Growing up in Rivera, Uruguay, a city that shares the country border with Brazil, gave Ingrid Pereira (23) the opportunity to be immerse in the “fronterizos” culture, the vibrant atmosphere that is breathed in that northern region of Uruguay that allowed her to switch from one country to another, by just crossing over Plaza Internacional.
Immerse in that context, her mindset was not tied to typical traditions and that was crucial because she saw herself without the boundaries society tends to replicate generation after generation, specially if you are a girl born and raised in a small city of a small country. Those limits were just something she saw draw in a map, but not part of her daily life, so she dared to dream big.
As a young girl she enjoyed playing around in her family textile business, creating new designs and wishing to be a clothes designer as a grown up. On the way, that childhood dream was transformed into a new one, as she had to choose her university degree, she discovered there were other fields that attracted her more: logistics and sustainability.
As a Technological University of Uruguay (UTEC for its acronym in Spanish) student of the Logistics Engineers degree, she is halfway to reach her graduation, something she had never heard of before, at the time she chose her career. She thought of logistics as something new to her, but a way to explore and investigate practical real-world problems, and how to be part of the solution.
Something she feels proud of is the fact that she is achieving something some years ago was not possible for any university student that had grew up in a city far away from Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay and where the main studies offer is concentrated. She has overcome the alienation from the customs of her family, her neighbourhood, her friends and her city. She chose to stay and make a difference in her home city, although that was not an easy decision.
One of the main concerns of these students is: Would I be able to work of what I am studying here or would I have to move? Fortunately for the ecosystem, many organizations based in Montevideo or foreign border countries, started to look towards these decentralized universities, building remote teams that contribute to a diverse culture, as well as to being close to clients (e.g. agro companies) that have their operations in locations away from main cities.
Ingrid was working in a retail store while studying, when she discovered not only logistics was her passion, but solving daily problems with technology at the store made her life and her coworkers way much easier. She started managing social media and communities and her willingness to learn new things and apply some of her career studies, took her to improve many processes, from having a live inventory to registering accounting entries automatically, waiting for the opportunity to take a job that would make an impact in her region.
As she realized logistics and technology were a great couple, she started thinking about doing something that could join both of her interests. She thought that joining Arkano, would serve both. She embraced a big challenge, that was to lead a Technology Adoption project in a rice producer company based in Rivera. That project was a game changer for Ingrid because she was able to help a family company that had experienced a sudden growth and had not had the time to think about how to automate their processes or how to give time to people to analyse information instead of building it. The fact of understanding the company culture and sharing their same environment was a plus that made completely the difference. She was able to use her knowledge from university and she challenged herself to learning new technologies.
As part of the technology ecosystem Arkano has been deeply committed to being a talent platform and finding people that fits our culture wherever they are. Because of that, Arkano has sponsored several programmes, such as “Techy por el día”, “Mujeres en el sector TI”, “Jovenes a programar”, taking an active role in promoting tech careers among girls and women.
Years to come look bright. As Ingrid finishes her degree, she is already thinking about how to innovate her family business industry with all the knowledge she has acquired and playing an active role in shaping the environment of her home city and her educational institution. She is proud to tell her younger self she is achieving more than she dreamed about, not the way she planned but taking the opportunities that came up on the way and that that is making it the best part.
