ASSOCIATIONS The first international meeting of the Finat Young Managers Club will be held on November 28th-30th, 2012, at the Westin Hotel in Berlin (D). The future leaders of the global self-adhesive label industry will present their analyses and ideas.
Founded in 2009 during Finat’s annual congress in Antalya, Turkey, the self-adhesive labeling youth Club is now making its presence felt: after its first public “essay”, on the occasion of Labelexpo India, the group has organized an event of its own, with a promising program (for details see www.finat.com). Bringing together entrepreneurs and managers of the sector who are under 40, ambitious, globalized and passionate, the Young Managers Club is looking to grow quickly and on a global scale, with promises of unprecedented responses to the challenges faced by the sector and economy at large.
«In just three years – declares YMC president Francesc Egea (IPE-Innovaciones, Spain) – we have involved more than 60 members, primarily Europeans (70%), but also Asians (20%, mostly Indians) and members from the Americas. And we’re determined to keep expanding in all directions: geographic and cultural origin, company type represented and gender (more ladies…). An important role is played in our common project by networking and training events for meeting the demands of young people in search of “different” answers, solutions and information».
The network’s advantages – Pragmatism is a must: «Our initiatives are characterized by a concrete approach – stresses Dana Klarska (Purgina, Slovakia), the club’s treasurer – to support the 
development of personal and managerial skills and inspire and assist participants in their strategies and operations. Indeed, while on one hand we are aware of how much we owe to our predecessors, on the other we are convinced that, as young people, we have to play a role of renewal made all the more urgent by the structural changes affecting the economy and society».
«In addition to seeking new members through social media and our own contacts network, and to stepping up our collaboration with other associations – Egea continues – we are focusing on making current members more active, in the conviction that working firsthand on YMC initiatives is fun, interesting and rewarding and has proven to be an opportunity for growth, in every way. The feedback we have received thus far has been very positive».
New tools, new challenges – Finat is aided in its work by the tools supplied by its young members, starting with more immediate means of communication, smarter devices and people who speak multiple languages fluently and are better equipped for intercultural understanding. But there are major obstacles to be overcome, «starting with the “speed” at which we live and work, which presents the risk of short-term, myopic judgment calls».
The challenges are many: from the pressure of prices, which often sees labeling squeezed between suppliers and customers, to the necessity of developing more flexible business models that are capable of producing added value; from the consolidation of a family concern, often in its second or third generation of entrepreneurs, to the complex issues relating to the environment and sustainability… In short, nothing less than the future of the sector.
