NAPLES, Italy, Oct. 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The aim of the Women Value Company Intesa Sanpaolo award, organised by the banking group in collaboration with the Marisa Bellisario Foundation, is to promote female entrepreneurship and companies that invest in gender equality and corporate welfare. Yesterday morning, October 25, at the Gallerie d'Italia on Via Toledo in Naples, the second concluding event of the award was held, dedicated to companies from the Central-Southern regions of Italy: Lazio, Abruzzo, Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, Calabria, and Sicily. Speakers at the event included Lella Golfo, President of the Marisa Bellisario Foundation, Virginia Borla, Head of Business Governance at Intesa Sanpaolo's Banca dei Territori division, and Anna Roscio, Head of Corporate Sales & Marketing at Intesa Sanpaolo; the Intesa Sanpaolo Studies and Research Division also gave a speech.

This initiative, now in its seventh edition, is recognised as a special category of the Marisa Bellisario Award. This year, over 1,200 nominations were received from all over Italy, and two winners of the national Women Value Company Intesa Sanpaolo Golden Apple Award were selected from among them. In addition, companies were selected for special mentions in the categories of ‘Women Innovators’, ‘Women in International Markets’, and ‘Women in Social Initiatives’.

This year, the Women Value Company Intesa Sanpaolo award has seen the highest number of participants since its launch, reflecting a growing awareness of the topics of inclusion and the promotion of female entrepreneurship. For this reason, Intesa Sanpaolo and the Marisa Bellisario Foundation organised three meetings with all 100 winning companies. These meetings aimed to celebrate some of the companies with special mentions in line with the National Recovery and Resilience Plan's objectives and examples of excellence in inclusive corporate culture, offering insights into the challenges of business strategies and measures to promote female entrepreneurship.

During the event in Naples, an analysis from Intesa Sanpaolo's Studies and Research Division was presented, revealing that Italy has the lowest female labour force participation rate among European countries, at 56.4%, a 13-point difference compared to the European average. The research states: this result “is primarily due to the delays in the southern regions. If Italy aligned with the European average of female labour force participation, it would mean an increase of 2.4 million workers, with positive effects on GDP growth.”

The next regional meeting for the Women Value Company Intesa Sanpaolo award will take place in Milan on November 22 and will be dedicated to the 38 selected companies from Northern Italy.

For more information:

Press Office LaPresse - ufficio.stampa@lapresse.it

A video accompanying this announcement is available at 

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/16956b1d-5fb9-47dd-b5af-1e3cbde58ccd