BOGLIONE, MARCO
COMPANIES AND ENTREPRENEURS , B
Marco Boglione is an Italian entrepreneur born in Turin on the 9th of May 1956, founder and president of BasicNet
Marco Boglione
Biography
Marco Boglione was born in Turin on the 9th of May 1956. His father, Lorenzo, is an insurance executive, while his mother Anna runs an interior design business. His mother passed on the entrepreneurial spirit to him, which accompanied Boglione in his career.
He graduated in 1974 from the Filippin Institute of Paderno del Grappa. During his formative years, driven by a passion for photography, he founded a photography school and a small souvenir photo business. From his small business, at 16 years old he earned half a million lire. In 1976 he met Maurizio Vitale, a young entrepreneur who at the time revolutionized the family brands Robe di Kappa and Jesus Jeans. Thanks to Vitale, Boglione found a job as a copywriter in a small communication agency. Six months later, the entrepreneur hired him at Maglificio Calzificio Torinese.
Experience with Maurizio Vitale
Initially, Boglione worked in the weaving department during the night shift. He soon went a long way from his first assignment. In 1978, he convinced Maurizio Vitale to set up the company’s sports line with the Robe di Kappa brand, then simplified to Kappa. Significantly, in 1981, at the age of 25, Boglione became commercial and marketing director. During these years his second passion, that for technology and computers, blossomed. These interests represent the foundation of BasicNet’s business model.
Acquisition of Maglificio Calzificio Torinese, the birth of BasicNet
After the experience at Vitale, he founded Football Sport Merchandise with Luciano Antonino. The company is the first in Europe to dress the main football teams. On the 28th of October 1994 the Football Sport Merchandise group bought Maglificio Calzificio Torinese, which had declared bankruptcy seven years after the death of Maurizio Vitale, at the bankruptcy auction. BasicNet was born from Maglificio.
The business model is different from that previously in force in the company. Organization of BasicNet, in fact, is based on a network of independent entrepreneurs connected to each other and to the holding company through the internet. Partners produce and distribute the collections under license. BasicNet owns Robe di Kappa, Kappa, Sebago, Jesus Jeans, K-Way, Superga and Briko. Since 1999 BasicNet has been listed on the Italian Stock Exchange. The group brings together over 400 entrepreneurs worldwide and is an active player in 130 markets. In 2019, the aggregate sales of the Marketplace exceeded € 1 billion.
Institutional positions
In 2009, Marco Boglione and Adriano Moraglio published the book Piano piano che ho fretta. Being an entrepreneur is beautiful!
Together with the entrepreneurial activity, Boglione has held various institutional positions; from 1995 to 2019 he was the member of the Council for relations between Italy and the United States. From 2000 to 2006 he was president of the Turin-Piedmont Film Commission and of the Consultation Committee of the Faculty of Architecture.
Subsequently, from 2003 to 2006 he held the position of President of ITP (Investment Agency in Turin and Piedmont) and in 2005 he joined the Board of Directors of the Piedmontese Foundation for Cancer Research. In 2019, the Foundation recognized him as the founder.
From 2010 to 2016 Boglione has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Industrial Union of Turin and in 2016 he joined the General Council. From 2011 to 2017 he was the president of the Piedmont Foundation for Oncology. On the 2nd of June 2011 the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano nominated him Knight of Merit for Labour. Since the 25th of June 2014 the entrepreneur has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Gruppo Piemontese Cavalieri del Lavoro, and he became its president in 2019. On the 5th of May 2016 he received the Guido Carli Award for Italian excellence in Montecitorio.
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