For the fourth consecutive year, Enagás held a conference to mark Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, which is celebrated around the world every 19 November.
Taking part in a roundtable organised by the company were Laura Lozano, co-founder and CEO of Chargy; Silvia Bruno, chief information and technology officer at Redeia; Julia Garrigós, intrapreneur and project engineer at E4Efficiency; and Cristina Corchero, co-founder of Bamboo Energy.
Susana Toril, the People and Diversity Manager at Enagás, moderated a discussion in which the participants explained the functions carried out by the companies they work for, the different milestones achieved throughout their careers, and the barriers and advantages encountered during their entrepreneurial process.
On the road to entrepreneurship
In the field of innovation and new businesses, women entrepreneurs are leading the shift towards female empowerment and leadership.
In this sense, the participants agreed that it was essential to give visibility to female leaders. In order to think “I can do it too,” Laura Lozano remarked, “you need to feel supported by people just like you, and see yourself reflected in someone else.”
According to Cristina Corchero, “When it comes to being an entrepreneur, it helps a lot to see that the people close or you and even in direct contact with you are of the same gender, nationality or from the same environment, because not many women will identify with the model of start-up that started in a garage in Silicon Valley that quickly becomes successful.”
Julia Garrigós noted that “women who want to become entrepreneurs would be more confident, self-secure and motivated to see themselves as businesswomen and promote their projects if there were more female role models.”
Silvia Bruno was of the opinion that a change in mentality was required. “To do away with the biases and self-limitations that we place on ourselves and to overcome our fear of engineering or science when choosing the degree we want to study.”
The participants agreed that the path of entrepreneurship is a worthwhile one. Julia Garrigós insisted that uncertainty “makes you learn, grow and bring out your greatest potential”, while learning to be “persevering, optimistic and convincing” in the process. Laura Lozano added that “we need resilience and a hint of madness”, as well as “not throwing in the towel, and being adventurous”.
The Enagás commitment
Arturo Gonzalo, the CEO of Enagás, thanked all the entrepreneurs for their generosity in telling their stories and experiences, and acknowledged their diverse and inclusive nature.
Finally, he highlighted the company’s commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly in the current energy context where everything is changing very quickly. “We need to be clear about where we want to go, and one of the big levers that will allow us to get there is entrepreneurship and innovation,” he asserted.
Enagás considers innovation to be an essential element for speeding up the process of ecological transition. Enagás Emprende, the company’s Open Innovation and Corporate Entrepreneurship Programme founded in 2015, supports a number of innovative projects focused on decarbonisation.
