We asked Alessandro Farina, the founder of ITL Group, to tell us more about the award and the reasons behind it.

What is the Atlas Award?

The Atlas Award is a prize intended to give the public recognition to Hungary-based entrepreneurs at the service of society. I come from an Italian family with a long entrepreneurial tradition that goes back two centuries where I learned that we have to leave our footprint to inspire the generations to come.

Therefore we have to make our steps in building a better world for our employees, our kids and support the society of our time. With the Atlas Award we want to inspire entrepreneurs to be leaders driven by Ethical, Sustainable and Creative approaches. 

Who can be nominated?

All the entrepreneurs of Hungarian company that people believe they work with an ethical, creative, sustainable approach. We believe that those entrepreneurs can be an inspiration for other companies in working while shaping a better world. This is really important for us: everybody can make the difference by highlighting these positive examples.

How does it work?

The award will be handed over to those who have been judged worthy of being recognized for mastery and ethical, sustainable and creative approaches by the society itself throughout an open vote. This is why we invite everybody to read our believe and nominate their candidate. 

Applications can be submitted by everyone within the deadline (28th May 2019) by filling this form (you can endorse only one entrepreneur). 

Afterwards a qualified jury will verify the requirements and identify the winner of the year between the highest-ranking entrepreneurs nominated. The jury will contact the winner for inviting him/her to pick up personally the prize during the official award ceremony at the 8th edition of our Budapest Business Party (June 7th, Friday).

Why reward Hungarian-based entrepreneurs?

After 25 year of passionate work and devote service to our business community here in Hungary, I felt the need to spread a positive message through an Award specifically for Hungarian companies’s entrepreneurs. 

Entrepreneurs are the first people who invest their own money to set up their companies and very often they do it in an amazing way, without receiving so much attention but having a relevant impact in shaping our societies.

Why is the prize an artistic masterpiece? 

We wanted to reward the winner with a valuable prize. The idea is to have something more than just a decorative plaque but a unique masterpiece as a beautiful reminder of the Atlas Award values.

This is why we asked to Marco Veronese, a well-known international artist to design a prize specifically for the first edition of the Atlas Award. 

The artist, who shares our values, had the idea of giving birth to a hybrid sculpture in which Atlante and the Vitruvian man are blend together with two precious stones (a rubin and an esmerald) placed one on the heart of the man and the other one on Hungary.

The statue symbolises how Atlante supports the world with its strength, while the Vitruvian man, the famous drawing by Leonardo Da Vinci, is the fruit of the search for harmony and beauty. 

What message do you have for Xpats about inviting them to vote?

The nomination is the most important phase of the Atlas Award because it allows everybody to nominate the entrepreneur who they believe can set a good example.

Since the deadline is coming fast, they should nominate their candidate now.
Click here to nominate your candidate