SME EnterPRIZE – Backstage from Austria

By Gregor Pilgram, CEO Generali Austria

The importance of sustainability is increasing day by day – not only for society as a whole and the economy but also for the financial sector in particular. Therefore, Generali Austria highly appreciated SME EnterPRIZE, the Group initiative to bring this topic to those companies which are not only the bedrock of the European economy but also a target group of Generali – small and medium-sized companies.

Generali Austria was among the business units of the seven countries involved, which were invited to introduce SME EnterPRIZE to the public. Although the idea was already born at an earlier stage, its start was moved to 2021 due to the Corona-crisis.

Thanks to the outstanding preparation at GHO-level the Generali Austria SME EnterPRIZE team, led by sales and involving marketing and communication, managed to conclude the project in time. The regular bilateral meetings with the team in Milan and the Group SME EnterPRIZE community were helpful means of communication and exchange of best practices.

In the first run, Generali Austria decided to focus on existing SME-clients to participate in the SME EnterPRIZE competition. After the definition of internal processes a communication campaign was launched, a website created, a questionnaire prepared, the members of the jury selected, prizes chosen, the right place and time for the jury meeting as well as the local award ceremony picked out and much more. Starting SME EnterPRIZE from scratch was quite a challenge.

One of the highlights of SME EnterPRIZE was the jury meeting in Vienna. Top-class academic sustainability experts, the Austrian Council for Sustainable Development, founders and members of the board of ecologically sustainable companies and start-ups as well as of the Austrian chamber of commerce discussed the applications. They valued their impact on society and on the environment in depth. Beside that the local award ceremony in Tirol within the Generali Open Kitzbühel, the biggest tennis tournament in Austria, and the final event in Brussels with high emotions of the winners will also be kept in good memory.

All our efforts taken have resulted in Generali SME EnterPRIZE becoming a success story in Austria.

With our lessons learned, Generali Austria is looking forward to rolling out SME EnterPRIZE 2022 at the beginning of next year. Sustainability is anchored in Generali’s DNA and with SME EnterPRIZE we are able to make that visible.