1. Hometown: Trieste, Italy.
Resides: Trieste, Italy.
Hobby: Playing football and basketball. I teach
basketball to a children’s team and play the
guitar in a band called Experience. I also
volunteer in Africa – while it may not be a
hobby, I do it with passion.
Best song ever: ”Africa” by Toto.
Looking forward to: Working to help the
disadvantaged in the developing world
through microfinance projects. That is one
of my goals. I’m also looking forward to
becoming a father soon.
Years at Generali: 4.
C
an you describe how Generali
works with Corporate
Responsibility projects?
– Yes, first of all I want to say that CSR is
not, or not entirely, a matter of charity. While
many people think so, it is more importantly
an approach to corporate management
and an effort to implement strategies for
sustainable growth that are in line with
business interests. It applies to many
different functions of the business. For
example, in the area of product we may offer
insurance or investment opportunities with
social or environmental value; in regards
to humans resources, it might include
developing careers in a more efficient way
within an organization. Moreover, it applies
to marketing activities, to the relationships
with the financial community and the
suppliers. It is definitely a cross-functional
activity.
Is it an effort for organizations to
be portrayed as generous in the
community?
– Not exactly, CSR is the way that you do your
job. Our stakeholders include customers,
employees, investors, shareholders and
the community. They look for consistency
between what we communicate and what
we actually do. If we don’t ‘live’ CSR within
our organization to begin with, we won’t
be able to communicate it authentically.
Getting this right is a challenge and not
always easy. CSR initiatives must be seen
as an opportunity to increase business and
to decrease risk – in short, to do business
responsibly. This is what we aim to do.
Are there any traditional charity
initiatives that you participate in as
well?
– Yes, many. We have 1 400 employees
involved in volunteer initiatives in fifteen
countries. Last year, they produced more
than 13 000 hours of labour in areas such
as cleaning public spaces, assisting elderly
citizens, tutoring children, and assisting the
disabled. We recently decided to launch a
long-term project – the result of an internal
CSR contest – to help tutor disadvantaged
students and to offer healthy meals. This
initiative will launch in Spain first and later
expand to other countries. In addition, we
are involved in an effort to provide funding
to leukemia and other chronic disease
patients so that they can afford travelling for
treatment.
How did you choose to work for an
insurance company?
– I wanted to work with CSR and insurance
organizations is the right place to do this.
People put together money to negate
common risks, so this industry is in many
ways a ”social business” fundamentally.
What area in your line of work do you
appreciate the most?
– I really appreciate working for ethical invest-
ments. We have developed a responsible
investment policy which says that we
will avoid areas where human rights are
not respected. This is a controversial
and challenging area – a concrete step
towards positive change in the corporate
environment.
“It’s important to ‘live’
CSR within the organization”
Andrea Mosca works with Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, at ­Generali’s
head office in Trieste, Italy. He appreciates working for ethical ­investments and thinks
it’s important that CSR is well integrated in the entire organization.
“Our responsible
investment policy
says that we will
avoid areas where
human rights are
not respected”
ANDREA MOSCA
Corporate Social Responsibility Team, Head Office