Handicrafts, enterprises led by foreigners increased by 20% in 10 years

They are key players in the transformation of the craft sector in our country. And they are on the rise. There are now 200,000 individual artisan entrepreneurs, practically one fifth of all individual artisan entrepreneurs in Italy. This is recounted in a study by Unioncamere and InfoCamere on the evolution of individual artisan enterprises in the period from 30 September 2014 to 30 September 2024.

Ten years in which there has been continuous expansion with an increase of 33,847 individual enterprises set up by immigrants, but this has not been enough to compensate for the drastic reduction in the number of enterprises set up by Italians. Over the last ten years, the perimeter of individual artisan enterprises with owners born in Italy has dropped by 14.6% with a reduction in absolute values of 133,242 units: the overall balance of the artisan sector thus marked a deficit of 99,395 enterprises over the decade.

In the same period, the share of foreign owners in craft enterprises rose from 15.5% to 20.5%: half of the new entrepreneurs come from just four countries of origin, 60% work in construction and almost half operate in the Lombardy-Emilia Romagna-Tuscany triangle. Regions such as Campania, Calabria and Basilicata recorded growth rates of over 40%, while in Emilia Romagna and Lombardy foreign businesses (25,993 and 45,256 units respectively) account for over 25% of the total, demonstrating that foreign entrepreneurship is now a structural part of the local production fabric.

And there is another aspect to consider, explain Unioncamere and InfoCamere: the transformation of the sector, where new skills and cultures are integrated with Italian tradition, grappling with a difficult process of generational change. The growth of craft businesses with foreign owners is not limited to a simple numerical increase, but embraces a profound transformation of key sectors: in the construction sector, 29.1% of craft businesses are now foreign-owned (117,000 units as at 30 September 2024), with a significant increase of 13% over the period; in business services, there has been a 55% increase in businesses with foreign owners, which now account for 27.8% of the total, exceeding the 14,000 unit quota. Companies in the construction sector, for example, see a strong presence of Romanian (27,914 units) and Albanian (26,515 units) owners, while in the services sector, China and Egypt play a significant role, with a high concentration of activities in transport, storage and catering.

The statistical analysis of the Chambers of Commerce Business Register also shows an interesting evolution in terms of age and gender: it is entrepreneurs over 50 who are driving growth, with an increase of 125.7% over the last ten years, and an even more marked increase (+223.5%) among the over 70s. The presence of women is also growing strongly: over the decade, the women/men ratio has risen overall from 17.1 to 20.1, with a significant increase in the North-West and North-East, where it has risen by over 4 percentage points. "This trend is an indication not only of greater female participation in the craft sector," explain Unioncamere and InfoCamere, "but probably also of a process of integration and stabilisation of foreign women in local economies, particularly in the more developed areas of the country.