Azienda Giusta: La Cucina Umbra becomes a partner

A big thanks to La Cucina Umbra who is joining  Azienda Giusta with a significant donation. Azienda Giusta is a Valter Baldaccini Foundation program dedicated to businesses and small and large commercial entities that are committed to guaranteeing dignity and concrete help to those most in difficulty.

“La Cucina Umbra’s membership in Azienda Giusta was a more than natural process, almost innate – Beatrice Della Longa, owner of the Foligno business entity, told us. Many entrepreneurs feel the need to contribute to the improvement of society and at the same time increase the sense of responsibility in the community where they operate. The Valter Baldaccini Foundation grants this opportunity through concrete projects”.

La Cucina Umbra has chosen to support the young mothers of Mathare

La Cucina Umbra has become Azienda Giusta’s Partner and had the opportunity to choose the project which would receive its donation.

"As a young entrepreneur of a company made up of 100% female employees - Della Longa told us - I was immediately struck by the socio-educational and job placement project A job for the young mothers of Mathare.Work is a tool for emancipation and self-determination and this Foundation project is complete and far-sighted: it starts by teaching of the most basic hygiene practices and includes psychological support and then reaches up to the manual creation of handcrafted objects. For these women it is a real path of high-quality care, leading up to autonomy".

The social project chosen by La Cucina Umbra is active in the slum of Mathare, which is in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Every year, thanks to the collaboration with Joab Omoto and the Sisters of Mathare, a group of very young mothers, mostly minors, victims of violence or forced into prostitution, are able to start a new life thanks to this project.

“Even though my company is deeply rooted in the territory, I believe that sometimes it is necessary to look towards other situations that seem very far away, but are not. They are places where we go on holiday in a few hours of flight, where we procure part of the raw materials and labor, places where, for example, it is normalized that a woman is not free to choose for herself or worse forced to make disadvantageous or degrading choices”.

The right choice of La Cucina Umbra

“I believe that each of us, based on our availability, has the responsibility to envision a better future, not only in the company, but also outside” Beatrice Della Longa replied to us when we asked her why she joined.

“Every day at work we use terms like opportunity and growth. We analyze the context in which our companies operate, we keep efficiency under strict control with a view to continuous improvement, we deploy all our leadership skills to combine increased profits with the need for management that is as sustainable as possible. I believe we can go further and talk about second chances, projects aimed at the growth of the community and those born in more disadvantaged contexts with the hope of improving their conditions more and more. Leadership means guiding, influencing, and setting a good example so that others can also do their part to help make the world more equitable and sustainable, in short, fair”.

Thanks to Beatrice Della Longa and La Cucina Umbra for this precious testimony and for joining the Azienda Giusta program.