Fabrizio Marturano

Location Van Leeuwen Italy
Position Commercial Director
At Van Leeuwen since 2013
Age 35

In 2013, Fabrizio Marturano joined Van Leeuwen Italy as a trainee. A year later he was asked to set up a new business unit for the Automotive segment. Today, this is the largest segment served by Van Leeuwen Italy and Fabrizio was promoted to Commercial Director in 2021.

‘Immediately after I completed my economics studies I was able to join Van Leeuwen Italy as a trainee,’ says Fabrizio. ‘In 2014, I was asked to investigate how we could start serving customers in the Automotive segment. It meant starting from zero. I put together a team of three colleagues and together we managed to quickly acquire knowledge about customers in the Automotive segment, their needs and the market trends. On the basis of this knowledge we succeeded in attracting new customers. Naturally, our close relationships with suppliers were, and still are, helpful in this respect. If a specific product is not available, we can always have it developed at the request of the customer. This segment virtually always requires custom work.’

New South-Eastern Europe region

One of the new initiatives developed in 2021 by Van Leeuwen Italy together with the branches in Romania and Turkey was the formation of the new South-Eastern Europe region. ‘The management of these three branches is working together as a team to optimize the services provided to our customers in this region and to increase market share, particularly in the Mechanical Engineering, Automotive, Hydraulics and Process & Power segments,’ says Fabrizio.

‘Due to the corona pandemic, 2021, just like 2020, was a challenging year. We were confronted with a scarcity of materials and rising prices,’ says Fabrizio. ‘Just when the market began to stabilize somewhat at the beginning of 2022, the war in Ukraine broke out, causing the deck to be reshuffled once again. Now there is again uncertainty about what the medium-term future will be like for our business. We hope for the best, especially for the people in Ukraine.’

‘Just do it’

Fabrizio is fully confident about the long-term future. ‘Financially, we continue to be in a very good position, but even more importantly, the people working at Van Leeuwen are people who see opportunities, and they are given the room they need to seize these opportunities. Time is not wasted on endless meetings; instead, we always look to see how we can improve things in efficient ways. We then prepare a plan and after that we just do it. This well-known decisive Dutch business mentality is present throughout the entire company. I enjoy working this way. This cheerful spirit brings out the best in everyone. I am convinced of that.’