PRESS RELEASE
Marisa Bellisario Foundation and Intesa Sanpaolo: women value company 2024 award
ONE BILLION EUROS FOR FEMALE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
· The Women Value Company Intesa Sanpaolo, a special category of the Marisa Bellisario Prize, was established eight years ago by the Marisa Bellisario Foundation and Intesa Sanpaolo for female entrepreneurship
· It was awarded today in Milan to 40 companies focused on innovation, support for female entrepreneurship, advocacy for gender equality and diversity. 30 SMEs have already been named in Florence and another 30 will soon be named in Naples.
Milan, 21 November 2024 - The Women Value Company Intesa Sanpaolo initiative, recognised as a special category of the Marisa Bellisario Prize and presented today in Milan, has now reached its eighth edition. A commitment to the enhancement of female entrepreneurship that Intesa Sanpaolo also supports financially by making €1 billion available through the opportunities provided by the programme “Il tuo futuro è la nostra impresa”, launched this year by Italy's leading banking group, which reserves €120 billion nationwide.
Over 1400 applications were received from all over Italy this year, from which the two winners of the national Mela d'Oro Women Value Company Intesa Sanpaolo prize, a special award of the Bellisario Foundation, were selected. The “Mela d'oro media impresa” was awarded to Azzurra Morelli, CEO of Pellemoda of Empoli, while the “Mela d'oro piccola impresa” went to Stella Stefanelli, Manager of Lab. Instruments Srl of Castellana Grotte (BA). The Intesa Sanpaolo Women Value Company Award also includes Special Mentions, seeking to reward companies that have stood out in specific areas such as “Made in Italy”, Innovation and Social.
Milan was the setting for the awarding of the prizes to 40 companies from northern Italy and Sardinia - among the 100 winners of the Intesa Sanpaolo 2024 Women Value Company Prize - and the awarding of the special mentions Women for Made in Italy to Veronica Varetta, Founder and CEO of Firgun House (MI), Women for Innovation, attributed to Alessia Galbiati, General Manager of Lamp (LC) and Women for Social Affairs to Silvana Migoni, Chairwoman of the Donne al Traguardo Association (CA). Testifying to the vision of the future of female entrepreneurship was Francesca Pievani, Co-Founder of the Bergamo-based start-up Fili Pari.
The 2024 edition of the Women Value Company focused on supporting new female entrepreneurship in the dual key of defending gender equality but also protecting diversity. Sustainability, digitalisation, technological innovation, human capital and training are enabling factors for business growth, particularly for women, also in the light of the missions and instruments of the NRRP aimed at fostering social inclusion and cohesion, with funds for employment policies and for the enhancement of female entrepreneurship.
Anna Roscio, Executive Director Sales & Marketing Enterprises Intesa Sanpaolo: "Our Bank's commitment to inclusive entrepreneurship and fostering female talent starts with caring for our employees. We finance those realities that combine economic-financial performance with inclusion and welfare policies with €1 billion, helping assure the recognition of the merits of the most virtuous SMEs. The Women Value Company award sums up these objectives, each year rewarding companies that place the benefit of women and their work at the centre of their strategies”.
Lella Golfo, Chairwoman of the Marisa Bellisario Foundation: “The extraordinary participation that has been seen at all editions of the Women Value Company tells of a production system that has a clear idea of the fundamental importance of the female contribution to growth. Giving space and visibility, recognising the merits and commitment of these SMEs has always been our priority and it is even more so today. This is why my thanks go particularly to the companies involved in this edition and to Intesa Sanpaolo for continuing to believe and invest in an idea of the future that speaks the language of equality and sustainability".
After the opening meeting in Florence with the awarding of the prize to 30 small and medium-sized enterprises from central Italy and the one held today in Milan, the last territorial meeting of the Intesa Sanpaolo Women Value Company prize will be held in Naples on 3 December at Gallerie d'Italia with the participation of 30 enterprises from southern Italy.
The winners of the Women Value Company 2024 Intesa Sanpaolo Award: the distinctive traits
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; 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.
Intesa Sanpaolo for female entrepreneurship: €1 billion limit
The 2024 edition of the Women Value Company is closely linked to the missions of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which, within the scope of the inclusion objectives, allocates actions and resources to foster the increase of women's participation in the employment market, in particular by supporting female entrepreneurship. Intesa Sanpaolo confirms a total of up to €1 billion in credit to promote and support the start-up and strengthening of female entrepreneurship and maximise the contribution of women to Italy's economic and social development. The bank supports women's enterprises starting up a new business or investing in strengthening their business, acting on areas such as digitisation, innovation and skills expansion.
The proposal comes in addition to the already existing solutions to promote investments towards the objectives of the NRRP and female entrepreneurship, such as the medium- to long-term S-Loan Diversity loan, which rewards the efforts of companies in the direction of gender equality, in the development of programmes to increase welfare, and in the increase of new hires of female employees with a reduced rate: to date, 183 loans have been disbursed for more than €250 million.
Informazioni per la stampa:
Intesa Sanpaolo Fondazione Marisa Bellisario
Media and Associations Relations Responsabile Comunicazione - Marina Abbate
Media Banca dei Territori e Media Locali Tel. +39 06.85357628 – 338.2910401
stampa@intesasanpaolo.com - www.intesasanpaolo.com/it/news m.abbate@fondazionebellisario.org
Intesa Sanpaolo
Intesa Sanpaolo, con 422 miliardi di euro di impieghi e 1.400 miliardi di euro di attività finanziaria della clientela a fine settembre 2024, è il maggior gruppo bancario in Italia con una significativa presenza internazionale. E’ leader a livello europeo nel wealth management, con un forte orientamento al digitale e al fintech. In ambito ESG, entro il 2025, sono previsti 115 miliardi di euro di erogazioni Impact per la comunità e la transizione verde. Il programma a favore e a supporto delle persone in difficoltà è di 1,5 miliardi di euro (2023-2027). La rete museale della Banca, le Gallerie d’Italia, è sede espositiva del patrimonio artistico di proprietà e di progetti culturali di riconosciuto valore.
News: group.intesasanpaolo.com/it/newsroom X: @intesasanpaolo LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/intesa-sanpaolo
INFORMATION ON THE MELA D’ORO WINNERS
Lab.Instruments, the winning company in the "Small Enterprises" category |
Lab.Instruments is a small company that produces ultra-pure chemicals, certified reference materials (CRMs) for scientific and analytical use. The company has implemented initiatives aimed at reconciling employees' professional and personal lives (smart working, flexible working hours) and initiatives aimed at increasing employees' well-being (bonus payments, health, sport, leisure, parental support). The company has also obtained gender equality certification. Roles of greater responsibility are filled 70% by women, but the company draws no distinction in gender, neither in its remuneration policy nor in its training and career policy. The company has long had a Code of Ethics and Company Regulation that also address the matter of gender equality, as well as a Gender Equality Policy, as required by the regulations to obtain certification, and a Sustainability Policy in addition to Quality and Safety policies (in particular PdR125:2022, SRG 88088:20, ESG rating and other certifications). Export: 49% of total turnover. For information: https://www.crmlabstandard.com/ |
Pellemoda, the winning company in the "Medium Enterprises" category |
The Benefit Corporation develops and produces leather garments for luxury brands, with a competitive edge based on a blend of craftsmanship and technological innovations resulting in cutting-edge research into raw materials and processing techniques with the added value of a sustainable way of working in terms of the environment, social respect and governance. The company has applied for Gender Equality Certification and launched several initiatives aimed at improving the internal climate and the well-being of employees (adoption of a well-being plan by means of a questionnaire, disbursement of bonuses, production bonuses and superannuation to all employees, plenary training day on gender equality, welfare platform, etc.). Two female workers from reintegration routes after violence suffered and two trainee workers who were victims of labour exploitation, have been recruited. The company participated in the working group 'Unpacking Gender Pay Gaps in Fashion Value Chains' organised by Global Fashion Agenda, the Italian Chamber of Fashion and PWC. The company is preparing to achieve Bcorp certification by 2025 with targets on inclusion, training, emission reduction and supply chain control, and is placing a strong focus on sustainability with the implementation of an energy efficiency project, including the elimination of harmful chemicals by 2025, a 30% reduction in emissions by 2030 and zero emissions by 2040. Export: over 90% of turnover. For information: https://www.pellemoda.org/
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WINNING COMPANIES WITH SPECIAL MENTIONS FOR NORTHERN ITALY AND SARDINIA
The Donne al Traguardo ONLUS Association, Special Mention - Women for Social |
(Based in Cagliari) - Donne al Traguardo was established in 2001 as an association with a social and cultural character in favour of women, to promote their cultural, political, social and employment inclusion. From prevention and support for victims of violence to community centres, recreational spaces, training workshops and job search services, parenting support and the distribution of food and clothing, the association is today a point of reference and support for all women. For information: https://www.facebook.com/donnealtraguardoonlus |
Firgun House, Special Mention - Women for Made in Italy |
(Based in Segrate, MI) - a young, women-only company that hand-crafts and sells gold jewellery of essential design under the brand name LIL, to be worn every day. Through an innovative strategy, the brand has managed to stand out in the goldsmith sector by creating a large community that is very much engaged.
For information: www.lilmilan.com |
LAMP, Special Mention - Women for innovation |
(based in Verderio, LC) - manufactures flexible plastic packaging and innovative sustainable technical films using technologically advanced plants and state-of-the-art raw materials, virgin and certified recycled, circular and renewable polymers and additives.
For information: www.lampverderio.com |
Last updated 21 November 2024 at 15:38
