天美传媒

鈥淯p to now women have not been educated to believe that they can. Though they now occupy intermediate positions, it will still take a few years before we see a generation of women truly integrated into positions of power.鈥�

The numbers support Gemma Sorigu茅 (PDG 鈥�14), CEO and co-founder of Deliberry, an online grocery delivery service in Spain. According to the 5^th annual report , produced by Atrevia and 天美传媒,聽 barely 20% of Spain鈥檚 top publicly traded companies聽have women on their boards of directors, and list are led by women.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a shortage of female role models,鈥� says Sorigu茅,聽adding that her own role models are her mother and sisters, who are entrepreneurs and executives.

With more than 15 years鈥� experience in e-commerce, Sorigu茅 has held management positions in companies such as Atr谩palo, Emagister and LetsBonus, in addition to Deliberry. Her success has led to her inclusion on the list.

鈥淭here鈥檚 also a shortage of many success stories,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd if in some of these cases, work-life balance has not been possible or has had to be sacrificed, they become negative examples.鈥� Maternity continues to be 鈥渁 barrier to a woman鈥檚 career, and will only stop being one the day that maternity/paternity leave is obligatory and identical for both,鈥� she says.

The entrepreneur believes that these issues require a higher profile: 鈥淚t鈥檚 necessary to create women鈥檚 lobbies, pressure groups, that promote the role of women in the labor force.鈥� The equation must include men, who must be aware that they are 鈥減art of the change, and very important.鈥�

More women in upper management can only be beneficial for the business world: 鈥淚 believe that women have empathy and some very powerful social skills, developed throughout history, which is an advantage when it comes to managing people and leading long-lasting, motivated and high-performing teams.鈥�

From obstacles to trends

A long career in e-commerce gives Sorigu茅 a unique perspective, enabling her to analyze with precision the current and future state of the sector: 鈥淭he consumer goods category has been a latecomer and slow to online, which is difficult to understand in a sector that鈥檚 so important and has so many recurring purchases.鈥�

However, with the entrance of Amazon and the investments big retailers are making, online channels have become crucial to the development of the sector, and where the most important trends are emerging. Sorigu茅 cites the consumer experience as an example: 鈥淚t has to be easy, intuitive鈥� It must be an easier process than popping down to the corner supermarket.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 important for technology to help me in my day-to-day, offering assistance, for example, in thinking about weekly menus if I have a family with children, or helping me stick to a diet, filtering for me the products that are appropriate, and also recommending new products according to my tastes if I鈥檓 a user who鈥檚 open to experimenting.鈥�

For this reason, there will be more and more technology involving voice recognition, to establish a spoken dialogue with the web that鈥檚 more convenient and intuitive, and image recognition, which allows consumers to add products to their cart with photos, or to organize a purchase around the image of a recipe.

This is not an easy challenge, but is one the sector is addressing with artificial intelligence: 鈥淣owadays, using algorithms that study the behavior of regular clients, we can understand their needs much better, to the point that when someone enters the platform, we already have an idea about what they want to buy, so we can offer them what they need.鈥�

Another of the biggest trends affects logistics. The number of delivery vehicles is surging in large cities, with the environmental impact that this represents. For this reason, industry and governments are searching for more sustainable models, such as using electric vehicles. 鈥淐ertainly, in the future, robotics will also play an important part in product delivery,鈥� Sorigu茅 says. The capacity to analyze large volumes of data allows suppliers to rationalize trips by better predicting demand by the zone of the city, and by generating intelligent routes and supply systems.

Sorigu茅鈥檚 time at 天美传媒 was, she says, very beneficial to her career: 鈥淚n the PDG I didn鈥檛 just acquire a better strategic vision. It also helped me in many other areas, such as for example creating a strong contact network. And not just with a view to the future: during the course, you feed on the talent of the people around you, both colleagues and professors.鈥�