Gentera, a sustainable company

At Gentera we are aware of social responsibility and apply it daily to our activities, both inside and outside the Group, for we seek to drive a business vision that involves respect for people, ethic values, community and environment in our business management. Therefore, we have obtained for the fourth consecutive year the Socially Responsible Company Distinction, granted by the Centro Mexicano para la Filantropía (Cemefi).

Likewise, we are listed in the Sustainable Index of the Mexican Stock Exchange, which allows to assemble companies whose environmental, social and corporate governance performance permits access to capital investors concerned about the future, as these are well known and recognized nationally and internationally for their sustainable practices, besides being identified with lower risks since they manage properly several indicators.

Value chain

During 2014 we initiated a formalization process and restructuring of Gentera’s value chain, with the purpose to create a sound operating model, able to support our current operations and be scalable for future growth. The main objectives we considered are:

• Manage by process, allowing a better vision of each process’ total cost and the additional value for our clients, balancing autonomy and reaction speed to the environment with the detections, formalizations and diffusion of the organization’s best practices
• Get rid of duplicated processes and functions and delegate or centralize specific functions into excellence centers, depending on the required degree of specialization and the necessary immediacy to the operation
• Harmonize the different technologic platforms
• Prioritize initiatives based on a formal and impartial framework which considers the social, human and economic value provided to our clients, employees and investors, in light of the amount and investment horizon

The resulting operating model from this evolution is comprised by six elements, working jointly with the aforementioned objectives.

• Value chain
• Process’ architecture
• Delivery model
• Government model
• Organizational structure
• Value map

At Gentera we are concerned to have an impact on our value chain and, throughout it, convey our best practices. Therefore, we have decided to work with suppliers who share our vision on several topics, from environmental sustainability, to the respect of human rights and the battle against corruption. All our suppliers go through an induction process so they get to know our business model and our ethics guidelines.

The positive impacts we have identified with this interaction are crucial in order to guarantee commercial relations with formal companies and responsible employers who comply with their obligations; the possibility to detect companies with practices which threaten minors or do not grant law compensations to their employees; and the joint responsibility of social and environmental benefits. Whilst the negative impacts are the accountability for the damage caused; getting sanctions from authorities and the reputational damage caused for working with any supplier who has been sanctioned or fined.

In order to mitigate such negative impacts we have raised awareness and provided recommendations to our supply chain through suppliers’ evaluation we verify environmental performance; social responsibility; sustainable development; transparency; human rights, specifically regarding child labor, compulsory labor and security measures; and labor practices, in matters related to employment, occupational health and safety and work relations. After we apply all these measures, if the results are not favorable, we take specific actions that even imply exchanging suppliers.

Ethics in our value chain

For us, ethics means doing the greatest good possible. We have a Code of Ethics and Conduct for our suppliers aiming to influence our value chain, convey our principles and establish the best conduct guidelines. The code was re-launched in 2013-2014.

Following this re-launch we delivered the Code of Ethics and Conduct and a commitment letter to new suppliers and even, to those working for Gentera for 10 years, confirming its knowledge and compliance.

We certify all our suppliers in our Code of Ethics and Conduct to ensure its compliance, hence, if any noncompliance is presented, we dispense of their services or their contract renders unrenewable, taking into account that all suppliers go through an internal selection, which allows us to know their values.

We also have a Code of Ethics for the non-profit associations we benefit through Fundación Gentera’s donations. With this Code we seek that the benefited institutions comply with certain requirement for the donation’s granting and/or continuity.