In a context of change and global competition, Abengoa believes in the idea of an innovative company as an efficient and necessary instrument for progress towards a society of sustainable development. With this aim, we incorporate into our daily business Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) values which are integrated in a natural way in the strategy, culture and organization of the company. We try to contribute to improving not only the economic situation, but also social and environmental questions, and, thereby, the well-being of people in general.
With solar energy, biomass, waste, information technologies and engineering, Abengoa develops innovative technological solutions for sustainable development, while channeling its more socially-committed management through the Focus-Abengoa Foundation.
The Foundation, created in 1982, has the mission of putting Abengoa's social action policy into practice. It works on a non-profit basis in the general interest and is focused on assistance, education, culture, science and technological research and development, with a special emphasis on handicapped people. Within the company, the Focus-Abengoa Foundation has become a valuable instrument which is strongly driven from its headquarters at the Hospital de los Venerables in Seville; it is a real cultural symbol.
This idea of social balance places a special emphasis on attention given to company employees in terms of their training and development, quality of life, social well-being and well-being at work, and their family lives. The company is also able to connect with new issues for society as a whole; in short, the Foundation manages intangible assets with an impact that is returned and multiplied in Abengoa's values and business aims.
Our work is structured around two centers of attention: on the one hand, we develop the company's own internal social action and, on the other hand, external, social action in favor of society. Significant among the internal social actions are flexi-time at work, social assistance for employees, the accumulation of maternity leaves, promotion of physical activity, and the installation of daycare centers. The multitude of external social actions include conservation and maintenance of the Hospital de los Venerables, the training program for disabled people, the Focus-Abengoa scholarship scheme, the Focus-Abengoa painting prize, the prize for the best doctoral thesis on a subject related to Seville, the Javier Benjumea Puigcerver Research Prize, the Javier Benjumea Economic and Business Ethics Chair, the grants and educational assistance for integration of disabled people in Latin America, and the Focus-Abengoa Collection art exhibitions. Many aid actions for disadvantaged groups have also been carried out in a wide range of countries worldwide.
These two pillars for action form an optimal instrument with which Abengoa can address economic, social and cultural diversity in all the countries where it is present, with the aim of growing alongside the different communities, creating new ties for achieving an ideal long-term relationship between social profitability and that of the company; what we refer to as sustainable development. In 2007 diverse activities were carried out involving Abengoa's external social initiatives, among which the following hold a prominent place:
Some examples of initiatives carried out by the Foundation Focus-Abengoa are:
© 2009 Abengoa. All rights reserved