For Enrique Alba (Cartagena, Murcia, 53 years old), CEO of Iberdrola in Mexico, it was clear: If the energy company has to carry out social projects, then it will be in Oaxaca. There the Spanish company has its largest project in Mexico with four wind farms. Directors also noted that some of the educational lag in the south-east of the country resides in this region. In 2019, the company launched Impulso STEM, an education and scholarship program to encourage the preparation of young people in science, technology, engineering and math, known as STEM careers.
This Friday in Santo Domingo, during the Business Meeting of the Ibero-American Summit, Alba received the GOLD award for Best Practices in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals, awarded by the Ibero-American Foundation for Quality Management (Fundibeg) for implementation was this program in Oaxaca. The organization has highlighted that the award was given to the company for its efforts in bridging the gender gap.
“We saw that in Oaxaca there was a very big delay in what we call STEM careers, and then a second thing was added that encouraged us to do the project, which is that in this state only 10% of students in the STEM Careers Engineers are are women with whom the project, apart from training talented young people from Oaxaca, has also allowed us to address an issue of inclusion, involving women in university, in the possibilities of well-paying jobs and the gap between to overcome the genders,” says Alba in an interview with EL PAÍS about the project.
On the one hand, the Impulso MINT program awarded scholarships to 55 young people to study engineering degrees. Half of this is given to women. Many of the scholarship recipients go to the Technological University of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca to complete their studies in the same region. Iberdrola offers them internships in its facilities in the region and some of them start their careers there. “It’s a breeding ground for Mexican engineers and also for Mexican women engineers to join the company. That’s why I say it’s a very comprehensive project of education, of quality, of education and of the future,” adds Alba.
In addition to the scholarships, the company sponsors courses and workshops on the subject of renewable energies in further educational institutions in the region. Alba assures that in this way young people from Oaxaca will receive an appropriate professional orientation regarding the panorama that a STEM career can offer them for the future. Hand in hand with the Institute of Renewable Energies of UNAM, Iberdrola has already guided 12,000 students in the Oaxacan Isthmus area.
The director emphasizes that one of the intentions of the program is to train professionals who have opportunities and professional perspectives in their country. “The workforce at the four wind farms that we have in Oaxaca is 100% Oaxacan. We want them to be able to train there and work in their state. We have a philosophy that talent stays there,” he emphasizes.
Alba assures that despite the limited participation of women in some industries due to local customs and customs, Impulso STEM is also working to break the taboos that some communities maintain regarding the role of women. The company has 21% women in its workforce. “It also tries to empower saying ‘yes you can,’ not setting yourself limits and not letting them be imposed on you because of cultural, family, or historical issues,” he adds.
Iberdrola has been producing electricity from renewable sources in Mexico and in 15 of the 32 states for more than 20 years. Alba says the country’s future looks encouraging amid the energy transition. “Mexico has both at the solar level, where 80% of the Republic is optimal for the development of photovoltaics, and at the wind level, where it has large areas such as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Puebla, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Baja California , with a lot of wind. In other words, Mexico has all the prerequisites to benefit from and be at the forefront of the energy model shift that is taking place around the world,” he explains.