The New Russia Is Changing

"Russia has taken giant leaps over the past twenty years. And though it is still devoted to its traditions, it's a country attracted to the foreign in general and Italy in particular. Anything that sounds Italian is highly regarded in the eyes of the Russians." Angelo Sartoni, leader of the Moscow chapter of the BAA, does not hide his appreciation for the country that has become his second home (and where he owns a legal and accounting consulting company for Italian companies working in the Russian market).

"The economy is dynamic, the country has changed its nature and its ideas and the stereotypes that at times we bring from Italy should be revised. One of these is that Russian society still does not have a middle class. In the big cities, like Moscow and Saint Petersburg, things have changed." Sartoni has been in Moscow for nine years and has been chapter leader for four years. He's focusing on involving an increasingly large number of Bocconi alumni in Russia.

"Today we represent approximately 40% of the total number of alumni in the area, which is about 50. These are people who, after attending an MBA or Master at SDA Bocconi, came back to work in their home country." They are, in Sartoni's opinion, people who are just as receptive to a shared belonging to Bocconi as Italians, if not more so: "Sometimes," he says, "they participate in our activities even when they no longer work in Moscow and are only passing through. They really appreciate contact with their Alma Mater." Regarding BAA group's activities, Sartoni concentrates not only on networking, but also on meetings with Bocconi faculty members in Moscow. "We organize events with local companies along with Francesco Saviozzi, coordinator of the Master in Strategic and Entrepreneurial Management, who brings MISA students on a study tour of Moscow each year."