Among the new Knights of Labor awarded today by the Head of State Sergio Mattarella there is also a Sardinian.
Born in Furtei 69 years ago but from Sanluri, he is the administrator of Quattro srl Salvatore Pilloni. His company sells retail products for home hygiene and personal care and beauty.
He started working at the age of 13, helping his father in a small grocery business. At 17 he left Sanluri and moved to the continent in search of employment.
To be precise in Turin, where in six months he changes five jobs: in a foundry, then in construction to erect scaffolding, then a laborer, a baker and finally a cleaner in the Mirafiori factory.
At the age of 18 he returned to Sardinia and was hired as a warehouse worker in a local company active in the production of household detergents. Company of which he then becomes the representative.
His entrepreneurial path began in 1976, at the age of 24, when he bought a stock of unsold goods from the same company to sell it on his own. Thus he opens the first goods warehouse in a small warehouse of 150 square meters and hires five employees.
The business is booming and after a few years, in '78, together with the brothers Visspa srl, he sets up wholesaling cleaning products. It builds the first warehouse, 3,500 square meters, in Sanluri, hiring 50 employees between the warehouse and offices.
At the end of the nineties, a new important step. It enters the retail sales channel with the opening of the first “self-service” perfumery with the “Beauty Line” sign. In seven years the brand reaches 37 points of sale in Sardinia.
A dizzying growth, which leads to the opening of new perfumeries under the “Beauty Star” brand and drugstores under the “Saponi & Profumi” brand.
In 2008 he sold the network of 50 “Beauty Star” and “Linea Bellezza” perfumeries to the Limoni Group and set up the company Quattro Srl, through which he led the expansion of “Saponi & Profumi” in the region.
Today the company has 57 “Saponi & Profumi” drugstores, 4 “PiùMe” stores, 2 “Je Suis” perfumeries and a portfolio of 13,000 items. It operates with a warehouse of 12,500 square meters and employs 390 people.
In 2009 he started another business in Sanluri with his family, the Su'entu winery: a farm that covers an area of 60 hectares, of which 36 are destined to vineyards. It produces 300 thousand bottles and 11 labels a year, is present in Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania with an export of 25%.
Pilloni also supports solidarity activities and initiatives at the local level.
Also awarded an Alfiere del Lavoro, is Gianni Bellu of Sassari.
(Unioneonline / L)
