The striking imagery invoked by the name of Generali’s ‘The Human Safety Net’ (THSN) programme offers a window into the work of this global movement and its objective to support “people helping people”.
Simone Bemporad (pictured right), group chief communications & public affairs officer at Generali and deputy chairman of THSN, joined Emma Ursich (pictured left), head of group corporate identity & THSN, to reveal its next steps and how it ties into the fundamental purpose of insurance. What’s important to bear in mind, Bemporad said, is that while structurally THSN is a foundation - at its core, it is very much a transformational movement looking to foster the cultural changes necessary to create sustainability within vulnerable communities.
“It’s about unlocking people’s potential,” Ursich added. “Generali’s job every day is to help people achieve their life plans and their dreams. That’s our purpose. And The Human Safety Net tries to do the same, but for the most vulnerable. So essentially, we extend that safety net to people who would not usually have access to the services we offer. [THSN’s] mission is that of unlocking people’s potential and making it possible for them to achieve their life plan.”
From the outset, Bemporad said, THSN looked to avoid the common pitfalls faced by charitable foundations which all too often are seen as separate from the ethos, ambitions and strategic mores of the founding business. Rather, THSN was developed as an extension of Generali’s stated purpose of supporting the creation of a more sustainable future - and critical to this was having the support and input of the insurer’s team.
“We’re blessed to have our chairman, our CEO and our board absolutely bought into this,” he said. “And what we’re doing is infusing this culture bottom-up and top-down, because our people [at every level] are very happy to be a part of this. We have ambassadors, we have volunteers, we have so many roles that our colleagues can play in this venture.”
To drive progress, Generali has mobilised its people and its resources, which include financial support, time, skills, networks, assets and products - but it’s not just the internal team who have got involved. THSN has provided the bedrock for the ever-growing network of organisations collaborating to ensure the resources given are finding their way to those most in need.
Touching on the impact THSN has had in its first five years of operation, Ursich highlighted that to date the initiative has supported some 200,000 people already through two major programmes:
“The idea is that this support is transformative,” she said. “So that when you say goodbye to them at the end of the journey, ideally they’re not in the same situation as when you met them. That is really our mission. And we’re looking to reach about 1,000,000 people within the next five years – and to grow and scale the best models of what’s working for us in order to serve more people.”
The THSN offering ties into the very core of what insurance is, Bemporad said, because essentially insurance is about preventing damage, protecting people and restoring lives after something happens. It is a future-orientated proposition by its very nature, and it depends on people having something they want to protect. This ties into the goal of the initiative to ‘unlock potential’ because it’s only when people feel protected that they’re empowered to invest in their own futures and deploy their potential.
“If you’re not protected, you have to think about your own safety [first and foremost],” he said. “And so you’re not thinking about growing or doing things. And if you cannot invest, if you don’t have an environment that allows you to invest, you cannot unlock your potential because you’re left behind at the edge of society. This is how THSN [epitomises] our values because it allows our people to see them in their essence through The Human Safety Net.”
The first five years of THSN were all about laying strong foundations for the continued growth of this global movement, Ursich said. Great strides have been made in enabling people throughout the group to volunteer and in creating a platform that allows Generali’s international audience to explore the myriad of ways to get involved. Now, with a strong infrastructure and governance framework in place, the initiative is ready to scale up.
“Today, we have about 8% of our people volunteering and we aim to do more,” she said. “What we’ve tried to do all along is make sure what we design is informed by the needs of the partner, avoiding team-building for the sake of team-building… So, this volunteering is about unlocking a network of people helping people, and then we bring in our own skills to help serve them or we bring in other partners to support that work.”
THSN has helped more than 300 businesses through times of significant upheaval and difficulties, she said, and the stories that have come to light as a result have been awe-inspiring to listen to. Improving the financial resilience of recipients is just one part of the puzzle, as the support offered also enables the integration of people and families back into society, protected by the ecosystem THSN has sprung up around them.
“It’s about both the numbers and also the stories of the people,” she said. “And the third element is that these stories give you a real example of what can happen when integration is handled well and people are given the opportunity for a better life. Because it’s better for them, of course, but it’s also good for the host society because, otherwise, they would not necessarily have had the chance to work or integrate.”
As to what’s next, Bemporad highlighted how the movement’s ambition of giving purpose to the group’s commercial activities will continue to unfold. The vision is to further the impact of THSN as a venture philanthropist, he said, helping more refugees develop their potential as entrepreneurs and workers through training, upskilling or job-searching support, while also increasing the number of families it is helping.
“Our first objective is to grow the size, not for the sake of that size,” he said. “That means more involvement, more role models, multiplying alliances – it’s exponential growth we’re looking for. And we want to have even more of our people at Generali becoming part of this endeavour as volunteers. Of course, our big dream is also to grow the participation, reaching beyond employees and beneficiaries - our agents and customers.
“We have strongly believed from day one that this generosity is out there, you just need to look for it and nurture it. We have 65 million customers around the world and I believe that if we [hit] the right chords, they would love to see that their relationship with us as their provider is also based on these values. That’s the big challenge and the big objective for us in the next few years as we go about infusing more of The Human Safety Net spirit and objectives into the core of our insurance and investment business.”
You can find out more about The Human Safety Net here.
