Along with her grandfather, father and medical brothers, Nicaraguan Dolores Prado’s dream when she was a child was to be a doctor. That did not come true. He worked for 13 years in Iberia and then ventured into the traditionally male-dominated field of construction. In 2009, she was the first female CEO of Holcim in the world, and she currently leads Holcim Ecuador and is one of six female CEOs of that multinational in the world and one of three in Latin America.

How did you come to Holcim?

Those who opened Holcim operations in Nicaragua were a Spanish group, traveling to Iberia. I started making friends and one day I told one of them that I would be available when I heard about a Spanish company that wanted to open a business in Nicaragua. That person returned to Spain and two months later he returned to Nicaragua, entered my office and offered me to be the commercial director of Holcim, which was then called Holderbank, to open the market, because there was only one cement plant in Nicaragua and it belonged to the state I had to open up the market and break the 50-year monopoly.

I joined Holcim in December 1998, I was in a commercial position for eleven years. I was the commercial director Earth CEO and Executive Director and later CEO since 2009. I left Nicaragua for El Salvador, after four years in El Salvador I was offered to lead Central America and I started to lead Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Six years later, I came here from January 2021.

An ambitious project presented by an employee to Holcim ended with the creation of a Technology and Innovation Center

Did Ecuador expect it upon arrival?

Ecuador is among the ten most important Holcim countries in the world and the second in Latin America (the largest is Mexico). Here we have a well-established business with 102 years of existence… it is a strong, well-consolidated group; And although I led three countries, the three countries together did not do what Ecuador is doing alone. So it’s always a challenge, it’s a beautiful country, but challenging like almost all Latin American countries.

Challenging in what way?

Now the issue of security is an issue that affects us a lot, especially in the hardware industry, small hardware industries suffer a lot because of the well-known vaccine issue. Other issues that are here are also challenging legal issues, there is no legal certainty. Sometimes the rules of the game can change, and for a multinational they are complex.

Holcim Ecuador, a century-old company with strong foundations in gender equality

For example?

For example, the taxes that were invented overnight, President (Lenin) Moreno invented a tax for us for three years, then President (Guillermo) Lasso came and changed the tax reform, which had an effect of 6 million dollars for us a year and it was the year in which two taxes merged, the last year of President Moreno and the first year of President Lasso, so how to explain that in environments like Switzerland where laws are laws and they are respected.

We will continue here, it is 102 years and we used to live with these things, but it is a little more difficult for you.

From your position as CEO, how do you see progress in reducing the gender gap in different industries?

I think you can see the difference with this generation, but I think it cost a lot and we have a long way to go. Until these gaps in the house are closed, nothing can be done in society.

How has Holcim Ecuador progressed in this cut?

When we opened Loma Alta – the aggregate plant opened in November 2021 – we dreamed that it would be 100% operated by women and we realized when we started hiring that we did not have women trained for this, we could not find women operators dumpers, forklift operators, mechanical engineers. We had to settle for 52% and even to reach that 52% we had to invest in the women we were training and giving them driving lessons so they could work for us.

When we realized that there is a shortage in the country, where a woman who wants to drive a truck has nowhere to learn, we looked for companies like us that have this vision of training women and we partnered with UTPL (Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja), with Nirsa (Negocios Industriales Real ) and UN Women supported us and that’s where the Women at the Wheel program was born. This program has been so successful that 100% of those who enroll will graduate with excellent grades and without failing a single grade.

In Loma Alta, Holcim Ecuador’s new aggregate factory, women rule

So if Loma Alto could only be operated by women, would that be possible?

It might be possible, but later. I must also admit that the drive operated only by women is not so easy because there are some positions that require a certain physical strength. I think it’s a good thing to have that balance.

International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8. What would you say to women who want to get into management positions?

First, that they believe in themselves, set a goal and if that is what they want to fight for, which means if they are going to get married and want to have children, which is something normal, that they know what this is going to mean in their professional career. And how will you continue to move forward?