Approximately 4.400 small entrepreneurs and financed professionals, over 17 million euros disbursed, payments on average within nine days. These are just some of the numbers Bergamo Renaissance programme, launched in April 2020 by the Municipality of Bergamo, the Intesa Sanpaolo group and the Cesvi Foundation to support the economic and social fabric of the city hard hit by the pandemic. "Investing in the resilience of cities - said the Minister of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility, Enrico Giovannini ‐ it means knowing how to imagine a new model for experiencing the local community, based on principles of inclusion and sustainability, all elements that increase the well-being of citizens and at the same time improve the attractiveness and competitiveness of the territories where attention to the impacts generated represents a strategic paradigm to draw inspiration from”.
In particular, the program disbursed 9,5 million euros in non-repayable grants and 7,5 in low-interest impact loans in favor of micro and small businesses, professionals and non-profit organizations through eight tenders, organized by the Municipality as part of the Mutual Aid Fund.
Giorgio gori, mayor of Bergamo, underlined how the results clarify "that not only did the businesses that benefited from Renaissance funds fare better than those that decided - or were not eligible - not to access the calls set up by the Municipality, the Cesvi Foundation and Intesa Sanpaolo, but also that they have been able to give more work and be able to afford more employees". Two central objectives of the initiative and that "by succeeding, the two 'bonuses' for the city will be triggered, i.e. the zeroing of interest paid by the 4.000 companies that have received funding and aid from the Renaissance, but also the commitment from part of Intesa Sanpaolo to reinvest the same amount in 4 years time in a similar project to support small entrepreneurial and artisan businesses in Bergamo”, added Gori.
The Bergamo Renaissance program can represent a useful reference model for the success of the Pnrr. He said it Maria Rosaria Caputo, head of group rating desk Intesa Sanpaolo, adding that it is possible "to attract investments in the service of a general interest, if framed in a logic of public-private partnership, capable on the one hand of increasing the capital available to projects and on the other to guarantee its effective "grounding", conditioning the disbursement of public funds on the achievement of the objectives".
As part of the programme, Intesa Sanpaolo introduced the impact loan for the first time. An instrument characterized by long deadlines and resources dedicated to activities with a high impact on the ecosystem of businesses in the Bergamo area.
A positive balance certified by the impact analysis carried out by the company Deloitte. “Two fundamental indicators confirm this: the mortality rate of companies and the growth in the number of employees”, he explains Elena Vistarini, corporate finance advisory partner of Deloitte "The approximately 700 beneficiaries, since the start of Renaissance Bergamo, have in fact reported a mortality rate of 1% and a growth in the number of employees equal to +18%, both significantly better than to the reference population – made up of 5.400 micro-enterprises and professional studios – which recorded values of 4,5% and +9,4% respectively”.
Maurice Carrara, honorary president of the Cesvi Foundation: "The programme, representing an intervention scheme capable of involving private capital in a logic of true public-private-non-profit partnership between impact investors, public actors and innovative social enterprises, was able to stimulate virtuous mechanisms of collaboration in favor of a general interest and to provide a timely response to an extraordinary situation, to protect fundamental rights such as health and social security".
