Name: Beatrice Parri Gori

Company name: Scuola del Cuoio

What does the business do: Scuola del Cuoio is the historic leather school in Florence, Italy, selling bags, belts and jackets created on site by artisans. Located inside the Franciscan monastery of Santa Croce, it was founded in 1950 by Marcello Gori and his brother-in-law Silvano Casini to teach the art of leatherworking to World War II orphans. The company has based its identity on the virtue of charity, combined with the pursuit of excellence.

Number of employees: around 40

Website: ScuoladelCuoio.it/en/

The secret to your success: I believe the secret to Scuola del Cuoio’s success is teamwork and the passion and dedication that each member of our staff puts into what they do. Ever since my grandfather Marcello founded it, we have always tried to maintain a family and peaceful atmosphere at work so that we can bring out the best in the people who work with us. Because of this teamwork, we can offer a good product, good service to our customers, and we all strive to make sure that the customer is satisfied. In fact, we have a lot of customers who come back over the years, even once or several times a year, and other customers who know us through word of mouth because many friends or family members tell them good things about us and our product.

The hardest lesson you had to learn: I wouldn’t say that I really had a hard lesson to learn but more of a lesson that was very helpful both to me personally and I think to my family members. My grandfather used to say, “He who is rich in knowledge and does not pass it on will be poor forever.” This is also the motto of our charity today, the Marcello Gori Foundation, which offers scholarships sponsored by Scuola del Cuoio to young people in need. This phrase is fundamental for us because it teaches us that what we do we must teach and pass on to the next generation so that the Scuola del Cuoio and especially true Florentine craftsmanship can live on and we can truly feel fulfilled.

How your faith fits in to your business life: When my grandfather founded the Scuola del Cuoio, the Church played a key role, in that the Franciscan friars of the Monastery of Santa Croce offered my grandfather their old dormitory, now totally unused, to start teaching handicrafts to war orphans and then give them jobs. Today, unfortunately, there is no longer such direct contact with the friars, despite the charitable foundation we founded. However, our academy, because of its dedication to helping others and as a historical business, is still located in the old dormitory of the monastery, which certainly is a historic and faith-filled place that inspires our work and mission every day.

Do you have a patron saint? It is, of course, St. Joseph, as the patron saint of all artisans.

What advice can you share with aspiring Catholic entrepreneurs? My advice is always the same: To do business and be successful, the secret is to be able to rely on your team; and to do this I once again resort to what my grandfather used to say: We need to be leaders and not bosses; that is, to be able to lead we need to show our employees that we are always by their side in case they need us. An employee who is satisfied with his work produces much better than his dissatisfied peer.