Economy – The numbers presented at the “Giro d’Italia of women who do business” meeting to support pink entrepreneurship
Viterbo – In Tuscia there are more than 10 thousand women-run businesses, equal to 27.6 percent of the total registered ones. Not only that: the province of Viterbo is the fifth in Italy for the rate of feminization of private activities.
Viterbo – The “Giro d’Italia of women who do business” meeting
These are the encouraging numbers presented during the “Giro d’Italia of women who do business” which this morning stopped in Viterbo at the headquarters of the Rieti-Viterbo Chamber of Commerce. A meeting attended by trade associations, chambers of commerce, stakeholders and institutions with the aim of networking to support female entrepreneurship. The initiative, promoted by Unioncamere, is included in the National Plan for Female Entrepreneurship of the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy.
Silvia Petrone, researcher at the Guglielmo Tagliacarne study center, presented the numbers on the state of female entrepreneurship in Tuscia. And the balance for the Viterbo area is overall positive: the rate of female businesses out of the total, equal to 27.6 percent, is in fact higher than the national average, which stands at 22 percent. Not only. “In the Viterbo area, the survival of female businesses is greater than non-female businesses,” added Petrone.
Viterbo – Silvia Petrone
But as encouraging as they are, the numbers also show some critical issues. “In the province of Viterbo there are few young female businesses – added the researcher -. Less than a thousand are run by women under 35 and since 2019, youth female businesses have decreased by 21 percent. In Tuscia there is also a low level of innovation among businesses: there are 33 with a high level of innovation, of which only 7 are run by women.
Hence the need to create a network that supports female entrepreneurs, or aspiring ones, both to start a business and to sustain it over time. And this is precisely the objective of the committee for female entrepreneurship of the Chamber of Commerce which was reconstituted in Viterbo after four years of absence and which Domenico Merlani, president of the Rieti-Viterbo chamber of commerce, defined “an excellence ”. “We must help women overcome the difficulties that separate them from doing business – commented Giuseppina Polidori, president of the Committee -. We are already working on projects and will also organize courses for women. Registration will soon start for three full immersion days on the topic of problem solving and sales. Furthermore, the chamber of commerce has already made available a special desk where women can turn to start entrepreneurship.”
Viterbo – Elena Angiani, Domenico Merlani, Giuseppina Polidori
But for a business network to be successful, collaboration between the private and public sectors is needed. Elena Angiani, councilor with responsibility for economies and financial resources of the municipality of Viterbo, underlined that “the task of the public administration is to break down obstacles to facilitate access to credit and authorisations, because if it is true that doing business today is a heroic act, for women it is even more so.”
Viterbo – Silvia Petrone, Monica Onori, Elena Angiani
“As a chamber system we collaborate with local stakeholders, with the associative world and with schools to promote the culture of female entrepreneurship and to fight the employment gap – added Monica Onori, Si.Camera official -. The final objective is to promote a general development of the territory that is inclusive and sustainable”.
In short, an entrepreneurial network in the area that leaves no one behind. “Today we experience a very pleasant cohesion between women – concluded Giuseppina Polidori, president of the Committee for female entrepreneurship of the Rieti-Viterbo Chamber of Commerce -. We must help each other, we must be a driving force for each other.”
April 18, 2024
Tags: Tuscia thousand womenowned businesses province Viterbo Italy
