Blog BNP Paribas | The bank for a changing world

MicroStart’s Microfinance Week begins soon!

Emeline Latt — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:46:29 +0000

The second microStart Microfinance Week will take place in Brussels from 27 to 31 May.

The event is organized by microStart, whose focus is on the creation of micro-enterprises—small companies financed by microfinance loans.

The Microfinance Week is an opportunity for future micro-entrepreneurs to take their first steps towards creating their own companies.

How? Through informational meetings, open days at microStart branches, panel discussions, job days and microStarter competitions. Click here for more details about the daily agenda.

Key players in the fields of employment and the creation of new businesses will be participating in the 5-day event.

Individuals who would like to create a micro-enterprise will be offered the opportunity to do so, through monitored microfinance loans.

MicroStart is a group of social enterprises created in 2010 with the aim of assisting people who are excluded from the banking system, by helping them to create or expand an independent professional activity. MicroStart is the result of a collaboration between Adie and BNP Paribas Fortis.

Special Olympics Belgium, a fusion of sport and solidarity

Freddy Quidousse — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:29:29 +0000

3000 athletes from all corners of Belgium came together from 8 to 11 May, to celebrate the 32^nd edition of the Special Olympics National Games.

Athletes, relatives, educators, and coaches from more than 200 clubs, as well as volunteers, gathered together. The event took place in the Blaarmeersen Sports and Recreation Park, and four other sites of the region around Ghent, in Belgium.

The goal: enable people suffering from mental illness to push their limits and achieve their personal best through sport.

This year’s Games included a new sport, with particular importance to BNP Paribas: tennis!

BNP Paribas Fortis is, once again, a partner for the event. Around thirty members of staff from the bank gave a helping hand with passion and enthusiasm!

Fencing for a greater cause

Claudio Rosa — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:56:27 +0000

As a part of a team-building activity for 25 of its partners, BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions Italy joined forces with Associazione art4sport, a non-profit organization dealing with sport as a tool for physical and psychological recovery in kids and young people with limb prosthesis. Its goal is to provide economic, practical and organizational support to these young athletes and their families.

art4sport got its inspiration from the story of Bebe (Beatrice Vio), a young girl passionate about fencing, among many other things. When she was 11 years old she suffered from a serious illness, requiring the amputation of her four limbs. Despite this unfortunate circumstance, she went back to leading a normal life. One of the factors that made her react with strength and determination was her desire to practice her beloved sport of fencing once again, in spite of the considerable physical setbacks.

The Leasing Solutions partners not only got a lesson in fencing from art4sport; on the first evening of our team-building weekend, Bebe and her parents shared their experience. During the dinner we gave our contribution to the organization to buy a fencing board for wheelchair athletes.

An inspiring collaboration for all involved!

Restoration of Max Ernst’s “The King”

Thierry Lagache — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:30:42 +0000

“The King Playing with the Queen”, a work by Max Ernst, a German painter and sculptor known for his part in the Surrealist movement, is being restored.

The sculpture, made in 1944, will be displayed as part of a retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work, sponsored by the Swiss Beyeler Foundation. The exhibition will be held from 26 May to 8 September 2013.

For the event, the Beyeler Foundation is restoring the King’s splendour.

While the restoration work will of course require research, it is also and above all a synonym for “rehabilitation”. The artwork has become a patient.

Lying on a table, the King sleeps, while his caretakers restore his original appearance and highlight the wealth of history surrounding the work.

“The King Playing with the Queen” is one of three works being restored with the support of the BNP Paribas Switzerland Foundation. “The King” is the second work to be restored, following “The Level Crossing” by Fernand Léger and prior to “The Hungry Lion Attacking an Antelope” by Henri Rousseau.

From Good to Great!

Claudio Rosa — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:33:06 +0000

In May 2012, a violent earthquake hit the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Its impact: 27 victims, 350 people hurt, and no less than 45,000 residents evacuated in the area surrounding Modena.

In the face of this natural catastrophe and the havoc it wreaked, a group of managers from BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions Italy wanted to get involved to help this community. Over the course of a 2-day “Management Meeting”, these people put their knowledge and energy to good use with a group of elementary school students at a school in Mirandola that had been destroyed during the earthquake. Their energy was appreciated by everyone, and represented a welcome contribution to the reconstruction process.

An enriching experience for the participating managers—as well as for the local residents!

Beehives on the roof in Brussels

Freddy Quidousse — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:51:09 +0000

The Chancellerie building in Brussels, the most sustainable of BNP Paribas Fortis’ premises, is now even more environmentally friendly: it now has beehives on its roof! These help to protect the bee population and also foster biodiversity in the Belgian capital.

Indeed, the installation is far from insignificant. Bees play an indispensable part in the pollination process, which enables plants to reproduce and is essential for life on earth.

However, intensive use of insecticides and pesticides is now threatening their existence–and by extension, ours.

Nevertheless, the urban ecosystem constitutes a favourite habitat for these industrious little creatures. The use of pesticides and insecticides is much more limited in cities than in rural areas. Cities are also characterized by milder temperatures, and offer a more diverse range of flowering plants. This is the reason why colonies of bees are now increasingly finding refuge there.

Some of the “Chancellerie” honey produced by these hives will be used to increase employees’ awareness of environmental problems.

Other initiatives have been led in favor of our dear foraging bees within the Group. In 2011, three beehives were placed on the roof of BNP Paribas Real Estate Headquarters, in Issy-les-Moulineaux (Paris). Another beehive was placed on the roof of BNP Paribas Cardif headquarters in Nanterre, in 2012… Not to mention the several thousand bees the blog forachangingworld.com adopted through the association “Un toit pour les abeilles”.

The “Directors’ Fortnight” at the Cannes Festival, a hotbed of talent

Emeline Latt — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:02:51 +0000

The Cannes Film Festival is nearly upon us, and with it the “Quinzaine des réalisateurs”, literally the “Directors’ Fortnight”, set to take place from 16 to 26 May.

The Fortnight, which was created in 1968 by the French Directors’ Guild, is an independent, free and non-competitive event that welcomes all forms of cinematic expression, held in parallel with the Cannes Film Festival.

It gives young artists a chance to make a name for themselves, as well as honouring the work of well-known and respected filmmakers.

Made up of a selection committee of 5 individuals chaired by Edouard Waintrop, a film critic of 26 years’ standing, the event gave the early films of George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee and Sofia Coppola a shot at the limelight.

Take a look at the list of feature films and short films that have been selected for this year’s event, sponsored by BNP Paribas.

International Festival of Jazz & Film: The Results are in!

Emeline Latt — Fri, 10 May 2013 08:44:04 +0000

The first International Festival of Jazz & Film kicked off on April 12.

A sumptuous three-day feast, fusing jazz and film.

This gem of a concept is the brainchild of jazz aficionado Jean-Marc Gélin, journalist Alex Dutilh, radio host Thierry Jousse, and MK2, the major French cinema network. Their mission: to create an event that would bring jazz to an audience of cinema buffs.

Of course, jazz fans were also called upon! It would have been hard for the news to pass them by: Radio France, France Musique, Jazz Magazine… virtually the entire French jazz network was mobilized for the occasion.

Musically, the best concerts were at the launch party. As far as cinema events went, the “Round Midnight” film debate, led by director Bertrand Tavernier, went particularly well, and the film screenings for young audiences were a success.

The event programming was exceptional: from a film tribute to Quincy Jones, through treasures from the National Audiovisual Institute archives, to classic 50s films and recordings. Our organizers couldn’t be more pleased.

After such an intense musical and film experience, we can only hope there’ll be a second edition in 2014!

Philanthropy Spotlight: Rebuilding Together San Francisco

Lily Ruiz — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:01:34 +0000

Rebuilding Together San Francisco mobilizes teams of volunteers to provide free repairs and renovations for low-income, elderly and disabled San Franciscans, enabling them to live independently.

Rebuilding San Francisco was one of the finalist of the “Team Member Commitment” category at the Bank of the West’s philanthropy awards, honouring the work of a Bank of the West team member whose leadership has significantly advanced the organization’s mission and inspired fellow team members.

Bank of the West’s Wealth Management Group and Community Affairs created the Philanthropy Awards program in 2010 to recognize outstanding examples of organizations and individuals who are making a difference in their communities.