illimity Bank S.p.A. is on “Accelera con  Amazon”, the free-of-charge training programme for Italian SMEs promoted by Amazon and a  limited group of entities involved in supporting the transition to digital, with the aim of providing  business owners with the tools and expertise needed for anyone seeking to launch or further  develop their online activity at a national and international level. 

Leveraging on the fact that it is both a Bank and a digital company, illimity will be able to enrich the  programme with a training course focusing on banking and credit issues, in this way continuing its  progress towards supporting the growth of Italy’s entrepreneurial fabric. 

“Accelera con Amazon” provides for a series of webinars dedicated to “doing business”, available  to people enrolled in the training programme, in which top members of the Bank will be involved as  instructors. In addition, with illimity, video training pills with a specific focus will be created for the  first time as part of the project, for example on the new creditworthiness variables, digital reputation  and sustainability. The contents of the training course are characterised by their simple and  immediate language to ensure maximum usability by a wide audience. 

illimity will also give ample space to listening to businessmen’s needs by promoting surveys  designed to identify their training requirements. 

The first Virtual Academy is planned to take place on 18 November with registration possible  through the following LINK. 

The programme responds to a real need in Italy’s entrepreneurial fabric: only a third of SMEs are  digitalised and only one in seven (of those with more than 10 employees) has a significant online  presence (1). In addition, Italy is ranked 25th out of the 28 Member States of the European Union in the 2020 edition of the DESI Digital Economy and Society Index. 

Carlo Panella, Head of Direct Banking in illimity, commented: “For illimity, this initiative consolidates the collaboration with Amazon that began in 2019 and represents an important  opportunity for fostering financial education in the country’s SMEs by putting its expertise in the  credit and digital fields at their disposal. In this respect we believe that the drive towards the  digitalisation and internationalisation of businesses also passes by way of an extended knowledge  of the tools available and a greater awareness of their potential. We are proud to be the first banking  partner of “Amazon Accelerate”, because we strongly believe in the spirit of the project and its  efficacy as an outreach model”. 

(1) Source: Netcomm B2C eCommerce Observatory – School of Management of Milan Polytechnic, 2020

illimity Bank S.p.A., Sede Legale Via Soperga 9, 20124 Milano, Italia - www.illimity.com 

“Customers’ purchasing habits are changing. And these changes mean opportunities. Each day we  innovate to help small and medium-sized companies develop their business to become more  competitive in the local and global markets, and the aim of Amazon Accelerate is to provide specific  training to support the road to digitalisation”, commented Xavier Flamand, VP, EU Seller Services  in Amazon. “The Italian SMEs that sell on Amazon generated more that 600 million euro of foreign  sales in 2020: a figure that confirms that this is the right way of supporting the growth of their  business.”