Child and maternity fashion, hi-end designer furniture, translators and interpreters to communicate commerce better…

Driving forward a continuing dialogue and recognising the fast-maturing retail business matrix in Calcutta, a focused Italian business delegation is in town scouting for right partners with the right projects in some niche areas.

The Promos-Milan Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with the Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has steered the multi-sector Italian biz team trip, with the chamber’s Calcutta chapter playing matchmaker for the one-to-one business meetings.

“Italy is the world’s second largest exporter of designer furniture and we are looking for partners in Calcutta to showcase our products. They could be retailers, architects, interior designers, hotels and restaurants,” says Luca Villa, part of the delegation.

His company Villa SNC specialises in contemporary wooden furniture and objects, many of which have a “distinctive curved feature achieved through our unique technology of bending the wood along the direction of the fibres”. Villa pieces, priced between 100 and 150 Euros each, are retailed in London, Paris, New York and Tokyo.

The Bimbo Italia Consortium, comprising 10 Tuscan entrepreneurs, mostly manufacturers of kids’ and maternal clothes and accessories, is also testing waters in town. “We are looking for franchisees or business partners with whom we can set up some co-production facilities,” declares Luigi Amedeo Antinori, a member of the consortium.

The group is meeting retailers, boutiques, top-end shopping malls and investors interested in opening kids-wear stores. Antinori feels identifying medium or top-level retailers of Italian children’s wear in Calcutta shouldn’t be too tough, but finding a ready market for the “elegant hats” of his Complit brand would be.

Striving to help them connect better is Multilingue Advanced Communication Services. “We feel communicating well is the fulcrum of fruitful commerce. Our aim is to provide firms operating at an international level and private users with skilled language services and training. We also cull critical inputs for our clients,” observes Eugenio Agosta, managing director.