“Our commitment to financial inclusion from the outset is total. To achieve gender equity, one of the important components is to have independence and, among them, is financial", emphasizes Natalia Ríos, country manager of Uala Colombia.
Ualá is a technology company that offers a financial ecosystem to improve the lives of Latin Americans. It was founded by the Argentine Pierpaolo Barbieri and launched in October 2017 with the aim of promoting financial inclusion in Latin America.
The launch in Colombia was in January 2022, and it currently has more than 180 users in the country. Natalia Ríos joined the company 4 years ago, becoming Ualá's first hire in Colombia.
Natalia Rios She is an entrepreneur with more than 10 years of experience in the financial sector. and public services. He is the former CEO of Servigenerales and a member of the board of directors of two other energy companies.
He studied International Economics at Georgetown University and in 2014 earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.
From his role in Ualá, he seeks that more Colombians can access the benefits provided by this platform. Despite the fact that the mission is to educate financially, it does not neglect to increase the participation of women.
Financial inclusion of women
In Colombia, the indicators show that the 16% of men have a credit card compared to 10% of women, a gap that remains evident.
In the case of Ualá and the measurements made by the platform, more men than women use its services. As the goal is to change this trend and strike a balance, in Colombia communication campaigns have been designed so that more women know and enter. The idea is that they become empowered and can count on their own Ualá.
With only the citizenship card you can open a deposit in Ualá, which has an additional component and is a section on personal finances. Users will be able to establish a budget, what their expenses are and how much can be saved. In addition to investing and making money profitable.
“At Ualá we have a total commitment to gender equity and diversity of perspectives in everything we do. We are faithful believers that the more diversity there is, the better product we make"
Natalia Rios
Ualá with a broad leadership of women
In leadership positions, Ualá has 40% women and 43% of the jobs are held by women.
“We have women in very important leadership positions, and of course that also permeates the entire organization because we are aware that in an organization there must be people that one sees in leadership positions to want to work there”Natalia points out.
In Argentina they rank second among the best workplaces for a woman.
"We still have to do, the idea is not to be happy with what we have achieved", points out Natalia, taking into account that the financial and technology sectors have historically been led by men.
Labor policies that fit women
Ualá's policy as a company is to make its employees, especially women, feel comfortable within the organization.
Currently 18% of the women who work there are mothersTherefore, their facilities and labor policies are focused on allowing them to carry out their work in an ideal way.
Such is the case of Natalia herself, who since she entered Ualá has had 2 children, and has been able to carry out her work from home or from the office without any difficulty.
What's more, being a mother so oftenShe has never felt that she was singled out or discriminated against for it, on the contrary, it has received full support.
"I felt nervous about having to tell the boss again: 'I'm pregnant again', but when I told Pierpaolo he was happy and gave me total peace of mind to say: 'I don't have to be worried about something that everyone lights must be big news'”,
Natalia Rios
For Natalia it is important to be in an organization where this kind of thing is valued and that is reflected throughout the organization.
For now, it continues to lead the aspirations of Ualá in Colombia, and bringing more Colombians closer to the financial system with this type of initiative.
Learn more about Ualá and its opportunities for personal finance:
