Maria Escarcega is a self-confessed technology lover. Having spent over a decade working in backseat administration roles in the tech industry, she is now Global Vice President of IT operations in the Americas, Europe, and Africa for Genpact, a multibillion dollar professional services firm.
Among other aptitudes, Escarcega puts her professional success down to her ability to understand other cultures, a skill she was born with, growing up in the binational border city of Ciudad Juárez. Born and bred between Juárez and El Paso, Escarcega’s commitment to furthering the development of innovation in her home city is just as strong on a global scale. Working at Genpact allows her to do both.
Genpact replaces repetitive manual processes with innovative automated solutions for companies across a number of different industries, including the borderland manufacturing sector. It aims to increase companies’ efficiency, while simultaneously speeding up their digitization. With the help of approximately 90,000 employees around the world, Genpact provides services such as industrial internet of things, supply chain management, intelligent automation, augmented intelligence, source to pay, and others to hundreds of leading companies, including approximately a quarter for the Fortune Global 500.
You may be interested in: What are you waiting for to be part of the Digital Transformation? 6 reasons why you should already be there.
These services are particularly important in the border region between Mexico and the United States: a major manufacturing hub for the entire continent of North America. There are over 340 maquilas or manufacturing operations in Ciudad Juárez alone.
Warranted or not, working for these maquiladoras has garnered a reputation for long, monotonous shift work and some of the lowest wages in Mexico.
Despite not producing any tangible manufacturing goods and largely offering high skill and high pay tech career jobs, Genpact often gets mistaken for a maquiladora. Maria says it is a regional misconception they are eager to dispel, as it is impacting their capacity to recruit the local high skilled talent they need. “People in the local community think that Genpact is a maquiladora,” Escarcega said. “We are not that type of company," she added.
You might also like: Networking: Why People Don’t Recognize Your Brand
It has become second nature for software developers, database administrators, and technology engineers from the border region to look outside Ciudad Juárez for employment opportunities. Maria says it is often the case that they believe that these careers do not exist in their hometown. In the past, they have avoided applying to work at Genpact, associating the company with being a call center and a paper processing company.
It was precisely for these reasons that Genpact decided to take part in The Bridge Accelerator program. Developed by Technology HUB to stimulate innovation, entrepreneurship, and industry in the bi-national border region -- The Bridge Accelerator works to professionalize border service providers and suppliers and integrate them into the manufacturing supply chain, where they can add value for major industry.
Unlike many SMEs that enrolled to in The Bridge to grow and boost their business with manufacturers in the region, Genpact is already a large and well established company. They joined the program to enhance their recruitment strategy, widen the talent pool they draw candidates from and find ways to better market themselves as a employer of choice for top tier talent in the region. Maria says that this may be a long term, ongoing project for Genpact, but by being closely involved with Technology Hub and The Hub Human Innovation, they are already getting face time and establishing rapport with some of the regions most skilled software engineering talent. These bi-national accelerators’ programs and co-working spaces are key places where creative and skilled regional talent work, socialise and congregate.
You might like: Why you should apply for Bridge Accelerator.
Maria says the program is allowing them to establish valuable connections and take notes from world class employers, with some of the best talent on the planet, such as Microsoft and Bosch.
“These connections can translate into a huge benefit for Genpact,”
Escarcega said, explaining the value for the company. Maria says she wants the next generation of Ciudad Juarez tech talent to have the same kind of career experience and opportunities for growth and development, she had with Genpact.
Working with The Bridge Accelerator and developing stronger connections and inroads with Technology Hub, The Hub of Human Innovation and Microsoft, is increasingly allowing Genpact to gain, train and retain the skilled staff and talented graduates in the binational community.
