Articoli

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. deputy Mr. Antonio Tajani, has always supported entrepreneurial and microfinance policies. We discussed with him how microcredit activity can be a driving force for our entrepreneurship abroad and how the best practices developed by the ENM can be an example and support for preventive diplomacy at the centre of the debates at Expo Osaka 2025 during the Human Rights Week.
Tajani, already at the conference held in December 2024 at the Farnesina, had spoken out in favour of using the microfinance instrument as a vector for peace and development. The Minister was keen to emphasise how Italian foreign policy is also promoted in the world by those who bring something material or intangible of Italian civilisation abroad. Mr. Tajani recalled the important role of international cooperation: "Everything that an Italian does that is positive in the world, especially when it comes to peace bearers, helps our political action. In all of this, the instrument of microcredit can play a key role,' the minister went on to emphasise how this instrument can be useful for the development of the territories most in difficulty. "This is also peace diplomacy, because where goods circulate, weapons do not circulate".

____________________

Microcredit supports Italian entrepreneurship, and in particular supports small and medium-sized enterprises. Within the framework of a preventive diplomacy, what, in your opinion, could be the contribution that the National Microcredit Agency, through this instrument, can provide to companies in the process of internationalisation?
It must first of all start with those young people who have the capacity for innovation but not the means to exploit it. It must support start-ups, such as those looking for a second chance. It must set itself the goal of fostering the growth of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs by helping above all the new generations, women, third sector organisations and immigrants. The support of Maeci, as well as of the entire government, is not an isolated fact, but is part of a path that is an integral part of our philosophy. The instances of corporate social responsibility and attention to the social context are themes that find widespread application in our strategies. Although the development path of microcredit still has wide margins for growth, it is important to know that even institutions in a country like Italy are well aware of the importance of this instrument of true cooperation.

In the great story of Italy, which is at the centre of Expo Osaka, the social value of enterprise is also mentioned. The presence of the Ente Nazionale per il Microcredito (National Microcredit Agency) wants to highlight this aspect in particular. What value do you attribute to the possibility of narrating, in a global context, the role of microcredit as a lever of inclusion and development?
The Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who was the creator and implementer of modern microcredit said that “Normally countries run like a train with a locomotive pulling the convoy. Microcredit, on the other hand, makes each individual carriage stand on its own. If you detach it from the locomotive, it can continue to travel on its own, because every human being is a creative engine’. And this allows us to have an effective tool to fight social exclusion and to activate economic and social development processes that take individuals, families, and entrepreneurial activities out of the subsistence economy and make them become conscious and responsible actors embedded in dynamic and open economies.

An equitable and sustainable socio-economic development passes through what many call ‘Peace through Development’. In light of your role and commitment in international cooperation, do you think that microcredit could become a lever of our foreign policy in favour of economic and inclusive growth within partner countries?
The microcredit instrument plays a key role and we as a government want to enhance it more and more. It is particularly suited to relaunching growth starting from the territories, enhancing small business activities, perhaps family businesses. Through cooperation and development we are carrying out many interventions especially in the African continent. This too is peace diplomacy, because where goods circulate there is growth and prosperity and not arms. And then I think it is urgent to settle the contradiction between a world that is growing and developing and the increase in imbalances and poverty through adequate, concrete and new types of instruments. And microcredit is one of them.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of our economy. What measures is MAECI putting in place to support this type of enterprise in foreign markets and how, in your opinion, could we intervene, especially in the younger or less structured entrepreneurial realities?
Since I took office at the Farnesina, supporting the international paths of micro and small enterprises has been a priority on my agenda. Together with Simest, we have deepened and innovated the instruments of financial support for internationalisation, introducing dedicated subsidised finance products: from contributions for investments in digital and ecological transition, to the hiring of temporary export managers who can accompany companies entering international markets for the first time. We also wanted to extend the benefits of subsidised finance to companies in the supply chain that are not yet exporting. With an eye instead on younger and more dynamic entrepreneurial realities, we support the internationalisation of start-ups. That is, of those new and young innovative companies with high growth potential, and forges of frontier technologies. Recent studies (Assolombarda and InnovUp) show that in the 2012-2023 period a quarter of all new jobs were created by innovative start-ups and SMEs. And these are generally jobs characterised by high professionalism and high added value, given that these very types of companies are mainly dedicated to cutting-edge technologies, often experimental, often the result of spin-offs and academic research. But given the still very weak structure of this type of enterprise, MAECI and Agenzia-ICE have equipped themselves to provide a tailor-made form of assistance, with acceleration programmes abroad and participation in international technology fairs (where young entrepreneurs-innovators are brought into contact with large companies or specialised investors such as venture capital funds in Italy’s pavilions).