“Lessons, examples and ideas. This is how Enter is born, the academy for new entrepreneurs”
12/01/2026
“Lessons, examples and ideas. This is how Enter is born, the academy for new entrepreneurs”
The Investors’ Club launches the project with Compagnia and CRT: “A pact to engage three thousand students over three years”
TURIN. To understand the meaning of a “system-level” initiative, we must start with the numbers: according to Unioncamere, over the past decade Italy has lost more than 153,000 companies led by under-35s. At the same time, the innovation ecosystem has shown significant potential: between 2012 and 2024 it created almost 244,000 new jobs, mobilized €47 billion and recorded annual growth of 15.5 percent.
It is in this context that, on Wednesday, the Investors’ Club, together with the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation and the CRT Foundation, launches Enter Academy. The goal is “to inspire, train and connect the next generation of Italian entrepreneurs”.
When twenty years ago I sold my company, I began to think about what would happen when other businesses, too, would face a generational transition
says Giancarlo Rocchietti, who from that moment committed himself to the Investors’ Club. The Academy project is structured around two pillars: “Enter Camp,” a four-day intensive experience, developed in partnership with local universities and aimed at their students; and “Enter Club,” the community that supports alumni with mentorship, internship opportunities, scholarships and dedicated events, with the aim of connecting participants to a network of over 100 mentors and partners, including international ones.
The initiative starts in Piedmont, thanks to collaboration with UniCredit, but the goal is to involve universities across the entire country. Leading Enter Academy will be Rocchietti himself, Barbara Graffino as managing director, Andrea Rota, Bernardo Bertoldi and Vittoria Rossi. “We are in universities and research centers searching for talent. We meet many young people rich in ingenuity and creativity, eager to take action but often convinced they lack the means or are in the wrong context to start a company,” says Rocchietti. “The mission is to inspire, educate and connect the new generation of female and male entrepreneurs in our country.”
Investing in entrepreneurial education, he argues, is “a strategic choice” because it addresses two needs: countering the decline in youth entrepreneurship—from 640,000 companies in 2014 to 486,000 at the end of 2024—and making skills and “opportunities accessible in an economy that requires innovation and initiative.”
In this scenario, Rocchietti explains, “entrepreneurial education” means developing a skill that is useful far beyond the creation of a startup: the ability to identify problems, design solutions, work in teams, manage financial resources and turn an idea into action. This is the direction indicated by major international references, from the OECD to the European Commission.
Unlike many traditional academic programs, “Enter Academy” was created precisely to bridge a historical gap in the Italian system: the one between universities and business. “In Italy, education and entrepreneurship are often two worlds that do not talk to each other,” explain the promoters, “and those who do not grow up in an entrepreneurial environment rarely come into contact with this ecosystem.” The result is that many ideas stop before they even take shape. The project’s ambition is to reduce this gap, opening the doors of entrepreneurship to students and researchers, regardless of their field of study or social background.
The model does not start from scratch. The pilot project, carried out in two editions with UniCredit, has already involved eight universities in North-West Italy (Politecnico di Torino, University of Turin, University of Eastern Piedmont, University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, University of Genoa, ESCP, IED and IAAD), more than 400 students and over 25 speakers and mentors, for a total of more than 28 hours of intensive training. The results, measured also through satisfaction indicators, convinced the promoters: the “Net Promoter Score,” the index that measures the likelihood of recommending the experience, is very high. A sign, they explain, that the format works and that the goal now is to bring it to a national scale, while maintaining a strong link with local areas and the local productive fabric.
The local ecosystem is rich in initiatives; the challenge is to bring them together. But what really makes the difference for future entrepreneurs is the opportunity we will try to offer with Enter to transform their ideas into successful companies
says Graffino. “Turin is the right city because all the necessary ingredients are here: top-level universities, entrepreneurial skills and know-how, an innovation ecosystem that intersects digital and industry, and above all a distinctive component made up of patient capital, foundations, networks and private investors who in recent years have invested significantly to grow opportunities, projects and collaborations among local players. We have found great openness from universities, but also from the business world. And for Enter Academy this is central, because the challenge is not only to ‘educate’ but above all to inspire and connect young people. The goal is to set off a wave that changes many stories and inspires the next generation of entrepreneurs. We truly need it.”