Italian City Pistoia Declared as Social Business City
Yunus Centre Press Release(15 July,2012): On 11 July Pistoia, an Italian city sharing borders with the city of Florence, was named as the first Italian Social Business City with the aim of creating an “enabling environment” for Social Business and Social Innovation through a participative and networking approach among local, national and international actors. A programme to promote social business in Pistoia was inaugurated at the beginning of the year by an agreement with the Yunus Social Business Centre at University of Florence, Fondazione Un Raggio di Luce Onlus and Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Pistoia e Pescia.
The ceremony took place with 300 participants including Ms.Giovanna Melandri, Member of the Parliament and former Minister for Youth and Sport; Marco Bellandi, Vice-rector for technological transfer of University of Florence; Massimo Toschi, Counsellor of the President of the Tuscany Region for the International Cooperation and Rights of People with Disabilities; Mario Calderini, Counsellor of the Italian Minister for instruction; Dario Carrera, Social Innovation Expert of the Ministry of Education and Research and founder of The HUB Rome; Filippo Addarii Director of EUCLID Network etc.
Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus presented the plaque of Social Business city to the Mayor of Pistoia city Samuele Bertinelli. The event was graced with the presence of local and national authorities.
Caption: Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus presenting the plaque of Social Business city to the Mayor of Pistoia city, Italy, Samuele Bertinelli.
Becoming a Social Business City means to choose the tools offered by Social Business to address local issues and community needs. The main issues local governments have to face, such as youth employment, elderly assistance, environmental protection, can now be managed with Social Business solutions. The program developed by the University of Florence for Pistoia includes training activities and workshop for students; consulting services for entrepreneurs; technical and financial assistance for the start up of social enterprises; activities for the involvement of Third Sector organizations. These activities will allow citizens, entrepreneurs and representatives of the Pistoia territory to come in contact with international institutions that are already dealing with these issues.
Professor Yunus also joined a roundtable discussion on “Social Business and Social Innovation for Local Development and International Cooperation” which was attended by officials of Yunus Social Business Centre at University of Florence (YSBCUF), Fondazione Un Raggio di Luce Onlus, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Pistoia e Pescia and other dignitaries.
Other cities which named themselves as Social Business City are Wiesbaden in Germany and Fukuoka in Japan.
Source: Yunus Centre
Updated Date: 4th January, 2017