GROWTH at OLIVETTI: The Roaring Years

Elserino dedicated a lifetime to innovation, creating value and elevating the companies where he worked or helped establish. The first great endeavor began at just twenty-three years old, upon joining Olivetti – the most renowned Italian high-tech industry of the 1950s. Here, for over forty years, professional growth led to increasingly prominent roles, culminating in the position of Vice President (held until 1996).

A man of tenacity, sharp character, and strokes of genius. From the first steps as a programmer, the company spirit was embodied: racing with thought beyond the known, to anticipate and guide technological change. The full potential was reached as General Manager of Strategy and Development during the 1980s – supported by Carlo De Benedetti. This period embraced the pressing challenges of the latest technologies and international ICT markets: having trust and vision in a new future.  

There was a total belief in the company and its legacy, demonstrated by the key contribution to finalizing the historic 1983 alliance between Olivetti and AT&T, which allowed the former to become the world’s third-largest computer manufacturer with the PC M24.

Numerous other achievements followed: from 1987, a seat on the Board of Directors, then Vice President (1988), and in January 1992, the appointment as Chief Operating Officer of the Olivetti Group.

VENTURE CAPITAL: intuition e boldness

Following the Olivetti experience, E.PI. did not stop, choosing instead to bet on talent. 
Leveraging the expertise consolidated at Olivetti, he became a major protagonist – “the father”, as some define him – of Italian Venture Capital. The potential of the network was sensed long before many others. As Chairman of Pino Partecipazioni, several startups in the internet and telecommunications sectors were funded through the Kiwi I and Kiwi II investment funds. It is thanks to this ability to see “beyond the dune” that entities such as Tiscali and Yoox were born and flourished.

In October 2000, an Honorary Degree in Business Administration was conferred by the University of Bologna. From 2006, the role of President of Fedoweb (Federation of Web Operators) was held, followed by the title of Honorary President from 2016.
In this phase, the role was that of an authoritative mentor: not a mere financier or simple director, but a truly enlightened architect of ecosystems, capable of connecting capital, ideas, and people. Within this framework, the worlds of publishing and digital communication were innovated, identifying risks, challenges, and opportunities for 21st-century information.