Our commitment to building a world without labels
By Esteban Iriarte, COO Millicom | Tigo
I had never really considered the significance of ‘seven seconds’ until I began thinking about first impressions and our biases. Seven seconds may not seem like a lot, but studies have shown that the stereotypes we create about people are based on those first few seconds when we meet someone, and they are usually based on factors such as appearance and gender. Thus, whether consciously or not, people often assign labels to others immediately.
It’s important to have this context in mind as we celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD22) and highlight the crucial roles played by women in Tigo and the world at large. At Tigo, we are taking the opportunity to highlight this important topic throughout the entire month of March, which is Gender Equality Month.
Our theme for this year’s International Women's Day and Gender Equality Month is #AWorldWithoutLabels – a theme that is close to our hearts at Tigo, and it’s personally close to my heart, as I am committed to not tagging any labels or stereotypes to people during those first few seconds of our first encounters.
Our industry is one which has traditionally been dominated by men, however, at Tigo we encourage everyone to be their true selves – this is the only way we can create a world without labels. In line with one of the primary missions of IWD22, we are celebrating digital advancement and championing the women forging innovation through technology, many of which are at Tigo – from executives to technicians on the ground – connecting our communities throughout Latin America. You will see some of these beautiful stories throughout the month.
In fact, we have been working towards achieving gender equality through training in digital skills and knowledge for several years. Through our Conectadas program, we have trained an average 150,000 women and girls per year since 2018 on the use of the internet for their personal development, access to education and digital entrepreneurship skills.
We also recently shared our new Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework, which includes ambitious targets including gender parity by 2030. This will include equal gender representation across the entire organization, as well as in our upper management positions globally, and aligns with our vision to remove all labels at Tigo and beyond. This tells you that Gender Equality is not an awareness month, but a constant in our corporate agenda.
The fact is that women make up the majority of the world’s population living in poverty. Without gender equality today, a sustainable future, and an equal future without labels, is unattainable.
This is why at Tigo, we are committed to building a world without labels and taking concrete steps toward a more equitable world, guaranteeing equal opportunities for everyone. These actions should be ongoing, open, unbiased, and not just a one-day or one-month conversation.
There are 31 million seconds in a year – let´s make each one of them count and start breaking the bias and building a world without labels together!