EPUNTO at the launch of SAVIA, a social project aimed at promoting and training senior professionals

Yesterday we were able to attend the official launch of the SAVIA social project, ‘The Energy of Wisdom’. The event took place yesterday, Thursday 26 April, at Endesa’s headquarters and brought together leading figures from the public sector, the business world and non-profit organisations. Among others, it featured a special appearance by the project’s patron, the sportsman Carlos Sáinz, and Juan Pablo Riesgo, the Secretary of State for Employment.

The aim of SAVIA

SAVIA

is a social project aimed at promoting a much-needed cultural shift regarding professionals aged over 50 in Spain; a group estimated to number around 1 million people.

To this end, SAVIA acts as a digital hub representing a generation of highly talented senior professionals who, from now on, will find in the platform a springboard to opportunities for professional development and employability.

From left to right: María Sánchez-Arjona, director of máshumano; Gustavo Gabarda, vice-president of the Endesa Foundation; Juan Pablo Riesgo, Secretary of State for Employment; Borja Prado, chairman of Endesa and the Endesa Foundation; the sportsman Carlos Sáinz, Carlos Gómez-Múgica, Chief Executive of the Endesa Foundation, Gloria Juste, Projects Director, Ana Berengena, Director of Corporate Affairs, and Manuel Naharro, Projects Director at máshumano.

The figures

The segment of senior professionals is now a marginalised group. The Labour Force Survey (EPA) figures published today show that whilst the number of unemployed young people under the age of 25 fell by 42,900 in the first quarter of the year, unemployment rose by 51,600 amongst those aged 25 to 54, and by 20,700 amongst those aged 55 and over. In total, Spain has almost one million unemployed people in the 45 to 54 age group. And there are more than half a million people over the age of 55 who are out of work. The United Nations (UN) predicts that by 2050, Spain will be the world’s oldest country, with 40 per cent of its population aged over 60. Furthermore, more than 50 per cent of senior managers are out of the job market due to a lack of digital skills.

However, the global challenges we face as a society require collaboration from everyone, drawing on diverse talents and skills. As SAVIA so ingeniously demonstrated yesterday through three ‘blind’ interviews, we must stop screening CVs and professionals on the basis of age and instead focus on what really matters: the profound talent, commitment and experience of our country’s senior professionals.

EPUNTO Interim Management and SAVIA sign a collaboration agreement

Patricio Gil Olmedo, commercial director of EPUNTO in Madrid, and Carlos Gómez-Múgica, managing director of the Endesa Foundation, took the opportunity during the presentation to formalise the collaboration agreement, which will benefit senior professionals from the SAVIA platform. From now on, all senior professionals on SAVIA with management experience will receive specific and personalised communications via the EPUNTO landing page featuring SAVIA and EPUNTO’s “Professional Candidate Centre”.

Patricio Gil Olmedo, representing EPUNTO Interim Management, and Carlos Gómez-Múgica, Chief Executive of the Endesa Foundation, signing the SAVIA partnership agreement.