Alexandra Hidalgo

Can you provide some background on the history of the company, and why did you decide to enter this industry?

Anavanlab was created in 2013 by four female partners including myself. We work to empower women especially in the sciences. The four of us who created the company had been working together since 2001. Some of us were professors at chemistry school at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador. We accredited the first environmental laboratory in Ecuador within the university. We were accredited with the accreditation entity in Spain (ENAC) because there was no accreditation center in Ecuador at the time. Since 2000, we have worked intensely on environmental, quality systems, and accreditation and laboratory issues. We identified a need for quality laboratories in Ecuador that could produce products meeting international standards. Furthermore, certain regulations prevented us from continuing to work within the university sphere, whereby we opted for the private approach. And so Anavanlab was born. We are conscious of taking care of the environment in our country and beyond.

What distinguishes this particular laboratory?

There are several laboratories offering environmental analysis, but our difference lies in our proximity to our clients. We design customized services for each company’s needs, offering reliable and confident data, in order to take care of our environment together. We also work extensively with the decentralized autonomous governments (GADS) of Ecuador. We support the different regional governments and industries in the environmental arena, backed in our technical expertise.

What added value does the laboratory bring to the environmental industrial sphere?

Our added value is an understanding of our client needs. We want to achieve sustainable development and gender equality. We also work on environmental education. We have a different way of working. Regulations exist, but each customer applies them differently. We, as a value proposition, become a customer partner instead of just a supplier. In the meantime, we work on gender equity issues at ground level. We are part of Pacto Global Ecuador and I2SL, the International Institute of Sustainable Laboratories. We participate in technology and knowledge transfers with labs from Europe, Asia, and the US. For example, we are working with equipment manufactured in Germany that employs the latest technology. We measure all kind of metals in the water with this system (ICP-MS), at parts per billion levels. In this way we want to contribute with the mining industry to achieve environmental sustainability. We want to be at the forefront worldwide.

What is your perspective on the national drive to reactivate the economy sustainably?

This is the only way to do it. There has to be development, but it has to be responsible. Otherwise, within a few years there will be nothing to develop. I believe that the current environment ministry has clear ideas. We are part of the 100 pioneers industries in a program called “Ecuador Zero Carbon.” Our intention is to be a conformity evaluation body, an external organism that verifies the process of Green House inventories compliance. This part of environmental awareness and sustainable development is an area where we have much potential. We believe that quantifying greenhouse gasses is the first step, but then we have to implement programs for organizations to become carbon neutral. We aim to become one of the first organizations in Ecuador that can verify greenhouse gas emissions inventories.

How would you like to position the company in Ecuador?

We intend to become the preeminent laboratory in Ecuador for environmental issues. And so we are set to work with all sectors for the sustainable development of Ecuador and the wider world. One of the programs I’m proudest of is called “I am a scientist,” where we want to bring science to children. Science doesn’t end in a laboratory. We also want to work in education as a branch of our social responsibility.