Brunello Cucinelli wins Global Economy Prize

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Mar 20, 2017

Brunello Cucinelli – the vibrant entrepreneur and fashion designer – has just won the Global Economy Prize, one of four winners for 2017. The prize, which will be awarded on Sunday June 18 in Kiel City Hall, is given to individuals who are “pioneers of a cosmopolitan, economically liberal, and public-spirited society.” The award is jointly given by the Kiel Institute, the City of Kiel and the Schleswig-Holstein Chamber of Commerce.

"Brunello Cucinelli created his company from the ground up, but right from the start it was about more than achieving business success. His goal was and remains to give the people in his region new, long-term prospects and the feeling of being needed. He represents the tradition of the honorable merchant at its best,” said jury member Klaus-Hinrich Vater, at a press conference Monday.

This year’s other winners include the former Federal President of Germany, Prof. Horst Kolher; Indian banker Arundhati Bhattacharya and Swedish economist Prof. Assar Lindbeck.

Cucinelli has made a habit of winning illustrious awards. His blend of humanist philosophy and value-based business practices which has built a half-billion-euro fashion and lifestyle brand.

Back in 2009, he was named Entrepreneur of the Year for Italy, following folks like Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google. In 2010, he nabbed Italy’s Leonardo Prize, presented in the Quirinale Palace by President Giorgio Napolitano. Later that year, in a scene more reminiscent of a Renaissance fresco, Cucinelli received a Doctoratum Honoris Causa in Philosophy and Ethics from the University of Perugia, his former alma mater, located in the capital of the mountainous region of Umbria.  

In his own discourse – read without reference to notes – Cucinelli quoted Kant, Socrates, St Benedict and Marcus Aurelius, though it appeared the wisest admonition he received was that of his own father, who warned him repeatedly as a young man, “to be a good person, remember, always try to keep your word.”

Known as something of a “philosopher entrepreneur,” Cucinelli is a notably tolerant boss, whose staff must always leave company headquarters by 6PM to spend time with their families, working in a village doted with plaques featuring quotations from the designer’s favorite writers and thinkers.