Milan, 30 Oct. (Adnkronos/Labitalia) – The Manageritalia Lombardia assembly which took place yesterday evening at the Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan celebrated the 25th anniversary of the birth of the “Social Manager Group” . Born in 1999, the group has supported and developed over 383 specific projects with many third sector bodies in Milan thanks to expert volunteering carried out by over 300 active and retired managers who constitute an active and cohesive community aimed at putting the precisely act attention towards others. (PHOTO)
Opening the public part, Paolo Scarpa, president of Manageritalia Lombardia, said: “The 25 thousand associated Lombard managers are all extremely proud of the Social Manager Group because it embodies that spirit of giving back and attention to sustainability that has always characterized our role in the company and in society, even when sustainability was a complete unknown. Today we celebrate the commitment of the hundreds of managers who have given and give life and substance to the group’s activity which is considered by all local stakeholders to be a resource with high added value and indispensable”.
The speech by Giancarla Bonetta, coordinator of the Social Manager Group, was also heartfelt and applauded, and she excitedly said: “I thank those who had the idea of creating this fantastic group over 25 years ago and all those who dedicated their time and skills, and also the many that will give it continuity in the future. In recent years the growth of our group has been constant. At the beginning it was almost entirely made up of retired managers, but it gradually saw the addition of more and more active managers with many experiences and skills. However, they all share the same desire to make themselves available to the third sector and to the many projects in favor of the common good and of a society in which the fragile and people in difficulty are increasingly considered as resources and not as a problem”.
The skills that managers voluntarily make available to third sector bodies range from: management and organisation, administration and finance, marketing and communication, fundraising, human resources and training, information technology, quality and privacy. Concrete support to improve project management skills which cover various areas of fragility including: children, elderly and disabled people, integration of foreign mothers, work for fragile and difficult people so that they are considered real resources and not a problem for the community.
The Third Sector reform law brought about a strong acceleration of the Group’s activities. In fact, companies’ sustainability and ESG objectives require the commitment of managers to design and plan initiatives together with companies, finance, public administration and universities. The Profit4NonProfit project presented on the occasion of the 2023 Civil week responds to this.
The evening of celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Manager for Social Group, attended by over 110 people present in the room, culminated in the speech ‘A vele pietate’ by Paolo Iabichino, advertising writer, creative director and founder of Osservatorio Civic Brands. During the discussion with the Lombard managers who attended the meeting, the president Paolo Scarpa also highlighted how in the Lombard boards of directors less than two directors out of 100 are women.
Women on the boards of directors, these unknowns: or so say the data which shows a presence of just over 19.9% of women on the boards of directors of Lombardy companies. This is what emerges from the survey conducted at Manageritalia on Modefinance data, a company of the TeamSystem group, on approximately 225 thousand joint-stock companies with over 1 million in turnover.
“While in the last 14 years there has been an advance in women managers, especially in the tertiary sector, which has grown by 101%, their presence in leadership positions in the boards of directors is still fragile, limited and above all not yet acquired” explains Paolo Scarpa, president Manageritalia Lombardia who continues: “Today we are witnessing a paradox: on the one hand women are increasingly sought after and recognized for their technical, operational and managerial skills, on the other it seems that these skills are not sufficient for access to top roles and of government. We must accelerate – concludes Scarpa – on a cultural evolution that is now necessary, together with the commitment to break down all the obstacles that can prevent women’s access and career, including a fairer work organization and more decisive work-life balance policies. But it’s not just this. It’s not just for fairness and equality: the presence of the female component on our boards is essential for the profitability and sustainability of our organizations and the country system”.
If the general figure for Lombardy of 19.9% is slightly below the national average (20.2%), the detailed figure is in chiaroscuro: of the 58,659 companies in the Lombardy area analysed, 64.8% have no women on the boards (against 66.7% nationally), 35.2% have a mixed form with at least one woman (33.3% nationally) and 9% have boards of women only (10.9% nationally).
However, the limited presence of women on the boards of directors of Lombardy companies is in contrast with the growth of managerial roles throughout the region. In Lombardy we are witnessing an overall growth of managers which stands at 5% compared to the national average of +3.8%. The presence of female managers is significant, having grown by +8.8% in the last year and even by +101% compared to 2008, reaching around 13 thousand out of the over 55 thousand active in the area.
All the provinces of Lombardy are positive with Milan +6.3% (ranked 1st among Italian provinces, followed by Rome, Turin and Bologna) which confirms itself as the largest with over 44,500 managers in the city and sees women rising by double figures + 11%. Very good Lodi +4.1% which adds to the positive overall growth also the gold medal for female management, here the new female managers reach +20%. The trends were also positive in the other provinces: +2.5% in Bergamo and Lecco, +2.4% in Como, +2.3% in Cremona and +1.5% in Pavia.
The only areas with negative balance sheets are: Varese -8.4% and Sondrio -4.5%. In both provinces the reduction affects both male and female managers without distinction, which suggests a slight slowdown in investments in human capital and skills perhaps due to reorganizations of the local economic and entrepreneurial fabric.
