A Successful End to the Renewable Energy Mentorship Program for STEM women

The Antofagasta EDGI HUB Program, or the Renewable Energy Mentorship Program for STEM Women, was created to pave the way for new generations of women in male-dominated industries like energy, mining, construction, transportation, science, technology and finance.  It was promoted by the Renewable Energy and Storage Association, ACERA A.G., and its partner companies ACCIONA Energía, Cerro Dominador and X-ELIO. It was implemented by the Gender Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Network, RedEG, and it was sponsored by the Ministry of Energy under its Energy + Women plan.

Cerro Dominador has been committed to gender equity since it was founded. We are proud to have a female presence both on site and in operations that is higher than the average for the industry, above 40%, in addition to women in managerial positions. That is why we decided to join this initiative, which lasted more than 6 months and successfully concluded a few days ago with a closing ceremony in Calama.

Marco Quezada, CSP O&M manager, was one of the mentors from Cerro Dominador who took part in this program. In his opinion, this initiative must be replicated nationwide. According to Quezada, “It is a terrific opportunity for the formation of all professionals, not only in the Second Region but in any part of Chile where recent graduates need true support to face the challenges of the working world. There can be no doubt that the benefits are great of being able to provide the vision of a private company on how new professionals should start to work, and, most of all, of being able to incorporate prepared and enthusiastic professionals to the domestic power industry.”

Jessica Miranda, Head of Finance of Cerro Dominador, was another of the program’s mentors: “This was a remarkably interesting experience. First of all, I was surprised to see that there were so many female graduates interested in becoming a part of this initiative in the Antofagasta Region. I got to know them, and after working with 3 in particular, I saw that even though they were recent graduates, they had many of the skills and development potentials.  They could be helped in this process by learning about our experience and what we know. I believe it is a great contribution.”

“Perhaps this can be extended to other areas, although the energy market is a growing and increasingly important market in Chile where women are gaining a greater participation. I believe it is very interesting to analyze and foster the development of the program in other disciplines that have been historically catalogued as ‘male,’ and to encourage women and professionals now in the market to become mentors.”

We believe that without these programs, without the transfer of knowledge and experience by professionals, it would probably be difficult for the new graduates to identify and understand their own skills, their own weaknesses and on what areas they must focus their efforts. We are therefore thankful to the companies who accompanied us and to REDEG for leading the initiative and giving us the chance to continue working toward gender equity, now from a distinct perspective.