Pistoia: The First Social Business City in Italy
A three-year program to promote Social Business in Pistoia has been inagurated yesterday. This program will support research, training, technical assistance for students, citizens, entrepreneurs and local authorities which want to invest in a "new economy".
Thanks to the agreement signed by the Yunus Social Business Centre University of Florence (YSBCUF), the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Pistoia e Pescia and Fondazione Un Raggio di Luce Onlus, Pistoia is the first Social Business City in Italy.
The program, for which the two foundations have committed more than 300.000 euro (for its implementation and to support setting up of 3 Social Businesses), will focus on a series of activities which will give the an opportunity to citizens, entrepreneurs and local administrators to acquire specific competencies on Social Business and to get in touch with similar experiences worldwide.
At the signing ceremony, Enrico Testi Director of International Relations of the YSBCUF said that in a crisis context where there are less financial resources, as the one in Italy, Social Business can play an important part in local development and in being a concrete alternative to the prevalent economic model.
"Our Foundation," explains Professor Ivano Paci, President of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Pistoia e Pescia, "has since a long time decided to devote increasing resources to the valorization and
development of the third sector and social finance. This initiative is meant to favour the growht of Social Businesses in order to answer to social problems created by this crisis."
Paolo Carrara, President of the Fondazione Un Raggio di Luce Onlus, added that the program "Pistoia, first Social Business City in Italy" fits in the strategy brought forward by his foundation which is to promote projects for an increasing social economy by giving to people the chance to be the main actors of their life and their future. The Foundation believes that Social Business has a big future in solving some of the problems of our society that the State and the local authorities can't or are not more able to solve.
The activities foreseen in the program are: the involvement of more than 500 students in workshops and traning on Social Business; exchanges for international students; workshops for entrepreneurs and local administrators interested in promoting the Social Business model; technical and financial assistance for three Social Business projects; research on Thirs Sector organizations in order to identify possible Social Businesses that could fit in their activities; public events to involve the citizenship. The agremment foresees the opening of an office in Pistoia with dedicated personnel managed by the Yunus Social Business Centre University of Florence and the two foundations.
