According to the new strategic plan of the Generali Group ‘Lifetime Partner 24: Promoting Growth’ regarding the promotion of a green and inclusive economy in line with the European Green Deal and the ‘Next Generation EU’ initiative, Generali Insurance is organizing the ‘SME EnterPRIZE’ competition for the first time in Croatia. In this way, Generali aims to encourage small and medium enterprises, which are its clients, to adopt more sustainable business solutions by applying for the ‘SME EnterPRIZE’ competition by June 5 via the form on the website https://www.generali.hr/sme-enterprize.
Small and medium enterprises will compete in three categories – Employee Welfare, Environment, and Community, with the winner in each category receiving a prize of 30,000 kuna gross from Generali. The runner-up will receive a business package of annual travel health insurance and accident manager insurance worth up to 15,000 kuna gross or an equivalent prize.
Where are the barriers
In collaboration with Generali, the SDA Bocconi School of Management has also developed the White Paper ‘SME EnterPRIZE’ as the first comprehensive presentation of the strategic and operational approach of small and medium enterprises towards sustainability, after which the competition was created. The White Paper highlights that there are several main barriers preventing small and medium enterprises from adopting a sustainability strategy. Small and medium enterprises primarily face a lack of competencies and skills, followed by a lack of government support and clear legislation, as well as a lack of financial resources amounting to 20 to 35 billion euros despite support from the European Union. Furthermore, although awareness of sustainability is growing in society, small and medium enterprises still complain about insufficient consumer attention to environmental issues and the absence of standardized tools for managing sustainability, i.e., strategic planning, evaluation, and reporting on sustainability. Generali and the SDA Bocconi School have identified 15 categories of initiatives and tools to assist small and medium enterprises in moving towards the adoption of sustainability, such as education and the transfer of competencies including innovation, technology, and digitalization. Loans related to environmental protection, social responsibility, and governance (ESG), fintech applications, ESG taxonomy, public and private procurement competitions related to ESG, simpler regulation, and sustainable supply chain management programs are also needed.
