas, infrastructure, energy, training and access to credit. We have asked for solutions, proposed interventions, demanded certain deadlines and effective answers. Certainly today we can say that our association has regained cohesion, vision, and authority, becoming a point of reference for the more than one thousand member companies with 50,000 workers in seven provinces'. They will be joined in the new mandate by Vincenzo Adragna (Adragna Petfood srl) from Trapani, Luciano Basile (Resigest srl) from Palermo, Gianfranco Caccamo (Icaro ecology spa) from Nissia, Leonardo Licitra (Ilap spa) from Ragusa, and Antonio Siracusa (Siracusa Costruzioni srl) from Agrigento.

Sicindustria's action will be structured around three fundamental guidelines: training, safety at work and bureaucratic simplification. "Without skills, innovation remains a theoretical exercise," said President Rizzolo, emphasising how central it is to invest in continuous training to enable companies to cope with change. The aim is to bridge the gap between demand and supply of skilled labour, focusing on Higher Technical Institutes, dual training, guidance for young people and a constant dialogue between schools, universities and the production system. A second front is that of safety in the workplace, defined by Rizzolo as 'a question of dignity and competitiveness'. 'Doing business in Sicily,' he said, 'means being a guardian of legality and responsibility. Safety cannot be seen only as a regulatory obligation: it is a moral duty and a strategic element. Only in a healthy context can trust be built, investments attracted, and growth generated'. The third pillar is the simplification of public administration, to be accompanied by digitalisation. For Rizzolo, this is an indispensable step to relaunch the territory's competitiveness. 'Incentives are not enough,' he said, 'Businesses need clear rules, definite timeframes and streamlined procedures. The public administration must stop being an obstacle and finally become an ally of development'.