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OUR BACKGROUND |
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The Echavarría Olózaga family has been an important part of
Colombia’s industrial development for the past seventy-five
years, having created
Corona, a business organization mainly
devoted to the manufacture and commercialization of ceramic
products.
As business leaders, the Echavarría Olózaga family members have
excelled thanks to their spirit of initiative. They have had a
pioneering role in technological innovation and in adopting
modern business management principles. Committed to the economic
progress of Colombia, they display a deep sense of
responsibility towards the society of which they are part.
And it was precisely that sense of responsibility that led them
to create Fundación Corona – formerly Fundación Santa Elena – in
1963 for the purpose of promoting the integral growth of the
communities surrounding the influence area of the manufacturing
plants. Back then, the Foundation mainly operated direct
education, housing and health assistance programs.
By the end of the 80s, at the same time that Corona carried out
its organizational change process to adapt to the new demands
imposed by the globalization process, the Foundation changed its
name to the one it still uses now and made four decisions that
were to change its future. First, it decided not to directly
operate its programs and projects, but rather to be their
facilitator or promoter. Second, it widened its spectrum of
intervention in society as a whole and left the responsibility
of working with the communities to Organización Corona’s
companies. Third, it constituted a highly professional executive
and technical team. And fourth and last, it built its own
endowment. Since then, the Foundation has been devoted to
forwarding large-scope programs that benefit the whole country.
The Echavarría Olózaga family has been the inspiration for the
Foundation’s orientation and, today, three generations of family
members actively participate in its top management. In addition,
the family supports the Foundation with economic contributions.
Fundación Corona represents the social commitment of a family
and of a business organization and it fully meets that
commitment, acting as their social conscience. It understands
that its labor is to support innovative, impacting programs and
projects that will contribute to improving equity and poverty
conditions in Colombia, through institutional development in the
areas of health, education, entrepreneurial development and
local and community management. To perform such labor, it
supports and finances initiatives carried out by private or
public entities (for example, NGOs, universities, foundations,
corporations, citizens’ organizations, research centers, etc.),
which contribute to strengthening Colombia’s institutional
capacity in these four strategic social sectors. |
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