«I felt like a brain on the run, today I feel like a “brain returning”, so to speak». To use this formula is Nicolò Petronemanager and CEO of 1000 Pharmacies. Its story, like others that are spreading in the shadow of Vesuvius, testifies that, in the season of its post-Covid economic and social renaissance, Partenope and business (not just tourism) are aligning on a common path. He is young, Petrone: he is 31 years old, but his company, a digital marketplace of medicines with over 500 thousand customers, has a dizzying annual turnover and sales of several tens of millions of dollars. And, above all, 1000 Farmacie has its registered office in Naples. «I returned home after working in the United States – adds Petrone – You can also do business in Naples. Indeed, in some ways working here has some advantages compared to other places.”
However, let’s start from his experience in the USA. Why had she decided to leave Naples?
«First of all, for a need linked to training. I had to “learn the trade”. Gaining experience in the start-up sector, at the time, was certainly easier in the United States. In Naples this world was almost at year zero. I left very early: at 22.”
And what did he do overseas?
«I lived and worked in San Francisco first and then in Charlotte. Together with a colleague originally from India, I had founded a financial start-up called “Medici”, from the name of the Tuscan family who established one of the oldest and most important banks in the world. In fact, “Medici” was a marketplace of solutions for banks and insurance companies.”
Let’s go back to the present. How does 1000 Pharmacies work?
«Basically it is an App, founded in 2020 by me, Mohamed Younes and Alberto Marchetti, in which the user searches for the product they want to buy and is provided with the closest shop that sells it at the best price. It is a digital marketplace that brings together pharmacies, parapharmacies and other partners. We have over 500 thousand active customers and annualized sales of over 50 million dollars. Naturally, drugs cannot be sold online.”
What convinced you to return?
«It has influenced a sense of belonging to my territory, the same one that makes me a member of 081 Stand for Naples, the association of Neapolitans under 35 who have achieved success abroad and which is organizing various activities for the city and to put in contact with Neapolitans who stand out far from home. But clearly, on the other hand, some concrete factors linked to the business also pushed me to return. In Naples it was possible to set up a business system that was functional and functional.”
How come?
«It is now clear that the start-up market in the United States has become saturated. It probably already was in previous years. The start-up market in Southern Italy was yet to be written. In short, returning to Naples represented both a personal challenge and an opportunity for business success. Competitiveness in the start-up sector was still in its infancy. If I think of the first American settlers who left to live in the USA because the territories were all free, well, my journey back to Naples was essentially the opposite. I managed to combine my Neapolitan identity with my activity as a manager. Our registered office of 1000 Farmacie is in Naples, but we have also opened an office in Milan. My family affiliation also had an impact on my choice to return: we Petrone, historic pharmacists, continue to believe and invest in our territory. We believe not only in the beauty of Naples, but also in its concrete business possibilities.”
In your opinion, are there any advantages for those who want to do business in Naples today?
«At the moment the Neapolitan start-up market is still free compared, for example, to that of Milan. This is why young people are returning to Naples, and some have put together important ideas, such as Farmacia Europea, or eFarma, to stay in the sector. Then there is another element, not to be underestimated, in the current corporate market: those who work in a Neapolitan company are led to develop greater loyalty towards the company”.
How come?
«Precisely because, as I was telling you, the market is not as large as in other places. Here you don’t change your shirt (that is, company) with the same ease with which you do it in other big cities in the world. In short, working for a company in Naples and making it a “jewel”, in other words, becomes an opportunity to feel part of a family.”
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Read the full article at
The morning
