by Alessandra Cardone

ROME, June 3 (Xinhua) -- In the amazing setting offered by Renaissance Palace of the Chancellery in the Italian capital on May 31, a large audience awaited a jury's response.

Nine entrepreneurs mingled with it, some smiling nervously.

They were the finalists of the tenth edition of the MoneyGram Foreign Entrepreneur Awards 2018, Italy's only national contest specifically recognizing achievements of foreign-run firms.

The nine competed for single prizes in three different categories -- Innovation, Business Growth, and Young Entrepreneur -- and for the major Award as Best Foreign Entrepreneur of the Year.

They had at least two things in common: an immigrant background, and the efforts they made to find a job, start a business, and eventually contribute to the wealth of their adopted country.

Dong Lifang -- 41-year-old lawyer, born in China and grown up in Italy -- was among them.

With her eight colleagues attending the ceremony, she provided an example of what foreign-born Italians and second-generation immigrants were able to reach in a country that has struggled to emerge from a deep recession in recent years.

"The global economic crisis has brought about a change in our (Rome-based) legal firm, driving us toward a stronger internationalization," Dong told the audience.

Their legal activity focuses on assisting Asian firms investing in Europe, and vice versa, across all industrial and commercial sectors.

"We work as a multi-cultural bridge, and especially between Europe and Asia," she added.

The Italian-Chinese lawyer was awarded the prize in Innovation category on Thursday, along with ice-cream maker Erion Kaso from Albania in Business Growth, and Romanian artisan carpenter Ionut Giurgi as Youth Entrepreneur.

Best Foreign Entrepreneur of 2018 was named Marie Terese Mukamitsindo from Rwanda, founder of Karubu Social Cooperative assisting asylum seekers and refugees to integrate and refine their professional skills.

Italy counted some 2.4 million migrant workers and 570,000 firms run by immigrants in 2016, according to the Leone Moressa Foundation's annual report on the economy of immigration.

DIFFERENCE BRINGS ABOUT INNOVATION

Migrant-run firms alone made 9.4 percent of all businesses in the country that year, and contributed 102 billion euros (119 billion U.S. dollars), which represented about 6.9 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Between 2011 and 2016, during the worst period of the crisis, enterprises run by foreigners increased by 22 percent, the report also stated.

In the same period, those run by Italians dropped by 2.7 percent.

According to Dong, the cross-cultural background and the determination to succeed despite adverse conditions were two major strongpoints that enabled foreign entrepreneurs to endure hardship and even helped Italy overcome it.

"The difference we bring as foreign-born entrepreneurs into Italy's society is a value added, because the country is facing a process of fast change," Dong told Xinhua. "I believe so, because difference often brings about innovation, and innovation generate a social, cultural, and economic growth."

Since its inception in 2009 and up to the 2017 edition, the MoneyGram Foreign Entrepreneur Awards involved some 1,600 businesspeople, according to a MoneyGram report.

"In Rome alone, over 50,000 immigrant enterprises employ more than 35,000 Italians and almost 97,000 migrants," the report stated, citing data by research center Eurispes and the Chamber of Commerce of Rome.

Considering this, MoneyGram's Head of Europe Micheal Schuetze explained the major goal of the awards was not so much singling out the "best" of entrepreneurs, as acknowledging the overall contribution "given by migrants to our economy and social welfare."

Finally, businesses run by immigrants would boost the internationalization process of the Italian economy, according to other officials.

"In ten years, we have seen the average sales volume of firms increase," president of the jury Massimo Canovi told Xinhua.

Most firms involved in the first editions had very small turnover "in the order of few tens of thousands euros," he explained, while now several were middle-sized companies with a business volume of millions.

"That means many have strengthened, and some have started to develop abroad, especially in the countries where their owners come from," Canovi stressed.