Iuri Riva, Executive Master in Sales & Marketing
6 March 2020Iuri Riva, from the hotel sector to the world of the web, up to the leap towards an entrepreneurial career following the Executive Master in Sales and Marketing of Bologna Business School, “excellence in the university world”, as he defines it himself. How did the change happen? We retrace the various stages together.
What is your professional career?
It was quite varied: after graduating from the Hotel School, I worked as a bartender for 10 years in two important 5-star hotels in Milan. From 2000 to 2017, driven by a great deal of curiosity for the web, I joined Fastweb, first as supervisor of a group of agents and then for the business segment. Finally, I moved to the sales department, where the teleselling area had to be created from scratch. In this phase, I took on the first managerial positions, supported by internal and external training for everything related to the role of the manager: from the selection interview to public speaking courses to budget insights. In 2006, a sudden transition to Sisal, one of the most important companies in the world linked to online gaming, led me to explore different roles, including sales manager and head of the implementation project of the new corporate CRM. In 2017, the end of the collaboration with the company led to months of attempts to relocate, up to the decision to undertake an independent career: the BBS Executive Master in Sales and Marketing was the decisive step.
In your opinion, what are the strengths of the Executive program?
Countless! First of all, the possibility of attending courses compatible with my work commitments, then the opportunity to know companions of adventures with different backgrounds and different business realities, as well as the continuous comparison with a Faculty composed of teachers and professionals in the sector, with whom to concretely analyze what has been seen in the class.
How did you go from a ten-year career in the company to the world of consultancy as a freelancer?
In an almost natural way, I would say: the different managerial experiences led me to have different professional skills, and in May 2019 Iuri Riva Consulting was born, after months of analysis, studies, insights, simulations. Il2020 started in the best way with important assignments from national realities and the company has expanded traditional consultancy – legal, supply chain, environmental certifications, customer operations – with a very stimulating world for me which is that of professional social networks. Iuri Riva Consulting, in fact, also deals with the creation and management of Linkedin profiles for some companies, and this has been accompanied by the recruiting for some important projects throughout the national territory.
Short and long term goals?
In the short term I would like to increase social projects, and then gradually strengthen the company with projects related to traditional consultancy, to obtain a balanced mix of stability, growth and business volume.
What do you feel like to recommend to a future BBS student?
I suggest focusing on all the lessons, because there is no course more important than others, and to deepen the themes by actively looking for related contents, so to request continuous feedback from teachers and colleagues, because each starting point can be a source of great stimuli.
Iuri Riva – Italia
Executive Master in Sales e Marketing – Classe 2018/2019
