She is the founder and CEO of piano C srl, a start-up that champions the cause for more female inclusion in business, but is operating in one of Europe’s most damaged economies, still rattled by the financial crisis, and often unwilling to adjust to gender stereotypes.
Scores of women remain unable to find work in Italy, a country that has just 55.6 per cent of its working age population in jobs, way below the Eurozone average of 63.8 per cent. Italy’s economic growth today is 9 per cent (quarterly data) below the peak it reached before the financial crisis rocked Europe in 2008.
Yet it has some of the best MBA programs in Europe. MIP Politecnico Di Milano and SDA Bocconi are held in high regard. Riccarda earned an EMBA at the former ten years ago – and it is still helping her today.
At the start of the economic crisis, she was Head of Europe, Corporate Community Investment at communications giant Nokia. By 2009, she was working at Banca Prossima.
But today, she runs a start-up in Milan which consults corporate players on gender equality initiatives, and which provides a co-working space for women.
Female business leaders may cite a difficult work-life balance and a lack of flexibility with child-care as reasons for not venturing into entrepreneurship. It is often safer to stay on the corporate-track and perhaps that explains why a few years ago, women controlled or owned just 24 per cent of the total number of companies in Italy.
Riccarda is turning that stereotype on its head. When she wrote her business plan for piano C srl, she had just given birth to her second child. “It’s not impossible; I find time to be with my children,” she says.
“There is a strong stereotype about this and it’s a problem that women have. We don’t see women start-up-ers so it’s difficult to imagine that you can do it.”
With all the economic strife in Italy, gender equality is just not at the top of the agenda, she says. “This isn’t just my thinking – it is based on data. In Italy only five percent of decision making positions are kept by women, a really low number,” Riccarda says.
“So there is a problem of women getting into the position of power and that cascades down through businesses. The real problem is that many women drop out [of careers] and that is a major loss for the economy.”
Social impact is a hot topic at business schools today, but it would be wrong to categorize her company as such. It is much more than that. Riccarda consults companies and shows them how to better utilize women as a workforce, but piano C srl is more than that, too.
It is a home to the women of Milan, a co-working space which enables people to surround themselves with like-minded individuals – “some males too” – and which also provides a co-working (or play) space for children.
Just ask one of the architects, lawyers or entrepreneurs that flock to the association’s 300sq ft facilities on the south east side of the city.
Riccarda describes it as a pilot-project. She earns no income and the revenues are too low to describe the co-working space as a business, she says. But that doesn’t deter her from her goal: to change the way we work, and to see Italy’s economy returned to its former self through placing more women in business.
Others seem to buy into the idea too; piano C srl was awarded Best Innovation Project in Europe by the European Investment Bank last year. “Because my last job was in a bank dedicated to social companies, I had already seen the co-working reality,” Riccarda says.
“I’m keen to change the way we work to Smart Working; working based on results and flexibility. And a co-working space sells that.”
She admits the economic situation hasn’t improved much in Italy, but saw it as an opportunity to improve the job prospects of women in business – and other professions. “There has been a lot of room for innovation in the last 20 years, but right now it’s a nightmare in Italy,” she says.
“We meet hundreds of women who struggle to improve in the work place. I work with corporations that are more stable, but there is much less money than before, which on one hand is good, because there was a lack of attention on our economic problems before the crisis.
“In Italy and in Europe more generally, the economic scenario is tough. However, there are a lot of young entrepreneurs wishing to open their own start-ups and if you want to pursue your dream, you have to be optimistic.”
Arguably her biggest challenge was finding the right partners and finding enough funding to launch the consultancy and association. “We started with much lower [capital] than what was needed. But then we got a good reputation very quickly, and we are optimistic, even though it is challenging,” she says.
But she hopes that as the economy gets back on track, job prospects for women in Italy will also improve. “Or else I wouldn’t be an entrepreneur,” Riccarda says. “When you propose something new it is hard, but I believe a good portion of this country will come out stronger.”
Beginning one of the leading MBA programs in the region is one way to improve females’ job prospects. Although spending thousands on more education can be a difficult decision to make. Riccarda began her EMBA at MIP with half the tuition paid for by Microsoft.
She studied part-time in Milan while working as a communications and corporate PR manager. Back then in 2003, she wasn’t really interested in entrepreneurship, she says. “I wanted to change my competencies and get more insight into business management,” Riccarda explains.
“It helped me a lot. I couldn’t do this [run a start-up] if I didn’t have any idea of how the business plan works; how the numbers work; the business concepts. It gave me the self-confidence to do all this. I’m very grateful to MIP and I am glad I did it.”
If only self-confidence was all MBAs needed to achieve start-up success. Riccarda’s dream is to see more women in corporate businesses and to see Italy’s economy prosper. And through piano C srl she is inspiring a community of women in Milan to further their careers.
The road may be long and arduous, but through entrepreneurship Riccarda is slowly climbing the corporate ladder – in a different way.
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