About Us | Octagona Srl: Experts in Internationalization
Octagona Ltd./About Us

Who we are

We support companies that, like yours, strongly want to
Discover new markets and make profits from them.
With more than 100 employees direct operating in over 40 countries, we support you in developing your potential and seizing the unmissable opportunities of international markets.

We support companies that, like yours, strongly want to
Discover new markets and make profits from them.
With more than 100 employees direct operating in over 40 countries, we support you in developing your potential and seizing the unmissable opportunities of international markets.

Octagona
our history

Founded in 2002, Octagona has grown because it has always grown its customers by solving problems, finding solutions and bringing results.

Already accredited providers by the Ministry of Economic Development, from the Emilia-Romagna Region, from the Lombardy Region and from the Veneto Region for the provision of business internationalization services, we have implemented hundreds of projects, developing and Building winning internationalization strategies.

We know how to dialogue with people and different cultures to realize growth and development through involvement. We offer the market a unique approach based on widespread international presence. Where you are, we are there.

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What makes the difference

For more than 20 years, more than 950 projects

Customization

Some people offer the same service to all clients, but to us you are unique. Our services are “tailor-made.”. We listen to your needs and build the path we will take together.

Opportunities

We support leading Made in Italy companies to seize opportunities in international markets. We will help you achieve your goals and beat the competition.

Ethics

Our goal is for you to generate turnover and profitability from your project.
We aim to achieve them without ever neglecting clarity, transparency e sincerity from the very beginning.

NUMBERS

In this area many are improvised, but we are not.

Twenty years' experience, direct presence in foreign markets through subsidiaries and specific expertise have enabled us to achieve many results.

2002

starting year

20

years of activity

12

locations in India, the U.S., Vietnam, Korea

3

continents with a direct presence

40

countries in which we operate

50

direct collaborators

1000

successfully implemented projects

700

supported companies

1000

ideas to implement

THE OCTAGONA TEAM

You can count on us because of more than 100 staff members headed in more than 40 countries around the world.

Experienced, multi-ethnic professionals specializing in business internationalization.

We set as our goal the profitability of projects, but we do so by investing in the “right people,” those capable of Getting your company to achieve its goals on time.

Alexander Fichera

CEO and President of the Board

Internationally experienced consultant with specialization in the mechanical, food, fashion and retail sectors. He has hundreds of successful projects on over 40 countries for Italian SMEs to his credit.

He is also a trainer for ICE, CIS and and other training institutions with a strong international focus. He has lived in England, Ireland, France and India for many years. Milano Finanza listed him among the 100 most influential people to do business in India.

Michele Bonfiglioli

Board Member

He holds a degree in Management Engineering from the University of Bologna, a Diploma in Business Administration from Berkeley University, California (USA) and was a Research Fellow in Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Nottingham.

Since 2002, he has been Managing Director of Bonfiglioli Consulting, and founder of the Lean Factory School®: he is an expert on Lean Thinking and Lean World Class® topics (applications in the area of design, production, project management) particularly in the automotive, industrial goods, electronics and pharmaceutical sectors.

Edits thematic publications and international Benchmarking studies on Operational Excellence. Languages spoken: Italian (native speaker), English

Umberto Mirani

Board Member

He holds a degree in Environmental and Resource Engineering from the University of Bologna and was a designer of pneumatic conveying systems for a metalworking company.

In 2000 he began his career as an expert in the Lean Thinking and Lean World Class® philosophy at Bonfiglioli Consulting, for the automotive, industrial goods, pharmaceutical, food&beverage and fashion sectors. Today he is a partner in Bonfiglioli Consulting with the role of Senior Partner & Principal Digitalization.

With the establishment of the Bonfiglioli Consulting | Octagona group, he became a director of Octagona.

Vishnu Krishna

Director - Octagona India

Master's degree in International Business & Marketing and a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Vishnu has more than 22 years of professional experience, having worked in the purchasing division for an Indian automotive company and as a local manager for a Japanese company; he also worked for the Australian Trade Commission and later as a freelance consultant offering market entry services in the Indian market for an Australian and a U.S. company.

He started working for Octagona India Pvt. Ltd. starting in February 2014.

Languages spoken: Hindi (native) and English (native).

He has been working with Octagona as a Senior Associate Consultant since 2018.

Monica Sessi

Senior Consultant

Bachelor's degree in foreign languages and literatures from the University of Parma.

She joins the Octagona team from its foundation where she coordinates teams on internationalization projects. She is also the administrative and financial manager of the organization.

In the past, she was a Marketing associate and staff selection/training consultant in major Italian firms.

Languages spoken: Italian (native speaker), English, French.

Matthew Setti

Senior Consultant

Matteo has 15 years' experience in accompanying medium and small Italian companies abroad, gained in both public and private sectors. He has also been Senior Project Manager and Event Specialist for international promotion projects, as well as Lecturer in many seminars on the topic of internationalization.

Costantino Ferrandino

Senior Consultant

Graduate in Business Administration from Ca' Foscari Venice with a specialization in Business Organization.

He has 30 years of international experience in various industries such as textile-clothing, mechanical, and ICT. He is experienced in both family businesses and multinational settings where he has held general management, commercial, supply chain, and management control positions.

He has lectured at CUOA in Vicenza.

Sara Bertazzini

Project Manager

Graduated in International Management from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in 2019. During her university studies, she had the opportunity to participate in the Erasmus “Double Degree” program. Specifically, she studied at Augsburg University of Applied Sciences and worked as an intern at an aviation company.

Subsequently, she worked as a licensing and royalty administrator at a publishing house and as a business analyst at an IT consulting firm. The latter experience allowed her to manage digitization projects (drafting business requirements, coordinating both IT and Business, and monitoring the testing phase) in the commercial environment at a major player in the insurance industry.

In addition, she was involved in an internal program aimed at creating greater collaboration with other European subsidiaries. She contributed by coordinating the Italian team in different activities and joining the European resource management.

Since July 2022 he has been working as a project manager at Octagona.

Languages spoken: Italian (native), English, German and French.

Lucia Marchi

Temporary Export Manager

Bachelor's degree in Economics and Business, Faculty of International Trade, from the University of Bratislava (Slovakia).

Joined the Octagona team in October 2015 as a Business Analyst to perform foreign trade support activities for various business internationalization projects, as a Temporary Export Manager.

Previously, he gained work experience with several companies internationally, including Austrian Airlines in Slovakia, being part of the commercial team. He has also worked in France performing commercial support activities for the Honorary Consulate of Nicaragua in Lyon and has performed training and consulting activities for French companies.

In Italy, he worked for several companies performing commercial support activities for import-export services, as Responsible for Eastern European countries.

Languages spoken: Slovak (mother tongue), Italian, Czech, English, French, German and Russian.

Erica Lugli

Accounting

Diploma in Accounting from Antonio Meucci High School in Carpi.

Since 2007 she has been working in Octagona as an administrative officer.

Languages spoken: Italian (Mother tongue), English

Davide Bergamini

Digital Marketing Consultant

Laura in Economics & Management from the University of Venice. EMBA at Quantic University in Washington, DC.

Web manager and digital marketing consultant, he follows several projects for important Italian and international companies. Owner of two agencies specialized in digital marketing in Italy and Switzerland, he joins the Octagona team from 2019 as a strategic support figure for the Digital Export activity.

Languages spoken: Italian, English, Spanish, and French.

Ester Tempered

Associate Consultant

Bachelor's degree in International Relations, Master's degree for International Functions, Master's degree in Business Administration (Ex. MBA) in marketing and strategic management.

Approximately 18 years of professional experience started in the foreign tender office of an engineering company in Palermo. Later worked in a consulting firm in Florence as a consultant for internationalization of SMEs and worked with a consortium of companies in the fashion industry in Arezzo as Financial Officer managing technical reporting and accounting activities for a European project.

For eight years employed at the Commercial Section of the Embassy of Pakistan in Rome where she supervised and managed activities regarding export promotion and investment in various in strategic sectors. Later she worked as Senior Internationalization Consultant and Temporary Export Manager (TEM) at the international division of a consulting firm in the province of Reggio Emilia.

He is a certified D-TEM consultant, regularly deals with internationalization and foreign investment attraction and collaborates with various international institutions.

Languages spoken: Italian (native), English, Spanish

Davide Pedrolli

Associate Consultant

Bachelor's degree in Law with a Transnational and European focus from the University of Trento and Advanced Training Course in International Trade and Marketing.

During his undergraduate studies he had the opportunity to do a year-long Erasmus in Trier, Germany interspersed with experience at Tonji University in Shanghai, and dissertation research in food law at the Universidad de Pais Vasco in San Sebastian, Spain.

A sales consultant dedicated mainly to the Food & Beverage world, he is particularly specialized in the Nordic-Scandinavian markets. Freelance freelance publicist accredited with international institutes as well as collaborator with Scandinavian newspapers, active as promoter and seller of Italian quality products in both retail and food service. Since December 2021 he has been Associate Consultant for Octagona.

Languages spoken: Italian (native), English, German, Spanish, Swedish.

Andrea Tirelli

Senior Associate Consultant

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia; Master's degree in International Business management; specialization in International Marketing at Mesa State College - Colorado USA and lecturer at the University of Modena and Reggio, from May 1993 to September 1997.

After significant corporate experience in the role of controller and strategic and operational planning gained in strongly export-oriented companies, in 1998 he began consulting work, specializing in the development of internationalization strategies and business plan development.

He currently carries out consulting activities with special reference to: internationalization, penetration and localization of the enterprise in foreign markets.

He is an accredited consultant at Confindustria Emilia Romagna for internationalization policies and collaborates with various territorial offices of Confindustria; he also lectures and trains at various training institutions.

Languages spoken: Italian (mother tongue), English, French

Peter Paul Alessandrello

Senior Associate Consultant

Degree in mechanical engineering, to date a business consultant with long experience in internationalization, business turn-around and business development.

He also holds the role of Lecturer of seminars on internationalization for IGAMI and GES (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) postgraduate masters and Professional accredited by the Lombardy Region as Manager of business networks for internationalization, innovation and business turn-around.

He was, among other positions held, Vice President of the Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce in Mumbai and COO for Rosetti Marino Group's foreign subsidiaries.

Since 2016, he has been actively collaborating with Octagona as an Associate Consultant, regarding the construction of internationalization projects.

Languages spoken: Italian (mother tongue), English.

Mario Giacomelli

Senior Associate Consultant

A resident of Canada, Mario supports European SMEs in their internationalization process in North America.

With more than a decade of experience in consulting and business development for Start-Ups and SMEs, he knows what it takes to successfully launch a new business and product in North America.

Experience in developing international partnerships and managing operations for companies in the mechanical, technology, furniture and food processing industries.

He has been working with Octagona as an Associate Senior Consultant since 2020.

Languages: Italian, English, Spanish.

Simone Cassola

Senior Associate Consultant

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, specializing in Business Management and Administration.

After a few years of experience in accountancy firms with an international vocation, starting in 2000 he began working for a cosmetics company as Corporate Controller and moved to Latin America for over a decade to follow the production and commercial branches throughout the area. He lived in Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, becoming the corporate point of reference and taking on the local function of CFO and Head of Operations, also for another cosmetics company.

In 2014, he returned to Italy and began his consulting activity aimed mainly at companies already present in Latin America (who need to reorganize their presence in the areas of tax, legal, industrial, finance) and companies not yet present in the area that want to start the internationalization process.

Languages Spoken: Italian (native speaker), Spanish, Portuguese, English

Maurizio Arletti

Senior Associate Consultant

Extensive experience in the world of export and internationalization. After various experiences as Export Manager in companies in the automotive, plant engineering and wine sectors, he moved to Australia for two years as Resident Manager for the Far East and Oceania for a large Scandinavian group.

Following this experience, he returned to Europe as Managing Director of a manufacturing company in the ceramics sector in Germany, for which he also personally supervised the entire business network development part worldwide.

In 2006 he founded an international consulting company and from 2007 he also held the position of CEO for the Italian holding company of a Chinese company.

From January 2020 he actively joins Octagona as Senior Associate Consultant.

Languages spoken: Italian (native speaker), English, German

Maurizio Accinni

Senior Associate Consultant

Law degree from Sapienza University of Rome with 110 cum laude.

He held the position of Head of Relations with Financial Institutions Asia Region in BNL from 1979 to 2002, also holding the positions of Director of the Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo and New York Offices. Until 2018, he was the Head of Internationalization Activity Development of BNL BNP Paribas Group at the Head Office in Rome, where he also held the position of India Desk Manager.

During his professional experiences, he has periodically acted as a trainer / lecturer in internal courses of BNL officers and top management on various topics (internationalization, country risk, support of financial processes of development abroad). Awarded the title of Officer of Merit of the Italian Republic in October 2003 and the title of Master of Labor in May 2014.

Since 2018 he has been working with Octagona as a Senior Associate Consultant.

Languages spoken: Italian (native speaker), English and French.

Filip Korinek

Senior Associate Consultant

Filip is a senior consultant with 29 years of experience in the field of strategic market research, with extensive experience in assisting companies in assessing market potential, choosing the best path to market entry, and identifying and contacting potential customers and distribution partners.

Filip earned a master's degree in economics from Charles University in Prague. His dissertation was nominated for the J. Vavrousek Prize. He also studied on a scholarship at the University of Paris I - Sorbonne.

His professional experience includes work at the U.S. Embassy in Prague and the World Bank. He speaks fluent English, good French and basic German, as well as his native language, Czech.

Sarath Menon

Senior Associate Consultant

Market entry consultant with 30 years of experience in advising companies wishing to develop a market entry strategy or carry out their business expansion in Southeast Asia.

Sarath is based in Singapore and is the managing director of Orissa International, which has a network of offices throughout the region, including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Prior to working for Orissa International, he managed a U.S. government-funded export program.

He has been working with Octagona as an associate consultant since 2020.

He is fluent in English and Malay.

Ankit Kumar

Senior Business Analyst - Octagona India

Ankit holds a bachelor's degree in manufacturing engineering. Prior to joining Octagona India, he worked for 5 years in various multinational companies in technical sales and business development positions. He also worked in the franchise industry for the Indian market entry of various international brands.

Languages spoken: Hindi (native speaker), English

Upender Kumar

Manager Accounts and Taxation - Octagona India

Bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University of Delhi, has more than 10 years of experience in accounting, finance, direct and indirect taxes, statutory audits, tax audits, internal audits, and preparation and submission of sales and service tax returns.

Previously worked for a leading firm of Chartered Accountants providing services in the field of accounting and tax matters in India.

He has been working in Octagona India since June 2016.

Languages spoken: Hindi (native speaker)

Ajay Chaurasia

Head of Taxation and Accounts - Octagona India

Degree in Accounting for Certified Public Accountants in 2010 from the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of India.

He has more than 14 years of experience in accounting, finance, direct and indirect taxes, statutory audits, tax audits, internal audits, and preparation and submission of sales and service tax returns.

He previously worked for a major accounting firm in India and for an IT company.

Languages spoken: Hindi (native) and English (native).

Anshul Sharma

Senior Manager - Octagona India

A graduate in Statistics from the University of Delhi, he also holds an MBA in Marketing and International Business from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in New Delhi.

He has a strong consulting sales background and has over 11 years of experience in Business Development, Account Management, Sales & Marketing. He has previously worked with companies such as IndiaMart, Crisil, Infraline Energy and FranGlobal.

Languages spoken: Hindi (native speaker), English

Nidhi Balla

Manager Administration & HR - Octagona India

Bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University of Delhi and postgraduate specialization in Public Relations and Advertising.

He has over 15 years of work experience and has worked in different Indian companies, in a wide range of industries. He has worked mainly within the following areas: Operations, Administration and Corporate Communications.

Since 2019, she has been working at Octagona India as an administrative clerk.

Bansari Joshi

Legal Consultant - Octagona India

Bansari graduated from Symbiosis College, Pune; she received her law degree from ILS Law College, Pune. She specializes in legal drafting, due diligence, negotiating and providing legal solutions in complex matters.

He also has experience in managing corporate compliance, dealing with government authorities and advising on the protection of intellectual property rights.

Languages spoken: Gujarati (native), English, Hindi, Marathi, French (basic), Italian (basic)

Pooja Chaurasia

Senior Executive - Octagona India

He is currently pursuing an MBA Finance at IMT University in Ghaziabad, holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University of Delhi, and a Master's degree in Commerce from IGNOU in New Delhi.

She started her career at Octagona India as Accounts Executive in October 2017. She specializes in indirect tax and compliance.

Languages spoken: Hindi (native speaker), English

U.M. Deviprasada

Senior Executive Accounts - Octagona India

Bachelor's degree in Commerce from Mangalore University, India.

More than 11 years of experience in the following areas: accounting, finance, auditing, direct and indirect taxation, preparation and filing of tax returns, sales tax and related services.

He previously worked for a major firm of Certified Public Accountants and a major manufacturing company, providing services in accounting and tax matters.

OUR GROUP

In a world of relationships, we believe that having strong partnerships is critical to making a difference.

In 2017, we formed a strong partnership with Bonfiglioli Consulting and In 2022, we consolidated this relationship by establishing the Bonfiglioli Consulting Group - Octagona, which presents itself as a one-stop shop to support companies in achieving the best global competitive positioning through the best internationalization strategies. We have developed 4 strategic scenarios for business internationalization:

Business Design & Execution

Expand into a specific market supported by market analysis through specific penetration strategies in a predefined target audience.

Business Growth & Integration

Developing its business in the markets it already presides over and improve integration between Headquarters and local offices.

Operations Evolution

Aligning Operations to integrate the activities of local branches, distributors, agents and representatives with Headquarters.

Supply Chain Evolution

Redesigning the Supply Chain from an International Perspective. To improve efficiency and profitability.

Bonfiglioli Consulting

Consulting and redesign of processes and organizations

Octagona

International Business Services

Lean Factory School®

Training and certification pathways

Soa Human Resources

Selection, Evaluation and Development of Human Resources

Corvina

Industry 4.0, Technology and Data Science

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