This morning, at the UniCredit Tower, a meeting was held between the representatives of UniCredit and ConfProfessioni, the organization representing Freelancers in Italy, with the aim of analyzing the potential of the Professional Firms and Freelancers sector in our country and reaffirm the synergies between the credit institution and the confederation.
“We are happy to support a sector such as that of Freelancers – said Andrea Casini, UniCredit Co-Head Country Italy – which accounts for 12,5% of the national GDP. Since 2010, UniCredit has already had a catalog of products dedicated to this category of entrepreneurs, named Valore Professioni. We are encouraged to move forward by the positive credit quality data in the sector, and we have recently renewed our agreement with ConfProfessioni, of which we are the main banking partner, in order to guarantee an increasingly structured offer consistent with the needs of customers. Italian freelancers".
"The production system of professional studios has over 4 million operators" - recalled Gaetano Stella, President of ConfProfessioni - "today's meeting was an opportunity to renew our partnership with UniCredit, rethinking it in the light of the new change in the industry. In a constantly evolving market, our task is to make the sector of professional firms more competitive, where freelancers, especially the younger ones, find themselves facing new challenges that require investments in technological innovation, start interdisciplinary ups and internationalization. In UniCredit we have found a partner who is attentive to our problems and capable of supporting and promoting an increasingly important economic sector".
From the comparison, new needs emerged for the freelance sector, which were summarized in four areas of intervention:
- Technological and organizational innovation of studios: in a country where only 30% of professional studios have a website and just 13,2% use it for professional purposes;
- Support for the creation of new Professional Firms: a growing trend, with 53.000 new firms in 2015 alone;
- Management training for Professionals: who are increasingly in demand for the "soft skills" of a good entrepreneur;
- More active relations with the Italian professional system: thanks to the Jobs act of self-employment, professionals will in fact be able to benefit from welfare measures, also made available by the bilateral nature of the sector.
On the basis of these sector trends, UniCredit has undertaken to make available to ConfProfessioni members additional financial services, such as specific loans for investments in innovation or for the launch of startups of new professional studios, microcredit and tools for more efficient management of liquidity, including revolving liquidity.
In addition, the partnership envisaged the activation of new services of a relational nature in collaboration with ConfProfessioni, such as work tables to map the training needs of professionals, the preparation of online courses in the field of communication and marketing, the involvement of other professional organizations in the partnership and the preparation of management offers for social security assets and welfare tools for Studios.
