Way2Global in the time of Covid-19

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”
Henry Ford

Italy is in the thralls of a complex emergency that is generating disorientation, fear and alarm, with profound effects on the social life, politics and economy of our country and the rest of the world.

However, there is no stopping some of us, even in the time of COVID-19: We proceed, armed with resilience, abnegation and generosity. For safety’s sake we are required to stay at home and suspend all social contact, but words can still transcend all borders. In fact, we believe it is even more important to support communities by contributing with acts and messages of faith and hope, inspiring cohesion and a spirit of cooperation to pull through the crisis and lay the foundations for a more sustainable future.

For over 30 years, Way2Global has been dedicated to enhancing company communication beyond borders, bringing Made in Italy excellence to the rest of the world. Our translations knock down walls and build bridges between people, languages and cultures, and today we wish to bring some of that Made in Italy resilience to the rest of the world. In particular the kind shown by our community, Milan, an international metropolis, the country’s economic capital and a crossroads of cultural exchange, tackling its very own health care emergency and yet so willing and prompt to react, together with us.

How can we react to a pandemic? And above all, how can a Benefit Corporation, determined to help by providing its translation services, make a difference at a time when confusion seems rife?

A number of authoritative scientific sources have stated the undeniable correlation between climate crisis and the spread of new viruses. There is an equally urgent need for a systemic regeneration of the economy and society, in order to rethink the future solely in terms of tools that can save ailing capitalism and our struggling planet. Green New Deal and Sustainability.

Way2Global, a Language Service Provider (LSP) established as a Benefit Corporation, uses the technology of the industry to reorganize operations and guarantee the continuity and safety of work was an immediate and spontaneous act. Resorting to smart working ensures employees can work safely from home, while continuing to support all the communication needs of companies who, like us, have had to adapt to the crisis, providing rapid translations and 24-hour service. Non-stop translations of new risk policies, crisis management documents, regulations and provisions, news and information, supporting an economy that hasn’t stopped but rather has transformed and aims to remain united and challenge the collapse, so that we all emerge stronger, thanks to a collective growth spurt and an evolutionary leap forward.

In this context, flexibility, reorganization, the reconfiguration of priorities, and above all a spirit of service, all become key words. A rich line-up of industry and multi-market events was scheduled over the next few months. ELIA Together 2020, organized in Milan for the first time ever, the inaugural event of the Italian Chapter of Women in Localization at our headquarters, Connext, an exclusive discussion and networking opportunity for companies and economic partners, and Milan Design Week, the Salone dei Pagamenti expo event and a host of other occasions bringing together clients and providers, normally heralding the start of the busy spring season. A rich calendar of events canceled in one fell swoop, forcing us to change our plans and redirect our focus to where we are needed most.

With an idea developed by the collective intelligence of our Communications department, we translated the Healthcare Ministry’s rulebook for the containment of COVID-19 into the 6 most widely-spoken languages in Italy, successively making it available and broadcasting it on our social channels. Thanks to the Internet we took part in #ItaliaChiamò, a streaming marathon about how Italy is fighting the coronavirus. We are providing our multimedia services for dubbing and subtitling the motivational video #MilanoNonSiFerma in English, promoted by the municipality of Milan. Without delay we threw ourselves into the recruitment of interpreters, to enable communication between the Italian Red Cross and the delegation of Chinese doctors and scientists who swiftly came to Rome to help our nation. In both cases our hearts were genuinely warmed by the fact that we were outdone by our colleagues in this race of solidarity.

As a Benefit Company and Certified B Corp in this historic time of emergency management and humanitarian crisis that has dealt a heavy blow to our country, we feel we have been summoned for a cause and have committed ourselves with a new wave of determination and abnegation as a social impact enterprise, determined to nurture the common good. Motivated by the value system that inspires our mission, every single day we work with renewed vigor to help with our services, without ever shying away in this fight against the virus. We strive to neutralize collective apprehension and worry, replacing it with faith, cohesion and hope.

With civil society, socially useful NPOs, foundations and intermediate bodies, with socio-environmental sustainability ingrained in our Articles of Association and industrial plan, we Benefit Corporations are determined more than ever before to prove that corporate social responsibility is the winning lever for beating the pandemic and overcoming the crisis.

On the condition that normalization does not translate into simply returning to the previous situation. We can and must pull through this emergency and the only way to do so is to work on building a renewed capitalism, cleansed of its shortcomings, re-orienting business on the basis of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda, overturning the ratio, our way of conceiving the economy and the future.

To overcome the shortcomings, vulnerabilities and fragility of the current socio-economic system, now more than ever before it is crucial that we leverage the Italian capacity for building a network, through that spirit of cohesion, abnegation and generosity that is characterizing all our efforts in co-designing and promoting charity, mobilization, donation and fund raising initiatives.

This is the only way we can expect to find a truly improved world once the emergency is over.