“Female leaders inspire more confidence and are easier to get along with”

Encarna Martí, director of Marketing and Communication at Citrosol.

Communication is seen to be a woman’s thing. Has the fact that women are categorized into certain roles been a barrier in your professional development? Not at all, in my case, it was quite the opposite. In 2008 I joined Citrosol in Administration then, in 2012, I was given the opportunity to make the leap over to the Operations department and, subsequently, to head up Marketing and Communication. My professional career in this field has developed internally. It is to my great personal satisfaction that I have enjoyed the privilege of this opportunity and I shall always be grateful.

What do you think a woman contributes to communication working in a sector where the majority of responsible positions are held by men? In reality this isn’t really the case with Citrosol. It’s true that today, only around 27% of management posts are held by women, but at Citrosol we are wholly convinced of the advantages of diversity, creating an inclusive culture that leads to genuinely diverse senior management; And I say this genuinely, as we do not predefine which positions are more suited to male or female. As an example, I can confirm that a woman has just started an internship in the company’s chemical plant.

We also have various female departmental heads; quality control, legal, administration, sales, HR, etc. … Citrosol works B2B, we are not a link in the chain where management positions are biased towards men.

Have you been able, in your campaigns, to transmit a communication line of the most egalitarian brand? Well, that is really difficult to transmit in our sector or in our communication methods, but I think that one of the keys is to communicate honestly and take advantage of the benefits derived from true diversity, understanding others attitudes toward women to be our competitive advantage, drawing with it important opportunities and benefits for the company and society. Some studies show that female leaders instill more confidence and are easier to get along with. That may well have something to do with the openness our company conveys.

At a general level, what are the points where you think communication in the fruit and vegetable sector should improve? What I have perceived over the years to be a general mistake, is believing that good communication in this sector is not really necessary and it is quite the opposite; investing in communication is one of the most profitable investments for any company. A well-defined communication strategy with appropriate deadlines is essential.

As of today, not even 10% of the operators in the sector have a Press Office, essential to better position the company, to impart accurate true information (there is already enough “fake news” within this sector) and generate “added value” within the sector so that it can be seen as a role model, apart from the others.

The whole issue of new technologies and the emergence of Social Networks has been fundamental and only those companies that have been able to understand the developments will continue to lead the sector. One of Citrosol’s successes achieved through communication has been truthful communication, and being able to underpin our slogan “Results make all the difference” is what has signposted our trajectory.

Citrosol is a socially committed, innovative, company in favor of diversity, a philosophy we endeavor to convey through communication; we look to the long term whilst stimulating and embracing change and I believe we have succeeded; for that reason we are the market leaders.