Blog, Inside Synergix: 03.07.26Enrico Chincarini, a founder by conviction

At 70, Enrico still begins most of his days before anyone else. When you ask him what he would do if he were not here, he answers with a smile that he would be retired. The joke says a great deal: he could stop, and yet he chooses to stay. Not to set an example, nor because he is unable to slow down, but because he still enjoys being back with the teams, talking with clients and taking part in the life of the company. At an age when many talk about retirement, he talks about projects, new ideas and the people around him. What drives him has never changed: to learn, to pass things on, to feel useful.

Those who meet him for the first time discover a discreet man, one who says little about himself and prefers to listen. He does not seek the spotlight, still less to draw attention to what he has built. And yet, after more than twenty-five years developing Synergix, his mark is everywhere: in the way the teams work, in the relationships of trust built with clients and in that deeply human culture which is now part of the company’s identity.

Originally from German-speaking Switzerland, Enrico left his home region very early to settle in Geneva and learn French. A decision that already says a lot about him. Curious by nature, he likes to discover, to understand, to reach out to others. This curiosity would lead him to speak four languages fluently: German, French, Italian and English. More than a way with languages, it is a way of going towards people.

This openness has never been limited to his professional life. It shows in his interest in other cultures, in his attention to the changes of his time, and no doubt in the fact that he keeps on learning today with the same enthusiasm he had at the start.

Enrico’s career reads like a long collection of experiences. A commercial apprenticeship, the army, the tax administration, then a qualification as a finance and controlling expert. The fiduciary world came next, in two different firms, five years spent understanding the profession from the inside. Then banking, in Lugano and as far as Nassau. Industry, as head of finance. A first entrepreneurial venture as a partner, a role as chief financial officer on one of the first analytics platforms, then his first steps into accounting and HR outsourcing.

Each of these stages showed him the company from a different angle, and all of them fed the same conviction, the one that would become the common thread of his career: business leaders need a partner able to understand their company as a whole, well beyond the figures. This journey tells less of a succession of jobs than of a way of learning, of connecting experiences to one another and of turning every environment he passed through into something useful for what came next. This is how the vision that would give rise to Synergix in 2001 was patiently built.

From the outset, Enrico did not want to create yet another fiduciary firm. He imagined a company able to become a genuine outsourced department for its clients: their accounting first, then their human resources, with the closeness, the availability and the trust you would expect from an in-house team. Clients quickly followed.

It is not only about producing flawless accounts or processing salaries. It is about allowing business leaders to delegate with peace of mind, to benefit from comprehensive support and to focus fully on growing their company.

This vision, remarkably innovative at the time, still defines Synergix’s DNA. The tools have changed, the professions have transformed, technology now holds a central place, but the philosophy remains the same: to build long-term relationships of trust and to support companies as though they were part of the family.

For Enrico, passing things on was never about preparing a successor. It was about building a company able to keep evolving, carried by people who share the same values while bringing their own vision.

As it happened, this transmission also became a family adventure. Jérôme joined Synergix in 2009 and now leads it as CEO. Alex brought his expertise in human resources and client support in 2019, before Joël joined the company in 2022. Each has found their place, with their own background, skills and personality.

This continuity does not rest on family ties, however, but on trust: the trust to let each person develop the company in their own way, without trying to reproduce the past. Enrico remains present, in a more discreet role. He oversees, shares his experience, brings perspective when it is needed and stays available to the teams. He continues to do what has always driven him.

Those who work with him rarely talk about his career before talking about the person. They mention his availability, his willingness to listen, his kindness and that ability to take the time, even when the days are busy. Enrico is one of those people you go to see to ask for advice, share an idea or simply talk for a few minutes.

He listens attentively, answers plainly and seeks to help others grow rather than to impose his own point of view. Helping people is probably what brings him closest to his profession: advising a business leader, structuring an organisation, supporting someone through a decision. This closeness has never been a management method. It is his way of being, and no doubt one of the reasons why the teams value him so much.

Outside the office, his energy shows no sign of fading. At 70, he remains sporty, a regular at the gym several times a week. And then there is cooking, his true passion. A born cook, and a gifted one, who cooks all the time, for the pleasure of preparing good meals and sharing them with those close to him.

These passions say a lot about the man: curious, disciplined, generous, always on the move. In sport, in the kitchen and in his work, the same pursuit drives him: to do things properly, with patience, without ever losing the pleasure of sharing.

Why keep working at 70? The answer is, in the end, a simple one. Not out of habit, nor because he would not know how to stop, but because he deeply loves what he does: meeting the teams in the morning, talking with clients, thinking about new projects, following the changes in the profession and in technology, and continuing to make his contribution.

As long as that desire is there, he sees no reason to do otherwise. Enrico does not move forward to prove anything. He moves forward because he still finds meaning in what he does and in the people he does it with.

After twenty-five years, Enrico could talk about the companies he has supported, the projects he has led or Synergix’s successes. What he is most proud of lies elsewhere. He sees it in the employees who grow, in the clients who have stayed loyal for years, in this company where several generations now work side by side and in this family culture that continues to make the difference.

Asked what he wishes for Synergix going forward, he stays clear-eyed about the times. To get through everything that is shifting today, to keep developing on the technology side, to carry on what was begun twenty-five years ago. But his simplest wish sums up all the rest: that everyone feels good here.

Because in the end, you do not build a company with ideas, figures or technology alone. You build it with people.

And perhaps Enrico’s finest achievement is not having created Synergix. It is having built a place where people want to stay.