Milan, October 1 - Dynamic and ambitious small and medium-sized enterprises are the key to the future prosperity of the global economy, contributing to create new opportunities for employment and growth in developed and developing countries, according to participants of Milan's Elite Day, the first international conference dedicated to the global network of Elite firms.

Created in 2012 in Italy, Elite is the London Stock Exchange Group's business support and capital raising program that helps international small and medium-sized firms prepare for external investment, to boost the next stage of their development and to access capital markets.

The Elite community over the past six years has grown to include over 900 companies from 32 countries.

They are generating over 64 billion euros in combined revenues and employ approximately 400,000 people worldwide.

The global network has partnerships across Europe, the US, India, China, South America and Africa, as seen in the latest agreement recently signed to launch Elite in India in 2019.

About 100 companies and partners are gathering today at Milan's Palazzo Mezzanotte to discuss future challenges, changes and opportunities for companies and the program's global prospects.

The event will be opened by the CEO of the Italian Stock Exchange, Raffaele Jerusalmi, Nobel prize laureate in economics, Michael Spence, the founder and president of the Cambridge Family Enterprise Group, John Davis, and the executive president of Eataly, Andrea Guerra.

The program's future prospects will be discussed by the partners of the Elite Global Alliance, the international network that is developing Elite worldwide.

The network includes for Saudi Arabia the General Manager of Corporate & Markets Growth Saudi Smes Authority Monsha'at, Abdulrahman Alsmail; for Brazil the Business Development Director of Idmc, Eduardo Campos; for Morocco the CEO of the Casablanca Stock Exchange, Karim Hajji.

The West African economic and monetary union will be represented by the General Manager of the Bourse Régionale Des Valeurs Mobilières, Kossi Felix Edoh Amenouve; the CEO of the Budapest Stock Exchange, Richard Végh, will represent Hungary; for Lebanon, the executive member of the board of the Capital Market Authority, Sami N. Saliba.

Also in attendance will be the top managers of leading companies and organizations worldwide including IBM, Illy, Swift, Esa, Vodafone, Wipro.
The CEO of Elite, Luca Peyrano, will close the event.

In collaboration with:
Elite