Confindustria, the ‘Union of Entrepreneurs’

Founded in October 2022, Confindustria Ungheria is an association established as a meeting space for those who recognize Hungary as a place for investment, development and growth of their businesses. Its goal is to support the Italian business community by valuing members through meeting, aggregating and developing relationships between the different presences in the area. Its activities are also aimed at developing bilateral industrial partnerships and relationships with the local business community interested in Italy.

Confindustria, the general confederation of Italian industry is the Italian small, medium and big enterprises federation, acting as a private organization representing Italian enterprises interests. Founded in 1910. The association network is made of 222 associations, bringing together more than 150,000 companies of all sizes on a voluntary basis, accounting for around 5.4 million individuals in Italy and worldwide.

Building trust and reliability
As the President of Confindustria Ungheria, Roberto Massucco explains to Diplomacy&Trade, Confindustria is the ‘union of the entrepreneurs’, “sitting with the government and with the unions to discuss about labor laws, labor conditions, in a networking environment and, let's say, representing the interests of businesses before the government for laws about the enterprises, etc. We want to do something like that in Hungary but it takes time because you need to build trust and reliability that is not something that you do overnight. You don't just sell yourself; you need to prove yourself to people and to institutions.”
Confindustria Ungheria is a young organization with a past of less than four years with absolutely no structure or administration at the beginning. “Now, we are in the process of building a credible institution, which is not always easy if we take into consideration the ‘Italian DNA’ rooted in hundreds of years of our history. In the 12th-13th centuries, Italy was made up of small municipalities taking care of their own interests, thus becoming individualistic and hard to become convinced to join associations. That's really one limit we are facing, but we are moving on. We are also making a business network as I feel that an organization aiming to help enterprises and its members helping each other need to build up a kind of network – by yourself, you cannot move ahead.” Roberto Massucco stresses that for an organization to be influential, it needs to represent the interest of many people. As an example, he mentions the price of electricity skyrocketing a few years ago and some companies starting to complain. “Whether our intervention influenced the decision or not, I cannot say, but after ten days or so, the government put a price cap to the energy. This is our role: to go and represent an interest. So why join us? Because at that point you have something bigger that can represent your interest to an institution,” he adds.

Significant room for improvement
As for the attractive features that bring Italian investors to Hungary, the Confidustria Ungheria president is of the view that Hungary has built one of the strongest industrial economies in Central Europe. Industry represents about 31% of the Hungarian GDP, which is one of the highest proportions in the European Union. This production, in which export now reaches over EUR 149 billion, mostly come from automotive industry, including batteries, road vehicles, etc. representing a share of more than 35%. “This explains why Italian companies, known for their expertise in industrial machines, automation, precision engineering, etc. could be interested. However, we also have to think that in ten years from now, the turning point will be the circular economy, the environmental technologies. According to Eurostat, Italy reached almost 21% circular material usage rate, that is, recycling – the second highest in Europe. The European average is about 12%, while in Hungary, it is 8%. So, there is significant room for improvement in which Italian companies could really do a lot in Hungary in the fields of recycling, waste management, circular economy, sustainable energy, water treatment or industrial energy efficiency where Italy is really one of the top players in Europe.”

Small but active
Currently, Confindustria Ungheria has about 50 members – still a small organization but active in focusing on workshops. “For instance, we have organized a workshop in all areas of the automotive sector, workshops in legal matters or discussing tax issues with experts. These are issues that the entrepreneurs could be interested in because it's something that it really touches their background. We want to grow and one path is through large organizations. I'm not ashamed to admit that now, we are lacking the big Italian companies. Large companies do not need legitimacy from Confindustria Ungheria. On the contrary, their presence would give greater legitimacy to Confindustria Ungheria itself. So, we are really trying to go in the right direction, and again, to prove to the Italian community of entrepreneurs that we are serious, we are reliable. We are still small but we have already shown that size and credibility are not always the same thing,” the President highlights.

Getting the message through
Confindustria Ungheria has started to have very good cooperation with the British Chamber of Commerce and the French Chamber of Commerce in Hungary. “We organized breakfasts and some other events with them, which, I think, were very successful for all the participants. Our role is to work together with the other business communities in Hungary in order to make them ‘hear the Italian voice’. Regarding Hungarian partners, we have, of course, the investment promotion agency HIPA – over these years, I think that we have always had very good relations with them. Whenever we asked for meetings, we were amicably received and had the opportunity to talk in favor of some companies, while, of course, we have different approaches.” Another important partner is the Federation of Hungarian Industrialists (MGYOSZ), which – just like Confindustria Ungheria – belongs to BusinessEurope, the largest business organization on this continent. “As for institutional relationships, we have the perfect relation with the Embassy of Italy and with the Italian Trade Agency (ICE) and the CCIU here in Budapest. We are integrated with the Italian community while being totally independent of governments. Today, we have an Italian ambassador who absolutely understands the importance of adding diplomacy to working with business. So, we have many, many opportunities to get our message through and that will also help us to grow. As I always say, cooperation is not a sign of weakness, on the contrary: it's often the fastest and most effective way to achieve results that no organization can achieve alone.”