Marco Mizzau: A Visionary Leader in Private Equity
Success is not merely about achieving milestones; it is about the relentless pursuit of growth, purpose, and transformation. For Marco Mizzau, entrepreneurship is more than just building businesses; it is about creating sustainable value, shaping industries, and leaving a lasting impact. His journey from a financial analyst to a leading figure in private equity and investment advisory is a testament to the power of vision, determination, and strategic execution.
With a wealth of experience spanning infrastructure, energy, finance, and technology, Marco has held top executive roles in both public and private sectors.
His leadership at institutions such as Consip, InarCassa, and Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital Holding has not only driven financial success but has also set new benchmarks in innovation and operational excellence.
Now, as CEO and Investor in Private Equity operating across Milan, London, Dubai, and New York, he continues to support middle-market businesses in accelerating growth and international expansion.
In this feature, Marco shares his insights on what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur. He delves into the importance of having a clear purpose, setting well-defined goals, and embracing continuous learning.
His perspective on resilience, strategic planning, and personal growth serves as an invaluable guide for aspiring business leaders.
Join us as we explore Marco Mizzau’s inspiring journey, his key achievements, and his profound advice for those looking to carve their own path in the world of entrepreneurship.
Early Life and Educational Journey
Tell us about your early life, education, and what led you to start your business?
I started my career, before my degree in 1999, as a Financial Analyst for KPMG Consulting, taking care of the elaboration of Business Plans in relevant Industrial Groups.
My career has been primarily focused on infrastructure, energy, and transportation, with expertise in strategic management, investments, and business performance improvement.
Throughout my professional journey, I have held top executive roles in both public and private organizations, operating in Italy and emerging markets such as Eastern Europe, Turkey, Russia, and the Middle East.
With an entrepreneurial mindset, I have consistently identified development opportunities and implemented sustainable growth strategies.
From 2023 I served as Chief Executive Officer of Consip (the biggest and most important Public Procurement Organization and Platform in Italy). In one year, I reached €27B of annual value of spend through commercial agreements, turning it into the Amazon of public administration in Italy.
From 2019 to 2022 I served as Chief Executive Officer of InarCassa, one of the most relevant Italian Institutional Investors (Private Pension Fund). In two years, I reached €14B in assets, €1.5B in revenues and 200,000 contributors.
In 2012 I worked at Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital Holding where until 2019 I held the position of Chief Operating Officer, turning the Group into an Industrial excellence in Healthcare, Real Estate and Higher Education and generating sustainable financial returns for its shareholders.
From 2004 to 2012, I worked at Accenture and Ernst & Young as Senior Manager with responsibility for finance and strategy consulting projects in support of CEOs and CFOs of Italian and GEM (i.e. Eastern Europe, Turkey, Russia, Middle East) corporate groups mainly operating in industries such as Resources, Transports and Constructions.
In 2000 I joined the Italian Railway Group Holding – the biggest and most important Infrastructure Group in Italy – as CEO Staff dealing with industrial planning and with the whole privatization process.
Building a Unique Business in Private Equity
What is your business, and what makes it unique in the market?
Today I am a financial entrepreneur in Private Equity. I mentor & support investing in middle market businesses across the industrial, healthcare, financial and technology sectors in North America and Europe.
I provide industrial expertise, operational focus, long-term capital and global platforms to accelerate value creation and international expansion in addition to improving operational efficiency for portfolio companies.
I usually take a role as Board Member, CEO, Co-CEO, Executive Vice President in the Governance of the target company.
Major Achievements and Industry Impact
What is one key achievement or milestone your business has reached?
As Investment & Business Advisors in Private Equity and Investment Banking, we create sustainable value alongside outstanding and visionary entrepreneurs.
This includes defining Buy and Build strategies aimed at developing industrial and digital platforms in the Fintech, Healthcare, and Industrial sectors.
Throughout my career, I collaborated with some of the world’s most important companies, including:
Major Oil & Gas Companies
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ENI Corporate: Optimizing cost management and financial reporting.
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ENEL / ENDESA / ENERSIS: Supporting post-merger integration and financial control models for global operations.
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ARAMCO, KPC, KNPC, ADNOC: Advising on financial strategy, corporate restructuring, and investment management.
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Electrabel Suez: Defining joint venture models and financial standards for infrastructure investments.
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Other major Oil & Gas corporations: Developing reporting frameworks and investment strategies for holding and operating companies.
Major Finance Companies
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InarCassa: Managed €14 billion in assets, increasing revenues from €1 billion to €1.5 billion. Led investment strategies in private markets and real assets, collaborating with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.
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Consip S.p.A.: Oversaw €133 billion in public spending procurement, optimizing financial structures and leading digital transformation in procurement.
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Private Equity Funds & Investment Banking Firms: Advised on fundraising, M&A, industrial turnaround strategies, and strategic asset management.
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Accenture: Provided financial advisory to top executives, focusing on corporate finance, restructuring, and business transformation.
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Ernst & Young: Developed financial models and strategic plans for clients in corporate finance, investment planning, and cost optimization.
Major Tech & Digital Companies
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Accenture: Advised leading industrial groups on IT transformation, ERP implementation, and digital finance solutions, working with Eni, Enel, and Acea.
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Ernst & Young: Developed digital treasury and governance models for Acea and SNAM, enabling real-time cash flow monitoring and automation.
Major Transport Companies
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Ferrovie dello Stato – Developed the Industrial Plan (2004-2007), focusing on investment planning, financial structuring, and business model optimization.
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Trenitalia Cargo – Designed competitive strategy and market positioning, improving operational efficiency and market share.
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Lazio Region – Led regional transport and mobility planning, assessing financial feasibility and infrastructure needs.
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Ansaldo – Structured PPP and leasing models for rolling stock procurement, evaluating financial and operational impacts.
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Ernst & Young – Developed financial strategies for transport infrastructure projects, supporting clients with funding structures and investment planning.
Future Vision and Business Goals
What are your future goals for the business?
Create sustainable value alongside outstanding and visionary entrepreneurs.
This includes defining Buy and Build strategies aimed at developing industrial and digital platforms in the Fintech, Healthcare, Fashion and Industrial sectors.
Moreover, enhance industrial investments in digital and physical infrastructure also across Africa, particularly in Nigeria and Ghana.
In these countries, increase the visibility of strategic water projects, also with the goal of achieving significant humanitarian and philanthropic milestones.
What’s the most exciting trend for example you see in Africa’s startup ecosystem right now, and how would you leverage it to create impactful investment opportunities with Business Angels?
Let's take Ethiopia as an example.
Ethiopia is the eastern region known as the Horn of Africa. It borders Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, and South Sudan. It is one of the oldest countries in the world.
I see many opportunities in AgriTech, HealthTech & Telemedicine, Fintech & Financial Inclusion, EdTech & Digital Skills Development sectors. What are currently problems can be turned into opportunities.
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Problem: Low productivity, Ethiopia’s population lacks electricity access, yet the country has vast renewable resources. Opportunities: Digital platforms for farmers (market access, weather updates, precision farming)
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Problem: Ethiopia has a doctor-to-patient ratio of 1:10,000, with rural areas underserved. Opportunities: Telemedicine platforms
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Problem: Ethiopians are unbanked, but mobile penetration is rising. Opportunities: Mobile money & digital wallets
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Problem: Quality education is limited. Opportunities: Online learning platforms for skill development (coding, business, AI, etc.) AI-driven personalized learning
Staying Competitive in a Changing Industry
How do you stay competitive in your industry?
Never stop learning, especially in the field of AI.
Enhance the value of countries like China and Africa.
China is the present, Africa is the future.
Guidance for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
It is essential to have a purpose in life, to consider it a necessity to leave a mark, a meaning.
For some, it turns into an obsession.
For you, it doesn’t have to be necessarily that way, but it’s important to have a list of goals in life that stimulates you daily to move forward, and beyond, no matter what happens.
Today, who you are as a sum of finances, friends, environment, and daily lifestyle is the result of your past (family, values, beliefs, defeats, humiliations) and the circumstances you’ve simply endured, believing you were in control.
If you want to change something about your life’s perimeter, you need to change the main cause of these circumstances: you.
To do this, you need a new goal plan, a new mental attitude, and new inner discipline to respect them.
Dreams and goals, if well outlined, can become magnets that you move toward and are attracted to.
And when there are difficulties, controversies, dark moments, what will keep you standing, what will keep you alive, what you can hold on to will be only your dreams and goals.
Conversely, if you don’t have a purpose, it will be much easier to be discouraged by the first difficulty in life.
You need something that pushes you forward, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year.
The more specific and detailed your purpose is, the more concrete and realistic its achievement will be, and the stronger the force that will push you forward.
We are all influenced by our dreams. Dreams are a projection of the kind of life you would like to lead. If you let yourself be inspired and guided in a disciplined and structured way by your dreams, they will unleash a creative force capable of bending everything to your will.
It is crucial that the driving force is always the future and not the past. Never live in the past and its failures.
The past was a school and should be thanked but left to rest. Take the treasure of the past and invest it in your future. But what’s the difference between a dream and a goal?
I like to call long-term goals (7 years) dreams. It is so important to dream. Without dreams and visions, people perish. Dreaming is simply associating those big and important goals with the state of mind you’ll have once you achieve them. Imagine, seriously, how incredibly good it feels to have become the extraordinary person you deserve to be and remember that the brain cannot distinguish between an imagined experience and a real one.
Short-term goals, on the other hand, are daily, weekly, or monthly goals and can be related to:
a) Health,
b) Money,
c) Relationships,
d) Things you want,
e) Personal development (these are the best and most sensible goals).
Since life rewards specific requests and punishes vague desires, goals must be described and “written down on paper” carefully.
They need to be simple and clear, but also precise and analytical.
You must associate with them the reason why you deserve to achieve them, the benefits you’ll enjoy from reaching the goal, and what you need to accomplish them. Furthermore, in order for them not to “hang there,” you must define an action plan with time divisions and a schedule with dates.
It’s important to take care of them, water them every day, perhaps add, perhaps modify, perhaps something will have changed in your scale of priorities and values, maybe something no longer makes sense because you’ve become a more mature person.
But if you don’t dedicate yourself to them like a father, then it means they are not that important to you. Not that vital. And they will understand that and react accordingly, not taking you anywhere. Go as far as you can see, and from that point, you will always be able to see farther.
You must manage your vital human machine to achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself through daily work, which consists of 5 concrete steps:
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Identify, write, modify, and repeat your goals daily.
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You will face problems.
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Problems will cause pain, and the pain associated with reflection will lead to progress.
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From there, you will design changes to counter or solve the problems.
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You will do whatever is necessary.
Write your main goal 15 times every day and repeat it mentally within yourself during the day, during breaks, in downtime, in queues, in waiting times, in traffic. Repeat it as if it were a mantra. There should be nothing more important for you in life.
This method is to “feed the reticular activation system of the brain,” which is the system that suggests to the brain which elements, phrases, notions, occasions, and opportunities to focus on during the day.
The brain, in fact, cannot unconsciously focus on everything, but it can be directed like a child to focus on certain elements.
The mantra serves to direct it. With well-defined goals, you unleash your energy, and things begin to happen. To get to the top, the only way is to have a goal.
Meanwhile, in everyday life, always work on two tracks:
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For your regular job, which ensures food for you and your family;
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For your personal development, for your future. To create something big.
Remember, though, that profit is always better than salary. So, make plans and write down your goals.
You need to be a good worker and a good planner.
Every day, look up at the sky, look towards the future: the person you want to become, how he/she will speak, act, behave, the achievements he/she wants to reach. Visualize the image of the person you want to become.
Decide what you want and act as if you’ve already reached it. This way, you give power to the final result but also to the beginning of the path to make it real and achievable.
What really matters in life is not the results you achieve, but the type of person you become while trying to achieve them. Faith is the ability to see things that don’t yet exist; you must work during difficult times with your eyes on the results (“magnets”).
You need to learn to visualize the goal first in your mind to truly achieve it. Only humans can decide to change the course of their lives. Your next six years can be completely different from the past six years.
Ask yourself often: where will I be in 6 years?
Start asking yourself the right questions.
Start preparing yourself. Start doing what excites you.
Think big but ensure every day is a payday: “first the cash flow, then the big payday.”
It’s always the direction that determines the destination; today, you can’t quickly change the destination, but you can change the direction, even in just one day.
Your attitude influences the choice, and the choice determines the results.
Everything you are and everything you can become is up to you. There are words only you can say, decisions only you can make, actions only you can decide to take or not, smiles only you can give, forgiveness only you can choose to grant.
In sacred texts, it is written: Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.
God passed the baton to you for an apparently unfinished job.
It’s up to you, and only you, to complete it and make it a wonder.
But remember, masterpieces take time, determination, and continuous, conscious effort to improve yourself.
So, immediately, today, abandon pessimism, self-pity, and doubt.
There will be no better day, no more appropriate moment to start smiling and living fully.
Conclusion
Marco Mizzau’s journey is a testament to the power of vision, resilience, and relentless pursuit of excellence.
From leading major financial and industrial institutions to mentoring businesses through private equity, he has consistently demonstrated how strategic thinking and disciplined execution can drive success.
His insights on goal-setting, personal development, and long-term vision serve as a guiding light for aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to make a lasting impact.
For those looking to learn more about Marco’s work and connect with him, visit his website marcomizzau.com or follow him on LinkedIn , X (formerly Twitter) and Medium https://medium.com/@marcomizzau
His journey is an inspiration, reminding us that with the right mindset, every challenge can be turned into an opportunity for growth.
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