SME DAY 2023: NEW ATTENDANCE RECORD. FREEDOM AT THE CENTRE OF THE MEETING BETWEEN YOUNG PEOPLE AND ENTERPRISES

Opening company doors to over 500,000 young people since 2010

Baroni: freedom must never be taken for granted, it is a precondition for doing business, a basis for the present and a sustainable future

Rome, 17 November 2023 - New record for SME DAY 2023: the initiative, now in its fourteenth edition, continues its growth trend. The National Small and Medium Enterprises Day kicks off today, organised by Piccola Industria Confindustria together with the associations of the System, with a series of simultaneous initiatives in all regions, also scheduled on other dates. Around 1,300 companies were involved, almost 700 middle and high schools and over 49,000 participants: numbers that confirm and exceed the record achieved last year. All the territorial associations of the System are in the field who joined the initiative together with Assosistema, Confindustria Moda and Federchimica.  

At the centre, once again, is the commitment of companies in telling young people about themselves through meetings and guided company visits involving not only students but also teachers, families, local institutions and the press. An important moment of confrontation in which companies reaffirm their role as social actors in the territory, especially in light of the enormous gap in skills and technical-scientific professional figures that afflicts the country.  Since 2010year of the event's inception, the SMEs of Confindustria have opened their doors to a total of more than 500,000 boys.
 
L'edition 2023 has as focus on 'freedom'as a prerequisite for realising one's aspirations by contributing to generating collective wellbeing, as a lever for research, innovation and economic growth. Freedom that goes hand in hand with a sense of responsibility and respect for others and the common good, and with the affirmation of the values of civil coexistence, of which schools and businesses are fundamental headmasters. As of 2021, the event has obtained the patronage of the Ministry of Education and Merit and the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces. For years, too, continues the partnership with Confagricoltura in some territories - Alessandria, Bari - BAT, Bergamo, Brescia and Taranto - to tell the reality of enterprise also in the agricultural sector.
 
The international imprint of the event is confirmed, for the sixth consecutive year, by the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Since 2015, PMI day has also been held abroad and this year, for the first time, reaches Brazil in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy in São Paulo. Also back in the USA where the Miami Scientific Italian Community organised a series of events in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Washington D.C. and its Consular Diplomatic Network, ABROAD TO - The Community of Italian Companies, the California Scientific Italian Community, ODLI - Organisation for the Development of Italian Studies, RetImpresa and the Texas Scientific Italian Community. In addition, the collaboration with the international representations of Confindustria Albania, Bulgaria and Serbia.
 
The president of Piccola Industria, John Baroni, participates at the event organised by Confindustria Brescia at the Salone Vanvitelliano in Palazzo della Loggia, where the theme of 'freedom' is developed through an 'Teen Talk' in which a group of girls and boys talk with sociologist Stefano Laffi about life choices, desires, limits. This time it is the young people who tell their stories to the companies so that they can understand and integrate their perspective on the world. Baroni intervenes, by video link, also at the initiative of the Unione Industriali Napoli in Piazza dei Martiri where the the 'Giògiò' awardnamed after Giovan Battista Cutolo, a young man tragically killed by organised crime. The competition featured paper and multimedia works dedicated to the concept of work-related freedom - such as competitiveness, dignity, legality and well-being - created by school children who took part in the company meetings held from 6 to 10 November.
 
"This year we wanted to dedicate PMI DAY to the theme of freedom because, today more than ever, it is a value to be more aware of and to which we must renew our commitment precisely because it is profoundly undermined by the great instability and conflicts involving Ukraine and the Middle East - commented the President of the Small Industry of Confindustria Giovanni Baroni. "It is the driving force behind the present and the socially sustainable future, the indispensable basis of corporate culture. It is the very precondition of doing business: only where there is freedom is it possible to develop competition and competitiveness. We must teach young people not to take it for granted and to see it as a space that is conquered but that can and must be extended. Freedom must be breathed from an early age; it is the oxygen with which the new generations must grow and be formed. Young people are free by definition and the company is ready to support them so that their freedom and uniqueness can fully unfold through study, skills and the construction of a successful and satisfying career path'.

The initiative, curated by Claudia Sartirani, national coordinator of SME Day Piccola Industria, with the support of a dedicated working group, is included in the 22nd Business Culture Week organised by Confindustria and in the European SME Week promoted by the European Commission. "Freedom is participation. I would like to thank the working group, all the territorial associations, the thousands of companies and the many schools, students and teachers who took part in this edition - stressed Sartirani. "The numbers and the quality of the proposals confirm that the path is the right one and that the sowing of values and knowledge in these 14 editions has paid off. Young people are our most precious capital, our best investment for the future'.