COVID-19 turned the world upside down. For many businesses, the pandemic was no less a setback. But for Alex L.J., it was an opportunity that he grabbed with both hands, giving up his comfort zone while striving to do something different from his peers.
From humble beginnings to remarkable and visionary leadership, Alex L.J. is the founder of L. J. GROUP SRL. Born in Italy, the 29-year-old completed his high school diploma in Italy and attended university in Shanghai, China, and Vancouver, Canada, majoring in economics and marketing.
Sharing how he kicked off his entrepreneurial journey, Alex says that while working as a director at a consulting and business brokerage company, the business was going quite well. But the pandemic slowed everything down, and it was traumatic at first.
“In times of crisis, there are two kinds of people: the ones who cry and the ones who sell handkerchiefs to those who cry,“ says Alex. He saw the world was facing a global shortage of medical supplies, especially in Europe, and came to the rescue. Coincidentally, China, where he had a fair share of connections, was the country of origin for medical supplies. And that’s when he started L. J. GROUP SRL from a laptop at home.
Alex L.J. took advantage of the crisis after fully understanding the market dynamics. “It’s amazing what you can achieve by being in the right place at the right time with the right product(s),” he said.
Alex didn’t spend his time sitting idly at home when the press and the restrictions pressured many to stop work. Instead, he exploited the situation by filling a market need and moving ahead of the competition.
He slowly but steadily banked on his contacts and connections to supply the products in all sales channels, from the largest supermarket chains to national pharmaceutical distributors. He successfully closed contracts and agreements with several managers and prominent figures in the past two years.
Starting with a single product, Alex L.J.‘s company now houses several products, including nitrile gloves, ffp2 and ffp3 masks, and covid tests. The life-saving products are supplied to government agencies, companies, and multinational groups. Overall, the company reaches an average turnover of almost 10 million euros per month.