Social Impact Program with Fondazione Umberto Veronesi.
Academic year 2022/23
On July 2022, first-year students of the MS in Management were invited to apply to a newly launched consultancy project: the Social Impact Program. The duration of the project was scheduled from end of July until beginning of October, meetings were meant to be held online and, most importantly, students could positively contribute to a NPO’s corporate strategy through this student-run consulting initiative. Initially there were eight open positions but, thanks to a high interest, the final number of “student consultants” added up to 15.
As the program officially kicked off, students – together with their university supervisor, Prof. Rossella Gambetti – had the chance to get to know the partnering organization Fondazione Umberto Veronesi. During the briefing Giuditta Gandus (Former Head of Communication, Fondazione Veronesi) and Anna Guatri (Head of CSR Fondazione Veronesi) gave students an overview of the foundation, its mission and illustrated a brief covering the important issue to resolve regarding society’s anchored ignorance towards testicular and prostatic cancer.
To address the issue presented in the brief, students started to think about how to approach the topic in order to deliver a proper communication strategy promoting consciousness about the risks of cancers and the importance of preventive screening. Fondazione Umberto Veronesi’s goal was to effectively reach and inform a certain group (i.e. men aged 45 and above) through a newly proposed campaign. In order to fully understand why men do not consult medical practitioners about their health, students decided to develop a survey asking men in the target group to indicate their reasons. This step was very helpful to narrow down their research on successful campaigns and how they wanted to proceed. In the follow-up call with Fondazione Umberto Veronesi, students presented their findings and received feedback about what their contacts expected from the final report. Following this call to action, they split in smaller groups to dig deeper and to search for insights about communication in Italy, communicative opportunities in healthcare and how to express sensitive topics through humour. Additionally, they let their creativity work: they designed and presented some precise ideas on how Fondazione Umberto Veronesi could convey relevant information through short-videos and Instagram stories together with adequate partners.
Both parties – Fondazione Umberto Veronesi and the MS in Management students – were very happy with the recommendations, engagement and collaboration. Actually, the foundation was so impressed by their work that it offered two stage opportunities in the aftermath of this Social Impact Program. @FUV thank you for the great opportunity!
Consulting for social impact program
The aim of the consulting project for AISM-FISM
The students involved in the consulting for non-profit project contributed to the process aimed at developing the new multi-years strategic plan of AISM and FISM.
The specific contribution of students to the development of the new strategic plan was based on:
- identifying the impact of main macro-trends on AISM/FISM (i.e., digital transformation, ecological transition, sustainable development goals and Piano Nazionale di Rilancio e Resilienza) for the following strategic plan;
- analysing the current value chain of AISM/FISM and identifying the main strategic assets useful to face the new scenario;
- designing a strategy for new potential commercial/hybrid activities that support AISM/FISM in a diversification of offered services and revenues streams for the following strategic plan (2022-2025).
The consultancy work offers unvaluable experience to enrich the students’ CV, beyond being an occasion for personal and professional development of organisational, relational, and communicational skills.