Facebook, in collaboration with the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, launches #SheMeansBusiness to promote female enterprise in Italy.
The Italian version of the global #SheMeansBusiness initiative aims to train, during the course of 2018, 3500 young Italian women to use Facebook and Instagram to develop their business projects.
#SheMeansBusiness, the global programme which helps women to develop and launch enterprises will be launched in Italy, today, Facebook, in collaboration with the Fondazione Mondo Digitale.
#SheMeansBusiness aims to help women develop and launch business projects and inspire all those who dream about starting an entrepreneurial activity by providing them with tools, training and examples to follow. Facebook and Instagram can, in fact, concretely help small businesses to grow by providing them with all the tools necessary to reach success, independently from their size, competences, industrial sector and geographical location.
In Italy, Project #SheMeansBusiness will be implemented in collaboration with the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, the non-profit association that works to develop an inclusive knowledge society through innovation, education, inclusion and fundamental values.
Using the “train the trainer” model, Facebook will instruct Fondazione Mondo Digitale coaches, who, in turn, will train 3500 women throughout Italy during the course of 2018 with ad hoc tools and educational models, including on-line lessons and exercises, on the use of the Facebook and Instagram platforms to improve business. Moreover, the course aims to improve the confidence of all participating women.
With #SheMeansBusiness, Facebook helps women to develop and launch enterprises and aims to improve the country’s economic growth. Small and medium-sized enterprise represent the backbone of Italy’s economy and one out of five SMEs (21.8%) is run by women [Censis, based on Female Enterprise Observatory, Unioncamere-Infocamere, September 2017].
Moreover, notwithstanding the role of women in Italy is amply recognised as a key factor for progress, the gender gap in the working world is much higher than the European average: 18.8% in Italy vs. 12.7% in the EU. According to CENSIS estimates, if Italy reduced the gender gap in the work place by 25% by 2025 (ILO target), the increase in active women (equivalent to 300,000 new jobs) would produce an estimated 2% increase in the Italian GDP, equivalent to 33.6 billion euro [Censis, based on Eurostat data and ILO estimates –World Employment Social Outlook 2017. The gender gap is calculated on the basis of the activity ratio between active population and working age population].
"When women have the opportunity to improve their situation, the economy improves to,” Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook VP EMEA recently declared, “and this is why Facebook celebrates women who have developed and manage enterprises, as well as help those who may one day do so. In Italy, every month, 30 million people access Facebook and over 14 million visit Instagram. This comunity provides SMEs with the opportunity to reach existing clients and find new ones. With #SheMeansBusiness we want to help female entrepreneurs in Italy to grasp these opportunities and help them achieve their dreams.”
"According to data analysed by the European Institute for Gender Equality, Italy is the European member state that is doing the most to bridge the gender gap in the working world, but it still requires a more systemic approach. This alliance with Facebook will allow us to strengthen the strategic role of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale which increasingly acts as a communication channel between institutions, large ICT enterprises, schools, universities, private social campaigns and local communities, whilst also helping all the young women who are neither in school, nor have a job. Even they deserve a chance to become digital entrepreneurs," explains Mirta Michilli, Director General, Fondazione Mondo Digitale.
Besides organising an itinerant training programme, Facebook will provide a dedicated website for all the women who register for #SheMeansBusiness: https://shemeansbusiness.fb.com/it. The website will contain successful stories of Italian female entrepreneurs, training material and contacts for women who want to start an activity.
Here are some of the success stories on the #SheMeansBusiness website as described by the founders themselves, who strategically used Facebook and Instagram to develop their projects:
Chiara Burberi conceived Redooc, the “largest mathematics gym in Italy,” digital didactic platform dedicated to STEM subjects (Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Chiara and the Redooc Team used digital tools to reach young men and women with their presence on Facebook and Instagram and speak to parents, professors and students.
Betta Maggio, founder of U-Earth, the first global biotech company to address the purification of air in offices, found a fulcrum for their cultural revolution on social media, where they raised public awareness and reached Facebook users. Instagram allowed them to invite people to participate in their events and encouraged them to access Pure Air Zone.
Enrica Arena and Adriana Santanocito, stout defenders of innovation based on sustainability and social responsibility, these two young Sicilian entrepreneurs founded start-up Orange Fiber, the only company capable of producing high quality textile using industrial by-products transformed via citrus fruits.
#SheMeansBusiness courses, held by Fondazione Mondo Digitale Coaches, will be held throughout Italy. The first seventeen cities will be reached between December 2017 and February 2018: Turin, Brescia, Busto Arsizio, Vicenza, Padua, Parma, Imperia, Arezzo, Pesaro, Chieti, Rome, Naples, Cosenza, Matera, Termoli, Bari and Catania.
Women interested in participating can register for training sessions with the Fondazione Mondo Digitale at this link.
