Malcolm and Gayle are heading to Europe early next month, in part to meet with Global Fellow Marina Mele in Milan, Italy.
The discussions with Marina and her team will centre around the possibility of formally establishing Global Leadership Foundation Italy, drawing on a specific company structure established by the Italian government in recent years.
Under an Italian law that came into effect in 2015, a ‘benefit corporation‘ became a legal entity. This form of organisation sits somewhere between a typical for-profit business and a pure social enterprise. Benefit corporations are for-profit organisations, however they also legally bind themselves, in their articles of association, to “the objective of improving the natural and social environment in which they operate, reducing or eliminating negative externalities or, better still, using practices, production processes and goods capable of producing positive externalities”.
In a sense, this business model makes corporate social responsibility (CSR) an embedded component of an organisation’s mission, given equal weight to profitablility and the provision of returns to shareholders.
Italy is the first EU country to introduce the concept of the benefit corporation, which otherwise exists only in several US states. While there is no equivalent in Australia, Global Leadership Foundation is a certified B Corporation and our vision is embedded within our company constitution, reflecting the global move that ‘for purpose’ organisations like ours are making.
Photo: Monumentale, Milano, Italy by Cristina Gottardi on Unsplash
