Employment & Social Inclusion 
Entrepreneurship
Sustainable Growth 2 December 2019, 9h30 – 15h30
Palazzo Lombardia – Belvedere room (39th floor)
Piazza Città di Lombardia 1 - Milan (Italy)
The European Commission's Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) aims at supporting the EU's objective of high-level employment, adequate social protection, fighting against social exclusion and poverty and improving working conditions.
This is quite close to the objective that tens of thousands of social cooperatives pursue in Italy. In order to achieve those goals, social cooperatives need adequate financing that considers their cooperative model but also their social mission. Various financial institutions and instruments supporting the establishment and development of social cooperative have been developed by Italian cooperative organisations. But supplementing those instruments by the EU ones can only bring this objective closer.
In this spirit, the microfinance and social entrepreneurship axis of the EaSI programme provides support to financial intermediaries that provide finance to social enterprises. The microfinance and social entrepreneurship support are currently being implemented through the EaSI Guarantee, which enables financial intermediaries to reach out to (potential) enterprises that would not have been able to gain finance otherwise due to risk considerations. It is also being implemented through the “EaSI Capacity Building Investments Window” to reinforce the capacity of financial intermediaries in the areas of microfinance and social finance through equity investments mostly.
The European Commission has selected the European Investment Fund to implement the EaSI Guarantee and the EaSI Capacity Building Investments Window.
The workshop co-organised by CECOP, the European Confederation of Cooperatives in Industry and Services and CFI – Cooperazione Finanza Impresa, aims to look at the possibilities offered by EU instruments for social cooperatives financing. It will be an occasion to learn from the European Investment Fund what concrete possibilities are provided and from the experience of financial intermediaries currently operating under the EaSI Guarantee Instrument: Cooperfidi and CFI. The afternoon session will look at the complementarity between regional and EU funds in the presence of different actors from the Lombardy region.
(Interpretation provided in Italian and English)
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PROGRAMME
9h30: Welcome address by Alessandro Mattinzoli, Region Councillor for Economic Development of the Lombardy Region
9h40: introduction by Giuseppe Guerini, President of CECOP and Mauro Frangi, president of CFI
10h – 13h Session 1: increasing the access to finance for social cooperatives through EU instruments
Dana Verbal – Policy Officer, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission: current and future EU possibilities for social enterprises funding
Simone Uccheddu - Investment Manager for Inclusive finance programs, European Investment Fund: EaSI Guarantee and the EaSI Capacity Building instruments
Presentation of financial intermediaries currently operating under the EaSI Guarantee Instrument: Ferruccio Vannucci – Director of Cooperfidi Italia and Mauro Frangi - President of CFI.
Francesco Abbà – President of CGM Finance: Which EU instruments are needed to expand the outreach to social cooperatives
Q&A
13h: Lunch Break
14h – 15h30 Session 2: complementarity between regional and EU funds
Federica Marzuoli - Coordination Community programming and Management of Development and Cohesion Funding, General Direction of the Presidency of Lombardy Region
Paolo Zaggia – Director of financial products, Finlombarda
Giovanni Carrara - President of Consorzio Farsi Prossimo
Felice Romeo - Alliance of Italian Cooperatives - Welfare Lombardy
Q&A
Conclusions by Giuseppe Guerini, President of CECOP
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This event has received financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation "EaSI" (2014-2020). For further information please consult:
