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Female entrepreneurship: the stars of the “Women Value Company” award

The image accompanying the News on the winners of the Women Value Company Award 2024 portrays two women, one brown-haired and one blonde, smiling side by side. One holds a pair of glasses in her hands, the other some documentation

Intesa Sanpaolo names the winners of the "Women Value Company 2024" prize, now in its eighth edition as a special category of the Marisa Bellisario Prize, dedicated to female entrepreneurs and companies that invest in gender equality and corporate welfare.

The winners of the national Mela d'Oro Women Value Company Intesa Sanpaolo award - chosen from over 1,400 applications received from all over Italy - were:

  • Azzurra Morelli, CEO Pellemoda, a company based in Empoli, for the “Medium Enterprise” category
  • Stella Stefanelli, manager of Lab. Instruments Srl, a company from Castellana Grotte (BA), for the “Small Enterprises” category

In addition to these awards, Special Mentions go to companies that have stood out in the Made in Italy, Innovation and Social spheres: these are awarded during three meetings held in Florence (12 November), Milan (21 November) and Naples (3 December), to celebrate all 100 winning companies in their respective territories. The first awards, in greater detail:

  • Women for Made in Italy: to Elisabetta Pieragostini, CEO of the Dami company in Sant'Elpidio a Mare (FM); Veronica Varetta, Founder and CEO Firgun House (MI)
  • Women for Innovation: to Monica Caporaso, Co-founder and Administrator Anthropic of Florence; Alessia Galbiati, Managing Director Lamp (LC).
  • Women for Social: Silvana Migoni, Chairman Associazione Donne al traguardo (CA)

The 2024 edition of the Women Value Company is also connected to the missions of the NRRP, which, within the scope of the inclusion objectives, allocates resources to foster the increase of women's participation in the employment market: Intesa Sanpaolo confirms the total amount of €1 billion to support female entrepreneurship and maximise the contribution of women to Italy's economic and social development.

Distinctive traits of the Intesa Sanpaolo 2024 Women Value Company Award SMEs

The 100 winning SMEs are 25% Micro Enterprises, 40% Small Enterprises and 35% Medium Enterprises, located 37% in Northern Italy, 29% in the Centre and 34% in the South. 94% have launched initiatives to reconcile employees' professional and personal lives (smart working, crèches, flexibility, canteen, leave, transport facilities). 89% have implemented initiatives to increase employee welfare (bonuses, benefits, health care, leisure and parenting facilities). 37 SMEs have already obtained or applied for gender equality certification. 

The eighth edition of the Award confirms that investing in people and their well-being, welfare and training generates a favourable environment for company and business growth: 93% estimated their turnover to be increasing or stable (YoY); 61% started and/or consolidated export and internationalisation activities; more than half (59%) are SMEs established since 2000 (including 14 start-ups or new companies); manufacturing, services, commerce, healthcare and agriculture are the most represented sectors.

Women's participation in the world of work: an Intesa Sanpaolo Research Department analysis

Italy lags behind in women's participation in the world of work: in 2023, our country will rank second to last in Europe in terms of female activity rate (57.7%, 13 points lower than the EU27 average), better only than Romania. This is a heritage of skills and abilities to be exploited, especially in a context in which many companies report difficulties in finding a qualified workforce: among young people (25-34 years old), the percentage of graduates is significantly higher for women (37.1% vs 24.4% for men) who, however, more frequently than men, find themselves in jobs for which they are over-educated (29.4% of female employees vs 25.4% for men).

However, distinctive features of the Italian production fabric emerge, which can offer incentive to make up this gap: there is a greater presence of women on the board of companies active in typical Italian-made sectors such as the fashion system or the agri-food chain, in which the ability to combine the aspects of craftsmanship, quality and flexibility has proved successful. 47.4% of benefit corporations - i.e. companies whose corporate purpose also includes the purpose of generating a positive impact for society and the environment - have at least one woman on their board, while in the rest of the sample - comparable by sector and size - the percentage drops to 37.1%. The role of women has also increased in the processes of introducing innovation: the percentage of female-dominated innovative start-ups has risen from 13.5% in 2017 to 15.1% in 2024. 

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