Internationals, Elena Goitini (Bnl): “When we have sold out even for women’s tickets we will have reached parity”

ROME – Elena Goitini he is managing director of Bnl and responsible for Bnp Paribas for Italy. Born in 1969, Milanese with Bocconi training, he is the title sponsor of the Internazionali d’Italia. Sponsor who has just renewed the partnership. And, somehow, she found herself the only woman in a world with a large male majority. Here are her impressions of the tournament.

Dr. Goitini, let’s make a premise: are you passionate about sports?

“I’m very sporty, yes. I find in sport those values ​​that I attach importance to, which are also useful for my emotional well-being. Today I am a runner, but yesterday I was a tennis player who moved on to padel, which requires less technical virtuosity and then has another, fundamental factor, which is decisive for me: it is played in four and it is a sport that clears mixed , men and women together”.

Well, gender equality.

“I think society in general needs a rethink of leadership style, and a kind leadership style should not be confused with ineffective leadership. You can be kind and at the same time determined and assertive. Kindness has to do with a value profile that doesn’t have a gender. For this reason, in tennis, we have embarked on a road, the gender gap, which will lead us between now and 2025 to equalize the prizes between players and players. Something concrete and that we like. As far as Bnl is concerned, let’s say that we are already working on the nursery, to fill this gap”.

But then there are people who turn up their noses if they have to choose between a men’s and women’s match.

“Well, you immediately notice a different kind of game, but that goes for all sports. And in fact if I think about the tickets they ask us for, we are sold out for the men’s semi-finals and not for the women’s final. When we have sold out for both, the ‘mission’ will be concluded”.

You inherited the partnership with Fitp. But what do you personally think?

“The Bnp Paribas group is celebrating 50 years of marriage with tennis this year. In Italy, in addition to tennis, we are also focusing on padel and therefore we see the possibility of hooking up a combination in sponsorship with potential and important returns on investment. For this, as a group, we have common initiatives. One above all, the Young talent: support for promising young people with scholarships. Worldwide initiative, regardless of geographical borders”.

How do you think this edition of the Foro Italico?

“The international tennis players talk about that Italy that we like very much, an Italy strongly rooted in the territory. The internationals are Rome, but it is a Rome that opens up beyond the national border, speaking to the whole world and does so with that mix of method and discipline that allows creativity to become something that I really like”.

Last thing: one thing you would like most of all?

“I refer to the Young talent project: we would like to be good at not only identifying a start-up that becomes a unicorn, but also identifying a talent, perhaps Italian, who we will then go to reward at the Centrale in a few years. Here, I would like to take a picture, a film with him/her. Yes”.