Filippo Callipo meets the youth of the Augurusa Foundation

The lectio magistralis of the Callipo group for the Augurusa Foundation’s Green Social Impact Manager program

There is no development without history, as taught by Filippo Callipo, guest of the Antonio Emanuele Augurusa Foundation for the third edition of Green Social Impact Manager, the free Higher Education course which, under the High Patronage of the European Parliament, brings together excellence in the entrepreneurial, managerial, institutional, and academic fields in Filogaso (VV) to train young professionals from Italy and abroad on the themes of just transition.

A Calabrian entrepreneur and politician known for being the owner and sole director of the Callipo group, active for over a hundred years in the production and marketing of tuna and other fish products, and for his personal fight against organized crime, Filippo Callipo brought to the Green SIM students the experience of a family and a company—now in its fourth generation—that has made the reclamation of its origins and the promotion of Calabria a true “trademark.” In the halls of the Municipality of Filogaso, a lectio magistralis was held that combined tradition and innovation in the wake of territorial roots, emphasizing the possibility for younger generations to “stay in Calabria and not limit themselves to producing in Calabria.” “Speaking to young people is always useful, whether it’s about sports, work, or institutional aspects. Today I am here for this very reason, because by telling the story of my company I wanted to make the young people of the Augurusa Foundation understand that even in Calabria one can do business, grow and generate profit, live well and make others live well,” declared Filippo Callipo, emphasizing what doing business means for the Callipo group. “It is important that our company allows 450 people to live well, 450 families who can count on a dignified salary and concrete welfare elements. This year, for example, we closed with a good balance sheet at the end of the year and gave 1,000 euros to each employee.”

At the center of the speech, therefore, was the value of dialogue with the younger generation and the desire to transmit values and good practices before business plans. This approach embodies the meaning of the Green Social Impact Manager path and reflects the dimension of the Augurusa Foundation’s work in the Calabrian territory. “I greatly appreciate the Augurusa Foundation’s commitment to young people and the choice to invest in future generations. The Foundation’s work is a commendable and meritorious endeavor, a beautiful thing,” the entrepreneur underlined, clarifying the reasons that led him to enthusiastically accept the teaching invitation. “I am here today precisely because we are talking to young people, to whom we can make an important contribution and on whose lives we can still have an impact. We must speak to young people now, before they make decisive decisions for their lives: whether to be an independent professional or an employee, whether to stay or not to stay. I truly dedicate this time with pleasure.” Filippo Callipo thus extended an invitation to the Green SIM students to visit his company in the coming weeks of the course and to take part in the history of a company that has made the history of a region, because—as commented by Abdou, a student of the Foundation, while thanking the entrepreneur for the value the company continues to generate in the land that welcomed him from Senegal ten years ago—”each of us has a potential that can truly develop in a community like that of Callipo.”