on 16 Jun 2023
Azimut Benetti Group has launched a new Corporate Academy -- a business school designed to train yacht industry professionals.
The firm says the new Corporate Academy will help support the professional growth of its employees and create the roles most in demand in order to generate new jobs.
The maritime sector contributed over €5 billion (US$5.47 billion) to the Italian GDP in 2021, up 31.4 per cent on 2020. Azimut Benetti wants to boost this trend through professional development
The news comes shortly after Ferretti Group also revealed its new professional training course for young boatbuilders aged 18-30.
The Azimut Benetti Group says its new Corporate Academy is ‘bringing a holistic approach to training and a teaching model that embraces technical know-how and handcrafting expertise, managerial development in addition to education and guidance projects set up in partnership with vocational training agencies, secondary education institutes and universities.’
The training is structured in four action areas: the Shipyard Academy and the Executive Academy, which provide upskilling, reskilling and executive education for Group employees, the Development & Career Path, split into multiple internal growth paths; and the Education and Guidance Projects for students. Underlying all this is an awareness of the opportunities offered today by the yacht industry and of the role the company plays in this strategic segment for Italy, says Azimut Benetti Group chief executive Marco Valle.
“We are at the forefront of a growing industry in which Italy leads the world rankings, and that is always looking for specialists to recruit,” says Valle. “Our group employs some of the world’s top professionals, and our network of partners and suppliers is second to none, making it both a responsibility and a privilege to share this heritage in order to create new opportunities for people inside and outside the yard.”
According to La Nautica in Cifre (Yachting Facts and Figures), the study published by Italian yacht industry trade body Confindustria Nautica in September 2022, the sector contributed over €5 billion to the Italian GDP in 2021, up 31.4 per cent on 2020. Total employees rose 9.7 per cent, with a peak of 14.7 per cent in new builds.
The shipyard area is also the focus of the Shipyard Academy, which has been set up in partnership with Turin-based training organisation Fondazione Casa di Carità Arti e Mestieri di Torino as part of the Innovative and Sustainable Integrated Mobility Academy promoted by Regione Piemonte and launched officially on June 5, 2023. The courses – over 18,000 hours of training – will promote a culture of continuous improvement, valuing and strengthening the skills required by the company in order to train highly specialised professionals in the techniques of bodywork production, carpentry, outfitting, and mechanical and hydraulic assembly.
“The Shipyard Academy has been created to focus on ‘homo faber’ and the ability to create and build, celebrating both the craftsmanship that is an integral part of the production process and the great professionalism of our workforce, which has always been one of the company’s distinctive features,” says Santi Carlino, Azimut Benetti Group chief people & ICT officer.
Also beginning this summer are the courses offered by the Executive Academy, designed to ensure the supervision, spread and development of the group’s business culture by promoting the values of talent and professionalism. Receiving a total of more than 28,000 hours of training, Azimut Benetti Group managers will take part in leadership development programmes designed to strengthen their skills in the areas of communication and listening, people management and decision-making. The training path will also include classes that focus on specific requirements, such as the customer experience in the luxury industry.
Carlino adds: “The Executive Academy offers our managers specific training activities identified by needs analysis processes as essential to achieve our strategic change management and organisational development objectives. The programme aims to boost the skills needed to excel in business”.
The Azimut Benetti Group Corporate Academy is an extension of the ongoing vocational education project launched by the company to attract young people to the yacht industry.
For a number of years, the group has been working with professional schools to train specialists in the areas of carpentry, outfitting and bodywork, with secondary education institutes to implement skill adaptation strategies aimed at developing mechanical and naval study plans for training naval operators, with the maritime technical college to train young captains and crew, and with higher education institutes on activities ranging from the development of new technologies to induction and co-teaching.
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