Dorso Award to Emanuele Grimaldi, an example of glocal excellence

“I must admit that during my career as a shipowner and entrepreneur I have received numerous accolades, but being granted this honour, awarded to personalities who have contributed to supporting the need for progress and development in Southern Italy, makes me particularly proud.” This was Emanuele Grimaldi’s first comment upon receiving the Dorso Award on 5 October in Rome, in the Sala Zuccari of Palazzo Giustiniani, in the presence of the Italian Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano.

Since 1970, this initiative – sponsored by the Italian Senate, the Italian Research Council and the University of Naples "Federico II" – has given prominence to young scholars from Southern Italy as well as to personalities from the institutional, economic, scientific and cultural worlds whose activities have contributed to support the development and progress of this part of the country.

The history of the Grimaldi Group is inextricably linked to the city of Naples, where it has always kept its headquarters – the centre of activities linked to the world of shipping and logistics which today spread across 5 continents.

So is that of the Grimaldi family, as explained by the organizers of the Dorso Award: “The Grimaldis represent a case of family capitalism which, over the generations, has endeavoured to combine ethics and entrepreneurial value. This is Neapolitan excellence with its heart and mind firmly anchored in the Campania capital. A key man in the development of the Group is its CEO Emanuele Grimaldi, the first Italian Chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), founded in 1921. He is also a former President of Confitarma, the main association of Italian shipowners, and of ECSA, the European Community Shipowners' Associations. He has received numerous awards, including the ‘Knight for the Sea’, established by the environmental association Marevivo. He is not only an entrepreneur, but also someone who is attentive to social issues through the Grimaldi Foundation, of which he is President and Director."

Emanuele Grimaldi is a symbol of Neapolitan excellence that goes beyond the borders of Southern Italy without ever leaving it. His ties with the city of Naples are well represented in a statement he made a few years ago, which still holds true today: “I’ve never thought about leaving. I can offer work, I can give hope to people. It's a joy for me. I continue to love my city, I would never want to abandon it."