Christian entrepreneurship for fair and sustainable development.

How Christian entrepreneurship can concretely express and promote a new paradigm of inclusive and solidarity-based growth.

A warm greeting and welcome to everyone. It is a great pleasure to see so many friendly faces

  • The title of this meeting is ambitious: the diction States General, as the Accademia della Crusca tells us, evokes pre-revolutionary France where les Etas Générauxeranoan assembly that periodically brought together representatives of the three social orders into which the French population was divided: clergy, nobility and the third state. The latter, with some stretch, could be identified with the productive bourgeoisie and thus with today’s entrepreneurs.
  • The title specifies that this is the States General to Christian Entrepreneurship so it would seem to be about an assembly of only “Christian entrepreneurs,” but in fact this is not the case because other stakeholders are present on the topic of today’s meeting. In fact, representatives from the church, academia and the so-called. Third Sector. The goal being to gather broad contributions of thought and action.
  • But what exactly is the theme of this meeting?
  • It is the in-depth reflection on how Christian entrepreneurship concretely expresses and further can/should express its role in today’s context in order to facilitate the affirmation of a new model of development: equitable, supportive, inclusive and integrally sustainable according to the dictates of the Social Doctrine of the Church (SDC) and in particular the Magisterium of Pope Francis which is today’s SDC. Then highlight through concrete testimonies the progress made and the steps still to be taken on this not easy path.
  • Today’s world is characterized by multiple crises: environmental, social, demographic, humanitarian; by widespread wars and by two epochal transitions: the digital one and the one towards integral sustainability that greatly impact the way of doing business: objectives, production methods, organization, personnel management, governance everything is being questioned.
  • In this uncertain and complex context, the role of the entrepreneur becomes increasingly difficult and at the same time increasingly strategic because businesses are the main engine of development and innovation.
  • The SDC tells us that the good entrepreneur is the one who knows how to care for people and the environment, who knows how to achieve efficiency and solidarity together, who has the ability to express the values of the SDC (respect for human dignity, solidarity, justice, subsidiarity, integral sustainability) in concrete actions with a sense of responsibility.
  • Pope Francis in May 2015 in Laudato sì spoke of integral ecology and called upon the wavering member countries of the United Nations to urgently endorse Agenda 2030 as was later done on September 25, 2015 by 193 countries.
  • Pope Francis constantly points to the need for a process of regeneration toward a new model of development and reminds us that this process requires a change in everyone’s lifestyles, in the management of public affairs, in the strategic objectives of businesses, and in the educational methods and content of universities in particular.
  • These are the issues we want to deal with.
  • Today there is a lot of talk about ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) criteria that are emerging on the back of regulatory push. Many entrepreneurs express misgivings about such criteria claiming that they are too intrusive, Christian ones complain that they do not achieve integral sustainability.
  • True, the ESGs do not fully reflect integral sustainability, because this, according to the SDC, is something broader: it concerns the pursuit of widespread and shared human, environmental, economic and social well-being and a future quality of life that is not inferior to the present in a context of good coexistence, respect for people, animals and things, and peace. Integral sustainability is a tension to the custody and care of all creation. This broad vision, this shift in meaning, is not yet emerging but the growing adoption of ESG criteria is nonetheless a first step that could herald the start of a concrete path of shared growth, [of a viable social utopia]. There is a big difference between doing nothing and starting on a path that nonetheless goes in the direction of sustainability.
  • Christian entrepreneurs are precisely the ones who can adopt ESG criteria with the sense of responsibility and values activation that characterizes them, avoiding greenwashing and socialwashing, and making their adoption the beginning of a fruitful path of attention to humanity and the social and care for the environment in implementation of the recommendations of the Encyclicals Laudato si’ and Fratelli tutti and the Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, with a particular tension to respect human dignity (I am thinking of the recent Dignitas Infinita Declaration about Human Dignity of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith),
  • All this requires the adoption of new business strategies, a new governance model capable of expressing broad and long-term goals by reconciling the production of a just profit with solidarity, equity and inclusion, and a new style of leadership. The business model cannot be changed unless the dominant figure of the leader is changed from the hitherto prevailing one of an essentially authoritarian and centralizing type (the man alone in command) to one capable of inclusion, of valuing diversity, of developing networks within and outside the enterprise, open to teamwork, with a long-term vision.
  • Enterprises capable of combining efficiency and solidarity, competitiveness and responsibility do exist and achieve positive results appreciated by investors, as the second Nativia Report shows.
  • It would be useful to take a census of how many Christian enterprises have become Benefit Societies and/or enterprises that operate according to circular economy modalities, or, again, enterprises guided by integral ecology, how many have changed their strategic plans setting themselves the goal of producing income with a positive impact on the environment and all stakeholders, how many have adopted reporting metrics even of non-financial results. In this regard, I would like to remind you that the EU legislation concerning the Reporting of Non-financial Activity from 2026 will also apply to SMEs.
  • Another important theme in this context of change is the innovative capacity of businesses, which is expressed in many ways and must, according to the dictates of the SDC, not only create value for businesses but also decent and justly remunerated work, (avoid proposing poor work) and well-being for communities (important is the pedagogical function of businesses, which must be able to convey to communities the progress achieved). Innovate not just for the entrepreneur’s gain but innovate to bear fruit for all.
  • The digital transition, and in particular the use of generative Artificial Intelligence, has very significant impacts for the business world in terms of competitiveness, organization, personnel management, relevant related ethical issues including the effect on jobs,
  • The world of work is changing, more and more people, especially young people, no longer see work as a source of fulfillment of their lives but as a means to achieve a full life, rich in relationships, beauty, time for themselves and others. They ask companies for work that will help them build a future, and they want to work in a company that has sustainability goals. It is called the work-life balance, which is the balance between time to work and time to devote to private life and family. Pope Francis has spoken about it several times. Businesses must be able to accommodate this demand, which comes from below and is now irreversible. Unfortunately, according to some research, businesses, with a few exceptions, have fallen behind. Satisfying the growing demand for a new way of looking at work means adopting a personnel management marked by the full valorization of human resources, the recognition of the equal dignity of people in terms of gender, generational equity, equality in conditions of different abilities, support for the family and parenthood ( yesterday Pope Francis attended the Sati Generali della Natalità and mentioned the need to guarantee women a decent job and not to force them to choose between work and family), and the spread of the culture of equality in the recognition of differences. Then innovative approaches to management, remuneration, promotions, etc.
  • Governing all these changes is not easy and has costs: sustainable and digital transition are not cost-free, so it is important to think in terms of just transition having in particular care about the impact on social cohesion.
  • Change also requires, as I said, new strategies, new goals, and new leadership styles. In the wake of the SDC, it would be important to have more women in top positions and to activate cooperative competition among enterprises, advisory as well as financial support from banks, and collaboration between enterprises and universities.
  • The ‘university is the place and community where people study, research, innovate and train future high-level professionals, researchers and leaders of various sectors of society. There are three areas where the role of universities can be truly relevant as a driving center for change:
  • The theoretical and experimental study and teaching of a regenerative development model, its foundational features, functioning, etc.
  • The study and teaching of the supportive and integrally sustainable business model, the new strategic goals and their measurement, relationships with investors and markets,
  • The study and teaching of the new leadership model fundamental to the implementation of change. This requires new teaching with focus on the new characteristics a leader must have in addition to commitment: the courage to change, awareness of limits, problems and risks, curiosity to seek new paths, intellectual openness to different cultures and identities, and collaboration to create a harmonious, respectful and safe environment.

As you can see, the themes are many and of relevant interest, and we will discuss all these in the two Round Tables.
We have the honor of having high-profile speakers who will accompany us on a path of knowledge and reflection, I am sure that at the end of the conference we will have gained more awareness of what it means to change the business model and more information about the steps taken and further actions to be taken to achieve a better world for all.
It falls to me to take the high burden of introducing the key note speaker of these States General H.E. Card. Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson.
Card. Turkson, a Ghanaian, in October 1992 was appointed Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cape Coast by Saint John Paul II and consecrated in March 1993, was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Saint John Paul II in October 2003. He has held numerous prestigious positions in both Africa and the Vatican and has carried out several missions on behalf of the Holy See
Since June 2022, he has been Chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and Prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development.
He is a member of several Dicasteries of the Roman Curia. He is the author of several books and articles and has stimulated and coordinated the work of the documents Oeconomicae et Pecuniariae Questiones and Mensuram bonam.
He speaks, reads and writes in several languages: Fanti, Italian, English, French, German, Jewish, reads and writes in Latin, Greek and Spanish.
With renewed thanks I give the floor to His Eminence.