NIDI, Italian winner of the European Award for Business Promotion.

The Puglia Region wins a prestigious recognition: the Nidi, New Business Initiatives, facilitation tool has been selected by the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy as the Italian winner to compete for the European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2024 for business promotion in the “Promotion of entrepreneurial spirit” category, which recognizes initiatives at national, regional and local level aimed at promoting an entrepreneurial mindset, especially among young people and women.

Nidi is a facilitation tool that supports the self-employment of people who have difficulty accessing the world of work, such as young people, women, the unemployed, workers about to lose their jobs, precarious workers and self-employed workers with VAT numbers. However, they all have in common the characteristic of having a good business idea.

This important measure has passed the first national selection phase and will be able to compete, at European level, for the selection of the Enterprise Promotion Awards, which will be announced at an awards ceremony in Budapest during the European SME Week , in November 2024 by a high-profile jury.

The European Enterprise Promotion Awards, promoted by the European Commission, aim to recognise the most effective initiatives for the promotion of enterprise and entrepreneurship in Europe, highlight best policies and practices in the field of entrepreneurship, raise awareness of the added value of responsible entrepreneurship and encourage and inspire potential entrepreneurs. Since 2006, more than 4,400 projects have participated in the awards and, together, have supported the creation of as many as 11,000 new businesses.

"We are very proud that a measure like Nidi has been selected at a national level as a tool for promoting entrepreneurship - underlined Alessandro Delli Noci , Councilor for Economic Development - because it fully reflects the spirit of the incentive. It is a great opportunity offered by the Puglia Region to all those who have difficulty accessing the world of work. Through Nidi, which over time we have tried to implement and adapt to changing times and needs, those who are currently kept on the margins of the world of work can enter it by starting their own business and realizing their entrepreneurial idea"

The Nidi measure, which has a financial endowment of 40 million euros in the period 2021-2027, supports the start-up of new entrepreneurial initiatives by people who have lost their jobs, young people and women, with non-repayable grants and repayable loans of up to 130 thousand euros.

The target recipients of the measure are: youth groups (companies entirely owned by young people), women's businesses (individual businesses or companies entirely owned by women), new businesses (groups owned at least half by individuals at a disadvantage at work); tourism businesses, owned for half by disadvantaged individuals and aimed at promoting innovative and sustainable tourism.

In addition to financial support, Nidi offers professionalizing support services. These services include coaching and support paths, strengthening vertical and horizontal skills, strategies for starting and following up businesses, and the creation of a regional network of entrepreneurs.

The first Notice of the Nidi measure was published in February 2014. Almost 10 years later, in June 2024, 8,787 applications have been submitted and 3,231 new businesses have been started. Thanks to the incentives granted for over 200 million euros, financed by the various European programmes (2007-2013, 2014-2020), the opportunity of self-employment has been given to 4,334 subjects (members of the 3,231 beneficiary businesses). The instrument is managed by Puglia Sviluppo as an intermediate and financial body.