The enabler
Francesco Viganò of GF Machining Solutions is working hard to make sure everyone has access to clean water. A great deal of perseverance and his ability to bring people together are leading him toward success.
Francesco Viganò was 18 years old when he saw first-hand the challenges of living without enough water. In 2008, the Italian, who is now Product Manager Automation at GF Machining Solutions, traveled to Togo and Benin in Africa with a group of young people committed to volunteering with international humanitarian organizations, bringing microscopes with them to support local hospitals. However, on the ground he found that technology could only be part of the solution. Indeed, people crucially lacked the basics to live healthy lives. “It would have been just as important to provide access to clean, germ-free water so they wouldn‘t come to the hospital in the first place,” Francesco says.
Francesco Viganò
Position: Product Manager Automation
Division: GF Machining Solutions
Joined GF in: 2018
Francesco kept thinking about this. In 2016, he founded the Lions Club Seregno AID, dedicated to promoting the human right to water. He also involved his family. Francesco inherited his social vein from his parents, who traveled every year on missions to sub- Saharan Africa to help out as doctors. And every time they returned, they told their son about the same problem: the lack of access to clean water. The Lions Club Seregno AID wants to tackle this problem. To this end, the club organizes an annual worldwide photo competition (worldwaterday.it) on the theme of water. The best photos are exhibited to raise awareness of water as a vital resource that is not accessible to everybody.
© A.Cross Onlus/Enrica RosatoThe funds raised through the competition sponsors‘ donations is awarded by the Lions Club to organizations that aim to improve access to drinking water in countries where resources are limited. However, the club finances half of project costs; the organization receiving the funds has to raise the remainder itself. “This is to ensure the recipient uses the money with care and remains dedicated to the project in the long term,” Francesco says. It is his job to select the winners from all the applications.
“My parents taught me that togetherness should not be neglected, even at work.”
Francesco Viganò, Product Manager Automation at GF Machining Solutions
In 2021, his aid organization celebrated its first milestone. Thanks in part to Francesco‘s perseverance, organizational skills and ability to bring people together, the Lions Club managed to fund a well in Burkina Faso in Africa. They built an irrigation system and trained 35 young women to use it for farming. It took the club five years to collect the required amount: €20’000. But the work has paid off. “Six of the women who learned irrigation methods in our project have already been able to start their own businesses in the first year. They are farming and are now standing on their own two feet,” Francesco says proudly. “We have given them a perspective for the future and, with it, a measure of dignity“ he says.
© Lions Club Seregno AID/Francesco Viganò 
© Lions Club Seregno AID/Francesco Viganò Francesco creates connections
Francesco, who is now 33, is a good networker. In keeping with the GF value “Caring is about being part of a team,” he knows that for projects to be successful, know-how and equipment must be made available to those who need it, and people must come together. He is also successful in doing this at GF: From his hometown in Italy, he travels to his team in Biel/Bienne (Switzerland) once every two weeks. There he gathers his colleagues for a communal coffee break with caviadini, a cookie specialty he brings from his region. “My parents taught me that togetherness should not be neglected, even at work. That’s why I started this tradition with the cookies.”
women in Burkina Faso were trained in farming techniques thanks to Francesco’s Lions Club.
The project in Burkina Faso is just the first water project for Francesco‘s organization. But the Lions Club aims to select and sponsor new water-related initiatives every two years. Indeed, the following tender was published at the end of January. “We are just a small drop in the ocean, but if we all work together, we can create positive change in the long run.”
© Alberto Bernasconi
© Alberto BernasconiWhy he is my hero:
© GF“Francesco is a hidden hero to me because he commits to helping others despite his busy job.”
Johanna Lüder: Internal Communications & Media Relations Manager, GF Machining Solutions, Biel/Bienne (Switzerland)
And how about you?
Which colleague is your hidden hero? Send us an e-mail with your explanation to globe@georgfischer.com