Genoa Startup, foundation to support new enterprises
The organisation was set up to provide free services to start-ups and help them in their start-up phase. The structure now has 18 members and now crowdfunding starts
Making Genoa a fertile ecosystem for innovation, entrepreneurship and new ideas. This is the goal with which the Fondazione Genova Startup ets (a third sector organisation) was founded (on 4 November) and launched yesterday. A reality that saw the light, said the founder and president, Alberto Clavarino, 'thanks to the contribution of some twenty highly experienced and sensitive people. It was set up to provide free support services to start-ups or those who want to do business, to help them in the initial phase'.
The foundation now has 18 members, 13 natural persons plus 5 legal entities, and starts thanks to the economic support of five companies that believed in the project: Appfactory, Circle Group, Cyber Tribu, Happily, Tag Genova. "These companies and their managers," said Clavarino (founder, in the 1990s, of Itnet, later sold in 1999, for 15 billion lire, to Wind), "have supported us with the collection of the first 30,000 euro, with which we are now starting crowdfunding.
The non-profit organisation unites two initiatives that had hitherto travelled parallel paths: Genova Startup and Women Startup. The latter is the expression of a project, conceived and led by Ilaria Scaliti since its inception, which has always emphasised female entrepreneurship. "The decision to unite the two initiatives in the foundation," clarified Scaliti, founding partner and communications manager of the organisation, "stems from a precise conviction: talking about equality does not mean creating separate spaces, but building an ecosystem that integrates different perspectives and enhances all talents.
It is known, he continued, 'that, compared to other countries, there are still few start-ups in Italy, especially in Liguria, and that there is a lot of work to be done to grow a solid and open entrepreneurial culture. Moreover, the percentage of female businesses is even lower: this is why we decided to join forces. Our commitment is clear: to contribute to the birth and growth of new enterprises, to strengthen the local ecosystem, and to spread a vision of innovation that is truly inclusive, sustainable, and aware'.
The foundation's mission, therefore, is to support and facilitate new business models, with the ambition, added Clavarino, to see, in the future, 'a Genoa recognised as a reference point for those who believe in entrepreneurship, creativity and start-ups, capable of attracting talent, capital and ideas from all over the world'.
