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Getting Students Involved in Sustainable Capitalism

, by Davide Ripamonti
An event celebrating the tenth anniversary of the project Give a Sense to Profit will be held on 2 March. Attendees will include alumni Cristina Scocchia (Kiko) and Gabriele Eminente (Doctors Without Borders)

Working on a project you believe in and seeing your efforts making a positive and tangible impact on society. Give a Sense to Profit was founded in 2001 based on this idea, an initiative by the Center for Research on Health and Social Care Management (CERGAS) at the SDA Bocconi School of Management. It aims to encourage students in social enterprise management, help them develop on-the-field skills to achieve economic and social objectives, and establish exchange relationships with social enterprises and for-profit firms committed to social issues.

At 5:30pm on Tuesday 2 March, Give a Sense to Profit will announce the winners of the 2020 edition and present the 2021 edition, the project's tenth anniversary. The event will be attended by the Rector Gianmario Verona, the Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, Catherine De Vries, the Head of the Department of Social and Political Sciences, Andrea Colli, as well as Giorgio Fiorentini and Giuliana Baldassarre, coordinators of Give a Sense to Profit, alumni Cristina Scocchia, Managing Director of Kiko, and Gabriele Eminente, General Director of Doctors Without Borders, and a Bcconi student, Chiara Castorina.

"In recent years, about 300 projects have been completed with the involvement of 550 students selected out of 1,300 applications," explains Giorgio Fiorentini. "These have been at non-profit but also for-profit companies, as long as their objectives include carrying out social or environmental activities. Those financing these companies today want indicators to measure the results achieved, they no longer do so only with philanthropic purposes for their own sake." This initiative is therefore is part of a very relevant discourse today: sustainable capitalism.

"Companies present their ESG projects and we select the students," continues Fiorentini. "Students then present reports of their work that are evaluated by a panel of judges and the best projects will be awarded. In the 2021 edition there are 22 on-the-field projects, 5 of which are in English. The selection process took place online, with individual interviews that allowed us to complete a very in-depth assessment of the various candidates."

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