Genoa: faberwoman is back, the second edition of the women's business ideas competition

Genoa: faberwoman is back, the second edition of the women's business ideas competition.

The second edition of FaberWoman, the women's entrepreneurial ideas competition born from the collaboration between Cna Genoa and Rotary Club Genova San Giorgio, with the patronage of the Liguria Region, the Municipality of Genoa and the Genoa Chamber of Commerce.

As with the first edition, the aim of the initiative is to encourage the development of female businesses in the province of Genoa, offering the professional skills necessary for the realization of entrepreneurial ideas and financial support for starting the business.

“Promoting entrepreneurship, especially among women, in this historical moment has a double value given the gender gap and the increasingly sharp decline in the craft sector. We wanted to link the word Faber, which in Latin means 'artisan', to the concept of female entrepreneurship, because this brand was born from the idea of ​​transferring the pride of being artisans. Pride that must return to the fore because I always like to remember that being artisans means uniting the mind with the hands, in a very close connection between thought and action" underlines the secretary of Cna Genova Barbara Banchero.

“FaberWoman wants to promote female self-entrepreneurship, also through training and awareness courses, to strengthen the skills of women who intend to start a business” he adds Banchero.

The project, born in the Covid era, started from some considerations and some numbers, also highlighted by the Sole 24 Ore: in Italy only 18% of managers are women, and only 22% are entrepreneurs. Numbers that photograph a context made even more merciless by the latest Istat bulletin of 31 January 2023: female employment stands at 51,3% (male employment is at 69,6%) and female unemployment in Italy has reached 9,5 .2022% in 6,5, compared to an average of XNUMX% for European Union countries.

As for the first edition, the Rotary Club Genova San Giorgio will be present alongside Cna Genova, which has confirmed its support for the initiative.

“The Rotary theme indicated by our international president Gordon R. McLnally for the Rotary year that has just begun is 'let's create hope in the world'. The development of female entrepreneurship represents one of the declinations of 'hope in the world' and to do so we do not do charity but create concrete opportunities. As Rotary, it is a satisfaction and a pride to encourage the emergence of new productive realities in the area, the result of innovative, green and sustainable female initiatives" explains the president of the Rotary Club Genova San Giorgio, Chiara Antola.

“For FaberWoman some Rotarian members will make their skills available to follow the three finalists in preparing the business plan” he adds Antola.

All women residing in Italy and who intend to start a business in Liguria can participate in FaberWoman. To register for the competition, simply go to the website https://faberwoman.it/ and fill out the form provided by March 31, 2024. Having examined the requests received, the Jury will select the three best business ideas which will be accompanied in the drafting of the business plan. At the end of June 2024, the ranking will be drawn up among the top three business ideas, which will win respectively:

1 PRIZE: 5.000 euros + Free registration and assistance for two years at Cna Genova + Mentoring course
2 PRIZE: Free registration and assistance for two years at Cna Genova + Mentoring course
3 PRIZE: Free registration and assistance for two years at Cna Genova.

Also for this second edition of FaberWoman, the local institutions that sponsored the initiative, starting from the Liguria Region, are present alongside Cna Genova and Rotary Club Genova San Giorgio.

“Supporting and enhancing the female universe, with a better work-life balance and an adequate welfare service, means strengthening our society on models of sustainability over time, which allow us to realize what we feel like doing, without having to necessarily make opt-out choices. In recent years, the number of women entrepreneurs has increased, but the margins for improvement are wide and, as the Liguria Region, to fill this gap we have recently extended the non-repayable benefits of the two instruments for access to credit (Garanzia Artigianato Liguria and Cassa Commercio Liguria) to pink businesses. As a Rotarian and as a Councilor for Economic Development, I always participate with great satisfaction in the editions of FaberWoman. The hope is that initiatives like this, which we have accompanied since its birth, can further enhance the value of female entrepreneurship and encourage our women to get involved without fear" explains the regional councilor for economic development Andrea Benveduti.

The Councilor for Commerce and Crafts of the Municipality of Genoa, Paola Bordilli, confirms the renewed support for the initiative by Palazzo Tursi, which has also granted patronage for this edition of FaberWoman.

“The Municipality of Genoa renews its support for FaberWoman with strong conviction because it is much more than a simple competition. It is a project that puts women at the center with their entrepreneurial spirit combined with creativity, tracing growth paths and keeping a spotlight on the development of female entrepreneurship. The Cna Genova initiative, carried out in collaboration with the Rotary Club Genova San Giorgio and the Genoa Chamber of Commerce, represents a concrete stimulus action that rewards women with innovative ideas, energy and the desire to get involved by participating in a tender that offers real equal opportunities to add further pieces to the growth of our economic fabric and to limit the current gender gap".

Among the institutions that have granted patronage to FaberWoman is also the Genoa Chamber of Commerce. “The Chamber has enthusiastically joined an initiative that aims to reward the most innovative, green and achievable female ideas. From our observatory of the Business Competitiveness Service we note an increase in the percentage of new female-run businesses, which in the last two years have been 61% of the total businesses we have helped start up. An undoubtedly positive signal and a trend that we intend to help strengthen thanks to our self-entrepreneurship assistance service" underlines the general secretary of the Genoa Chamber of Commerce, Maurizio Caviglia.