Imperial employees help new businesses

A group of Imperial Tobacco’s Italian employees have spent two weeks of their annual leave helping entrepreneurs in Senegal to prosper.

Volunteers went to the West African nation’s former capital, Saint-Louis, to support local people setting up their own small businesses.

They showed locals how to secure micro-finance loans, make the most of technology and create strong business plans and effective marketing strategies.

Imperial’s Italian subsidiary donated laptops and mobile devices to help those taking part in the business startup scheme run their future enterprises.

“It was a fantastic opportunity to use our business skills in a very different environment,” said Alessandro Bosco, HR executive, Italy, and one of the five volunteers.

“We’re proud to have given up our vacation time to take part in this worthwhile project, making a real difference to people trying to succeed.”

Imperial Tobacco Italia hopes to provide the Project Abroad scheme with computers to run IT support courses locally.