April 2018
Written by Ivan Suarez 

It is hard to deny that increasing diversity in the public and private sector is one of today’s central initiatives for corporate improvement and better business outputs. At the Energy Council, we engage with female executives in every single business development meeting we host globally. Their visions of diversity share similar inclusive goals:

–  Allow open spaces for all genders dedicated to sharing ideas for business inclusivity and better practices

–  Promote diversity in itself as an asset that translates into better products and services

–  Go beyond gender quotas and work towards real integration and absence of the obstacles faced by women when developing their careers

During 8 years of BD promotion in Latin America, the Energy Council brings a more diverse group every year, including top female executives. Sadly, the limited number of women in senior positions is not a new problem in LatAm nor in the energy business overall. Our initiative to change this and more goes in consonance with the conviction that Thought Leadership is key to unlocking business opportunities. In Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the United States, Canada ideas are rising from local leaders, and as a business platform, we want to spread them.

Experience and personal success serve as a springboard for the Women’s Council launch in Latin America. The following are ideas and experiences shared by Katya Somohano, CEO of CFE Calificados (Mexico); Luz Barbero, Partner at Solarif Financial (Argentina) and Regina Ranieri, BD Manager (Argentina), AWS Truepower. From their suggestions, 5 practical points would make a real change:

– Create a diversity and inclusion head/committee that ensures excellent quality of management and a workable plan within the business

– Implement mechanisms that ensure that inclusion standards are met: anonymous calls or emails to report irregularities and queries

– Ensure schemes that make family life compatible with career development, eliminating the fear of losing a job for wanting a family

– Include inclusive policies when recruiting students and interns, giving women a real chance to compete for positions

– Form working groups where colleagues can exchange different points of view to improve empathy and tolerance among workers. This needs to go along with policies of zero tolerance for discrimination and inappropriate behavior against women and minorities