In the Italian labor market, the transition toward sustainable models is accelerating the demand for new managerial skills. In this context, the national platform dedicated to Social change manager promoted by the Banking Academy of Esg Italy Unicredit which includes a register which, thanks to the collaboration with Confindustria Campania Small Industry is evolving into an infrastructure capable of meeting and supporting the growing demand for skills related to sustainability and beyond. The initiative is part of a growing urgency.
Unicredit and Confindustria Campania for Social Change Manager
According to the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, the competitiveness of the Italian production system increasingly depends on innovation, green transition and development of qualified human capital, with specific tools dedicated to strengthening skills in SMEs. At the same time, based on data from the Observatory on the Prospects of SMEs in Italy by Deloitte Private and Cribis, conducted on a sample of 300 small and medium-sized Italian companies, it appears that for eight out of ten SMEs, sustainability is a priority. It emerges that 73% of the SMEs interviewed believe that strengthening synergies and respecting ESG parameters (Environmental, Social, Governance) are assets that will allow companies to further enhance the value of Made in Italy, and 79% are convinced that being virtuous in terms of sustainability allows them to better preserve their value over time, thanks above all to the ability to adapt quickly to environmental, social, and economic changes. It is therefore not surprising that two-thirds of the Italian SMEs surveyed attach great importance to all three ESG factors, with a priority on the social (38%) and environmental (33%) components.
La Banking Academy Unicredit provides a concrete response to this need by launching the sixth edition of Road to Social Change, the training and networking program on the topics of integral sustainability, which focuses on the strong connection between young people and SMEs to make the alliance between generations the key to change towards sustainable consumption and production models. The program is offered free of charge by UniCredit to participants.
Social change manager: what is it for?
Every day, thanks to the platform, a new social change manager is born for a pool of over 2 professionals by 2026. Ready to lead the sustainable transformation of businesses. A training investment to support the emergence of a new professional role, the Social Change Manager, and to foster the convergence of emerging skills with business demand.
Thanks to the synergy between Unicredit and Confindustria Campania Piccola Industria for the first time the new 300 social change managers – graduates from universities in Southern Italy – will be added to the register. The initiative will facilitate the matching of job supply, leveraging the development of young graduates' sustainability skills, with demand, identifying the needs of businesses. The aim is to bridge the gap between skills supply and demand by creating a qualified marketplace between businesses, local communities, and sustainability professionals.
Un digital ecosystem which overcomes the current fragmentation and makes a new generation of sustainability skills accessible, even to SMEs. "Sustainability," he states, Frances Perrone, head of ESG&Start Lab Italy at Unicredit, “is a lever for cross-cutting innovation that reshapes sectors, industries, value chains, and social collaborations. With Road to Social Change, we help develop advanced professionals, geared toward leading transitions, with solid and crucial skills for the country's competitiveness.”
"Thanks to'agreement with 12 universities in Southern Italy "And thanks to the distinctive partnership signed with Confindustria Campania Piccola Industria," says Ferdinando Natali, Regional Manager Southern Unicredit, "we can count on over 300 new social change managers who we will connect with local SMEs to offer skills that can support businesses in a concrete, measurable, and sustainable transformation over time."
“Talents and supply chains – he comments Anna Del Sorbo, president of Confindustria Campania Piccola Industria – the challenge of competitiveness begins with the inclusion of talented young people in our production chains who can make a difference through concrete actions on the path to integral sustainability”.
