WUSME promotes SME Resilience and Sustainability at Climate Week NYC

WUSME took part in the 2024 edition of the New York Climate Week (Climate Week NYC), on the sidelines of UNGA79 (79th session of the United Nations General Assembly), contributing to an event organized on September 26 by the Permanent Representation of Italy to the UN and Generali Group, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), entitled “Sustainability Champions: Strengthening SMEs for a Climate-resilient Tomorrow”
The event was opened by the Permanent Representative of Italy to the UN Amb. Maurizio Massari, in the presence, among others, of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Eritrea Osman Saleh Mohammed and the Minister of the Environment of Burkina Faso Roger Baro. Also present at the round table financial institutions, SME organizations such as WUSME and several companies members of the UN Global Compact.
The event brought together the perspectives of experts, industry leaders and policy makers in a collaborative forum to highlight innovative and practical strategies to foster resilience and concrete solutions crucial for global supply chains and SMEs worldwide in the context of increasing climate risks. The focus was on the intersection of sustainability, entrepreneurship and resilience through knowledge exchange, discussing concrete initiatives for a resilient future that allows everyone to better manage the effects of climate change.

The World Union of SMEs was represented by Ms. Annie Borello Fiorilla di Santa Croce, WUSME Permanent Representative to the United Nations UNHQ in New York, who shared perspectives and considerations also resulting from the findings gathered in activities carried out at the latest COP editions.

During her speech, the WUSME Representative highlighted, among other things, that:
”Small and Medium Enterprises constitute approximately 90% of all businesses (that numbers 400million) and more than 50% of the employment force worldwide.
They account for approximately 64% of the new jobs created every year, and it can be said that they affect directly and indirectly nearly the entire population of the planet.
SMEs are flexible, creative, react quickly and innovative, but lack access to funding and resources to expand their models and implement sustainability solutions. They operate with very slim margins and they are particularly vulnerable to economic downturns and unforeseen events. Their budget constraints compel them to prioritize cash flow for monthly survival over the allocation of funds for sustainability in the medium and long term, even though they feel pressure from the government, investors, customers and employees in this regard. Large corporations, instead, have access to funding, skills and network of resources, which they could share and use to help SMEs, starting with those that are part of their global value chains. Access to the network and resources of large companies could work as a multiplier for the success of SMEs, and, on the other hand, the creativity and agility of adaptation of SMEs could offer large companies new solutions to increase their competitiveness. Collaboration between large conglomerates and SMEs can be key to resolve the sustainability dilemma, with the help of tailored governmental programs and flexible regulations. Because SMEs are an essential component of the economic ecosystem comprised also of large corporations, their failure or success will eventually translate into the failure or success of the economic model.
Only through concerted plans involving the collaboration of large corporations, SMEs and governmental and not for profit organizations, we can create a healthy, dynamic and creative ecosystem, sustainable for the future of human society.”