Believing in Yourself Is the Recipe for Success

In high school she studied accounting because, even if she had she not continued with her studies, she still would have obtained a sought-after degree in the job market. Her mother imagined her becoming a pharmacist — a role that would have also given her a certain social prestige in an all-too-small town like Tortona. However, Paola Pianciola wanted to travel and understand the world and society. So, in the meantime, she decided to pursue an academic path at a university that could grant her these opportunities in the future — that of economics, for instance, especially at Bocconi, of which some friends had spoken very highly to her. “Back then, there were no guidance and recruitment initiatives like there are today,” recalls Paola Pianciola. “Information was mainly gathered after getting to know people. I took the admission test, passed and enrolled in the Business Administration program, specializing in Public Administration. I was very interested in learning about the mechanisms that regulate the functioning of public affairs, although I never had the desire to find a job in that field because the system of competitive public exams is not for me.” Her 1996 thesis on eco-sustainable tourism was a topic ahead of its time. “Yes, it was an experimental thesis on the topic of sustainability regarding certain areas of the economy,” repeats Paola Pianciola. “I have always enjoyed searching for new, exciting things that could have a huge impact on people’s lives. There was also very little literature on the subject at that time.” Upon completing her studies at Bocconi, she left for Paris where she completed a Master program at HEC. “My idea was to go to Paris and find a good job in the city center; instead I ended up at a campus that was really far from the city, where the Eiffel Tower was not even visible. But those years of my first internships were amazing, where companies came to the university to recruit students — a pretty uncommon practice in Italy. I began working in consulting, then for Vivendi where I helped advance the first internet projects applied to cell phones and the healthcare field,” Paola continues. Then her manager at the time asked her to follow him on a new venture — the establishment of an incubator funded by Vivendi, aimed at launching online projects created by startups. It lasted for a few years and soon she returned to Italy, where a French entrepreneur in 2006 asked her to launch Smartbox: “It was still a small company in those days, even in France where it had just launched. In Italy we quickly went from €0 to €100 million in sales with two teams, one in Milan and one in Rome. Then we took over Switzerland, Germany and Spain, reaching about €500 million in sales before Covid. The pandemic heavily affected the industry, forcing us to restructure and sell some subsidiaries.” In 2020 Paola Pianciola became CEO of Smartbox Group, but the world had changed in the meantime, and — three years later — she decided to leave the company. “When we started in 2006, the world was not that connected. Today technology is accessible to everyone; every tourism-related transaction is done through a technology platform. I established my company — JungleGift — last year, and what I do is work with white label companies that already have a well-known brand and quality experiential products. I offer my expertise and oversee 100% of their gift box business (manufacturing, logistics, distribution, management, sales, promotion and visibility). Furthermore, I am also a business angel and work with various startups.” What advice would the former manager-turned-entrepreneur and business angel give to young women who are beginning to plan for their future? “There are still almost entirely male-dominated sectors, such as that of business angels and finance. Others, including startups, have a higher female presence,” says Paola Pianciola. “In almost every case, however, the presence of women thins out the further up the pyramid you go — although statistics show that the situation for women is slowly improving in both Italy and France. The fear of not making it and not being good enough is much more common among young women compared to young men, with the former often giving up on aspiring to roles for which they otherwise would be qualified. I tell them to never settle, to avoid compromises, and to pursue their goals to the very end — even if they are incredibly challenging.”