Who is the entrepreneur from San Juan who realized her dream of creating a 100% women-led mining company?

When I was going to school, Romina Illanes he would never have imagined that mining would completely cross his life and that of IglesiaThe Department of Saint Jean where he was raised and where he still resides today. with his sister, FernandoThey are proud to say that they are two entrepreneurs who work for this industry.

It all started when sailing ship she settled in the region around the year 2000. At that time, she did not see many opportunities for women. However, over time he noticed that it was a place where he could have space to grow.

“I started when I was 20, 21, working in a company that outsourced a mining service,” Romina explains. The experience completely changed his mind: he decided to start his own business, even though his dream seemed distant at the time.

And so in 2016 the challenge of entrepreneurship in the world of mining began. The following year, she was already working as a supplier for Veladero, although the path was not easy at the beginning: efforts had to be made to make the company profitable.

When the potatoes burned, Romina highlights the role that her sister Fernanda played in ordering all the financial part, as well as the collaboration she received from the office that the mining company has in Iglesia: there, he was able to get advice and find out in which areas he could get involved.

“We sat down, we talked about it, we cried about it, we prayed about it and we also talked about it a lot with my parents, because behind it there is a family: behind us there is a storysays Romina.

An important aspect of FEyRO is that in addition to the sisters who founded it, the different sectors of the company are led by womenwhich shows that the empowerment of women is also reflected in mining.

However, the company also has male staff who perform different types of tasks in sailing shiplike the cases of Christian Herrada there Juan Pablo Munozwho underline the excellent relationship they have with the leaders of the company and appreciate the opportunity they have been given to work in such a great industry and to live a great experience, from which they learn every day.

The gratitude you have Romina into mining is not just about the opportunities the sector offered him in terms of employment: it also highlights the growth he has brought to his people. “My whole childhood was here, when the streets were made of dirt, and I can take advantage of all the advances that have been made today,” he says.

The entrepreneur explains that the arrival of sailing ship It had a direct impact on the development of the place: its resources were vital for the improvement of the education and health system, the creation of new local businesses, the paving of public roads and the incorporation of sewage treatment plants, among other facts. .

In addition to enjoying the growth that both FEyRO like his Iglesia native, Romina highlights the opportunities that currently exist for women’s employment in a sector that until recently seemed to be the territory of men only.

“Working in the mining sector as a woman is challenging, but not impossible; I’m part of it,” says Romina. Like her, many professionals work directly or indirectly to sailing ship in different domains.

For Romina, the key is in the perseverance. The one she had when she took her first steps as an entrepreneur, which accompanied her in the most difficult times and which she continues to demonstrate today at the head of a company in an industry that , when she was little and walked the dirt roads of IglesiaHe never thought he was going to go through so much in his life.