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"Despite my several experiences in the UK and France, I am a proud Italian man. I do see myself developing my career abroad, in the UK or US, but returning to Italy in my mid-30s remains a key goal in my life. As a matter of fact, I would love to contribute to the growth of my country as well as to transfer my knowledge and passion for finance to the future generations becoming an academic’ "

Telos: Who is Gianfilippo Aldegheri?

Gianfilippo Aldegheri: Well, Gianfilippo is a brilliant young Italian man currently residing in London. I attended the Liceo Classico Ginnasio “Virgilio” in Mantova which instilled in me the passion for literature and art but did not help me much choosing a career path. At last, thanks to my family’s guidance, I decided to study economics and ended up finding myself in Trento, at the time the #1 public university in Italy for economic studies, where I completed my bachelor’s degree in “Economics and Management”. The University of Trento provided me with a good overview of the business world but also made me realise the need to pursue a Master’s degree abroad in order to live a more international and dynamic experience. As I had already studied in the UK, since I had attended two summer courses al the London School of Economics, I opted for HEC Paris, a school of great reputation and many opportunities, and specifically I chose the MSc in Managerial and Financial Economics. HEC was key in determining my career development as, for the first time, I interacted with professors who were also leading financial professionals and provided me with a more practical financial knowledge. However, my time at HEC was not without sacrifices as the business school is set in a small isolated village, Jouy-en-Josas, which motivated students (me included) to escape as much as possible over the weekends. Thanks to its broad network, I soon found myself back in the UK attending a course on Quantitative Risk Management at the University of Oxford. Studies must be addictive as I am currently still studying, this time for the CFA level 3 exam in order to become a Chartered Financial Analyst. When it came the time to choose where to work, for me the choice was simple as I had fallen in love with London over the many trips I had there and I wanted to live in “Europe’s financial capital”. In London I worked in Investment Banking for one year, first at Credit Suisse and then at Société Générale. After my experiences in an advisory role, I felt the need to express my entrepreneurial spirit and I successfully applied for an internship at Arrowgrass Capital, a $6bn multi-strategy hedge fund, where I was supporting a senior analyst in the coverage of technology stocks. This experience was one of the most formative of my professional career, as it provided me with an unparalleled level of exposure to complex investment decisions and motivated me to open a personal trading account which I still manage in my free time. In 2017 I joined as analyst Hollyport Capital, a secondary private equity manager specialised in acquiring mature portfolios of interests in private equity funds. Working at Holllyport turned me into a more rounded investment professional but also motivated me to look for new challenges within a more international and larger firm thus I joined StepStone, where I am currently working within the Private Equity team. Overall, I would describe myself as a very driven individual with a deep intellectual curiosity. Despite my several experiences in the UK and France, I am a proud Italian man. I do see myself developing my career abroad, in the UK or US, but returning to Italy in my mid-30s remains a key goal in my life. As a matter of fact, I would love to contribute to the growth of my country as well as to transfer my knowledge and passion for finance to the future generations becoming an academic.

What about your several job interviews experiences both in Italy and abroad. Do you see yourself as a typical brain drain person? A net loss of human capital and no-return to investment in education for our country.

Over the past decades Italy has experienced an increase in the number of students and professionals eager to make a career abroad. In a country with an ageing population problem as Italy, this “brain drain” phenomenon is particularly challenging. I have now lived abroad for almost four years and I clearly miss Italy and my friends back home but, when considering my future, it is hard to see myself working back in Italy for the moment.
In my brief experience as a job seeker in Italy I have often felt as a tier 2 candidate due to my lack of “connections”. Nepotism is a true plague in Italy and this is clearly reflected in the survey conducted by the World Economic Forum aimed at determining how relevant is nepotism in the job market. Italy ranked 85th in a list of 125 countries (on par with Tajikistan and Mozambique). I remember how I was once interviewed by a hedge fund for an analyst position in Milan and the feedback was that, regardless of my excellent qualifications, my lack of sport activities raised concerns. Needless to say, they ended up hiring another candidate who must have been an excellent athlete.
I believe in a society where excellence is recognised and rewarded. Networking and soft skills are definitely useful to secure job opportunities but we cannot base a career on them. I believe it is imperative, especially at the start of the career, to ask ourselves what kind of persons we want to be in life: those who find escamotages to achieve their goals or those who are praised by their colleagues for their hard-working attitude and intellectual honesty.

What do you like about your current job in London and what would make you go back to Italy?

I strive in a value-driven and knowledge-sharing environment where I can grow both on a personal and professional level. Finance is a tough place to be as everything is efficiency driven and each individual is seen as a part of a bigger structure that needs to work seamlessly. This can lead to a continuous state of anxiety but also teaches to strive to improve on a daily basis. I love the international environment in which I work because it enables me to benchmark myself against extremely knowledgeable people from a variety of backgrounds. In my current job I have the opportunity to grow quickly and take on more responsibilities as I grow within the firm. As long as my learning curve continues to be steep and the atmospheres of the team remains collegial, I will feel in the right place.
Regardless of my present satisfaction, Italy is where my heart lies. I am clearly worried by the current status of Italian society which is dominated by older generations leaving limited space to young professionals to express their potential. In Italy I run the risk of being seen as a young and inexperienced individual that needs to “wait his turn” before taking on responsibilities. However, I remain hopeful and look forward to a brighter future where Italy will offer a more business-friendly environment and more opportunities to young talents who are keen to make an impact and play a role in shaping Italy’s future.

How are you living the uncertainty of Brexit being an Expat?

Brexit represents a significant source of anxiety. When I came to the UK three years ago, I felt welcomed and I was thrilled to find so many Europeans in a similar situation. However, Brexit poses a threat to our condition of expatriates and may create issues to the thousands of Italians who dream of coming to the UK to build a career. Many people I know have halted the search of a house and have started thinking of going back to their own countries. Most of all, Brexit has been successful in making immigrants feel like a burden rather than a resource to this country.
We live in a globalised world where “unity makes strength” and this departure is a sign of the lack of unity of European nations that continue to fight against each other rather than finding agreements and fostering an environment of peaceful collaboration. For the sake of our future, I hope this uncertainty and division will come to an end in order to be able to face the future challenges stronger and united.

Marco Sonsini