Milan: Second Edition of the “Dall’Idea all’Impresa” Initiative

Press Release

Milan/Sesto San Giovanni, 19 April 2012 –  Zest (production and marketing of the freeairbaby system that cleans the air toddlers breathe in their strollers), Kook Sharing (a shared restaurant, without cooks, open 24 hours a day), Vis Virdis (production and sale of renewable energy) and Sorridere Insieme (a home-delivery service for food and consumer items on special): these are the four companies created thanks to the first edition of “Dall’Idea all’Impresa” (From Concept to Market), an initiative that again this year is supporting, with free services and floorspace, the setting up of five new innovative businesses by young entrepreneurs.

The sponsors of the initiative are Assolombarda’s Young Entrepreneurs Group, the Notarial Council of Milan, the Milan Order of Tax Accountants and Bookkeepers, Milano Metropoli Agenzia di Sviluppo and BIC La Fucina which will support five selected business projects free of charge for one year, with business start-up space, services and professional expertise.

The initiative is aimed at individuals of between 18 and 40 years of age who commit to set up a simple limited-liability or share-capital company having highly innovative characteristics, with its registered office and/or centre of operations in the Province of Milan. Candidates may be individuals or groups of persons who jointly or singly own at least a majority of the shares in the company to be set up. Furthermore, in the case of projects presented by groups, the team leader must be a shareholder and director of the company.

The benefits made available have been chosen to facilitate, both economically and technically, the creation of the business and the development of the managerial skills of young entrepreneurs during the first year of activity, which is objectively the most difficult:

1. The Notarial Council of Milan will prepare the registration documents and articles of association of the company (s.r.l. or s.p.a.)
2. Assolombarda will provide 24 months’ free membership of the Association.
3. Milano Metropoli Agenzia di Sviluppo will make available for 12 months to each chosen idea a workspace at the LIB incubator in Sesto San Giovanni, within a shared space, accessible 7 days per week, including connectivity, centralised logistical services and the use of common equipped areas.
4. BIC La Fucina will support the incubation program of the neo-entrepreneurs with specialist consulting services and constant business start-up monitoring.
5. The Milan Order of Tax Accountants and Bookkeepers will keep the books for the first tax year and prepare the first annual accounts and associated tax returns.

The awarding of the prize will be conditional upon the company being set up within two months from the announcement of the award. The deadline for applications is: Friday 20 July 2012. Entry forms and the rules for the competition may be downloaded from the websites of the promoters: Gruppo Giovani Imprenditori di Assolombarda [Assolombarda’s Young Entrepreneurs Group], www.giovaniimprenditori.com, Milano Metropoli Agenzia di Sviluppo, www.milanomet.it, BIC La Fucina, www.biconline.it, Notarial Council of Milan, www.consiglionotarilemilano.it, Ordine dei Dottori Commercialisti e degli Esperti Contabili di Milano [the Milan Order of Tax Accountants and Bookkeepers], www.odcec.mi.it.

The second edition of the initiative was presented today at the LIB Incubator of Innovative Businesses in Sesto San Giovanni by the promoters who underlined the need and the opportunity to give concrete support to young people during the start-up and development of innovative companies that can create employment and make Italian business more competitive.     

Alvise Biffi, President of Assolombarda’s Young Entrepreneurs Group, emphasised the fact that “although the Milan area has all the characteristics to be the European start-up capital, thanks to a first-class ecosystem made up of university research and a growing entrepreneurial, creative and innovative dynamism that retains and reinterprets the typical “made in Italy” values, two major stumbling-blocks penalise entrepreneurial fervour: a bureaucratic and fiscal context that still acts as a disincentive to investments and an anti-entrepreneurial culture aggravated by the economic crisis. “Dall’Idea all’Impresa,”  he added, “aims to provide aspiring entrepreneurs with optimism and motivation through concrete practical help that can overcome the bureaucratic regulatory barrier and allow the entrepreneurial spark to flourish”.

“In Milan we can and must encourage business and there are numerous success stories we should highlight in order to improve our record. The birth of four new businesses last year thanks to the first edition of this initiative means an injection of optimism for Milan’s entrepreneurial ecosystem”, added Mattia Macellari, coordinator of the initiative and a director of the Young Entrepreneurs Group.

In this context Carlo Lio, CEO of Milano Metropoli Agenzia di Sviluppo, pointed out that, “despite the crisis and the objective difficulties for anyone wanting to set up in business, the experience of our LIB Incubator of Innovative Businesses demonstrates that companies supported with advanced services and adequate logistical solutions can still take root and grow. At present we are hosting 29 small businesses. In the last two years they have managed to keep their turnover and workforce steady and several of them have spawned new innovative start-ups, creating well-paid jobs in the new technology and commercial sectors”.

“For 15 years, BIC La Fucina has been helping businesses to get going. In 2011 alone, we assisted 259 start-ups and potential entrepreneurs. Especially in these difficult times, supporting the founding of new, young, innovative businesses is an essential tool for kick-starting growth in the local economy. That’s why we have been part of this project from the beginning”, stated Roberto Di Stefano, CEO of BIC La Fucina, an entity that also cooperates with Milano Metropoli in providing services to the businesses incubated in LIB.   

“We are very proud to be able to be part of the second edition of this initiative that aims to implement very concrete ideas and projects that are at the same time extremely innovative. As a member of the Notarial Council of Milan, I see this as a unique occasion for us notaries to lend our skills in company law to young entrepreneurs who represent today an investment in the future of the country,” declared Giovannella Condò, Member of the Notarial Council of Milan.

Finally Andrea Zonca, Councillor of the Order of Tax Accountants of Milan, was pleased to reconfirm the Order’s partnership in the second edition of the initiative: “We think that, especially in current economic circumstances, it is of fundamental importance to provide support to youthful entrepreneurship which can bring new life to the local economic system. The last edition gave rise to innovative operations: we are certain that this year, too, new businesses will be launched that look to the future”.

Also at the meeting were the leaders of three of the four companies that won in the first edition: Mauro Zamarian,  Zest Srl, Michele Lauriola, Vis Virdis Srl, and Fabio Quaglieri and Elena Abati, Sorridere Insieme Srl, who recounted their experiences as neo-entrepreneurs.