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4 diciembre 2024

Ana Sesé: «At Sesé we are committed to equal opportunities»

Grupo Sesé is an integrated logistics operator that has been designing and providing solutions anywhere in the world for more than 20 years. Its business model has evolved from a 3PL to a 4PL, taking important steps in the last 2 years by strengthening its forwarding and ecommerce distribution divisions. Today we talk to Ana Sesé, vice-president of the Sesé Group's Board of Directors and president of the Sesé Foundation. 

What were your beginnings like?

My brother and I always say that my father, Alfonso Sesé, laid the foundation of what today is the group. In 1965 he started his business in Urrea de Gaén, a small town in Teruel, buying and selling agricultural products. He fell ill and a few years later my brother and I decided to create our transport company and look how it has changed!

We have grown and evolved. We have specialized in logistics, industrial services, ecommerce… and today, we cover all the needs of the supply chain. We work to be at the forefront of research and innovation in technology and systems.

Today we have a team of 10,000 professionals in 20 countries; with a fleet of 3,000 units and we carry out 12,000,000 assemblies per year. We have a turnover of 750 million euros a year.

Ana, although you are a businesswoman, have you encountered obstacles throughout your career because you are a woman?

I have been lucky. I have always been in the administrative part of the company and I have dedicated myself to work, work and work. It is true that since I have been in the company from the beginning, I have not encountered any barriers because I am a woman. I can see it when there are women who enter the company from outside and even more so when they are in management positions.

What policies have you developed for real equality within the company?

In our group, in the corporate part, 70% of us are women. In logistics and transport, of course, the majority are men.

We work for equality. That is why we have developed different equality and reconciliation policies. Currently, we have implemented measures such as: adaptation of working hours, flexible working hours for fathers and mothers with children under 12 years of age in their care or reductions in working hours due to legal guardianship.

What qualities do you consider to be the most important for accessing positions of responsibility?

Something we have always had in mind at home: wanting to do things well. But also, respecting others, putting yourself in their shoes and helping them as much as possible. In two words: effort and empathy.

What is the best thing about being an entrepreneur?

I could tell you that the freedom to depend on your decisions, even if it means a greater responsibility that sometimes keeps you awake at night…(laughs), but the best thing is to know that you are carrying out your own project, in this case my brother’s and mine.

What are your concerns or challenges ahead?

We are concerned about the safety and health of all our professionals and our key objective is zero accidents. That is why we do a lot of training and prevention. We are also conscious of reducing our CO2 footprint.

But Ana’s passion is the Sesé Foundation, which she launched almost 10 years ago and of which she is President. With this Foundation, she says, she wants to contribute to a more prosperous society.

What does the work you carry out consist of?

It is a non-profit organization that was created with the aim of contributing to the improvement of people’s well-being and quality of life.  We are committed to equal opportunities. Therefore, we are dedicated to the inclusion and labor insertion of people with disabilities or at risk of social exclusion.

 

What are your lines of action?

We do it through three areas of action: training and employment, special employment centers and social action.

We currently have two special employment centers, one in Zaragoza and the other in Martos (Jaen). These are centers where we provide workers with disabilities with productive and remunerated work that facilitates their integration into the labor market.

Regarding training and employment, we have developed with the Down Foundation of Zaragoza the program «Imprescindibles», a training module in administrative tasks in which 10 people have participated with the possibility of job placement for people with intellectual disabilities. We are very happy because six of them have already joined large companies such as Saica or Fersa.

We have a Workshop School on the digitalization of documents that are part of the historical heritage of Aragon, financed by INAEM. It involves 10 young people between 16 and 25 years old who have not wanted to finish school and are considered vulnerable people.

Although you have been working with people with disabilities for some years now, is it easy to integrate them into the labor market?

The incorporation into the labor market is complicated for everyone, so, logically, people with disabilities have it a little more difficult. Even so, our experience in this aspect is very positive. We try to provide them with employment, both through their hiring by ordinary companies and through their incorporation in our special employment centers. Despite being protected by the General Law on Disability, people with disabilities are a group that needs continuous support, both from the administration and the private sector. It is also true that, in recent years, there has been greater institutional and business sensitivity to this issue. Vital, in my opinion, to achieve a fairer and more caring society.

And in social action, what projects are you carrying out?

Well, in the area of social action, our Foundation is carrying out a wide variety of social initiatives, many of them responding to current needs.

For example, we have two solidarity events. The Sesé Bike Tour, which was held a few days ago with a total of 526 participants and in which we have raised 19,500 euros for the project «S.O.S.! Vulnerable Families, Ukraine» focusing on the Ukrainian population after the last war events.

The other event is the Musical Gala, which we usually do in November. Two years ago, with the money raised, we built a movie theater for hospitalized children at the Miguel Servet Hospital in Zaragoza.

We have food assistance programs, a soup kitchen in Las Delicias, we have corporate volunteer programs and we collaborate with other companies and institutions such as the Food Bank of Zaragoza or with Caritas where we carry out the project A todo trapo. In short, we never stop.

And to put everything into operation, how many people do you have in the Foundation?

Eight people work in the Foundation and more than a hundred volunteers, in addition to networking with different entities. This makes it possible for us to directly reach almost 15,000 people through our activities.

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