Carlota Pi Amorós

For this 44-year-old Barcelona native, making the world a better place is a business premise.

With sparkling eyes that stand out above her anti-Covid mask, she tells me about an innovative project that has revolutionised the energy sector.

Founder of Holaluz together with her two partners, Oriol Vila and Ferran Nogué, this entrepreneur turns into reality through her company the idea of changing the concept of energy, of involving the customer to achieve a more sustainable world.

After finishing a Master’s degree at IESE and working in several companies, the firm she created in 2010 has managed to connect thousands of Spanish families to green energy and today leads the solar panel market worldwide.

Establishing a relationship of trust with its clients is one of the maxims that drove the project, but there are others that are just as important. Carlota Pi talks about them in the interview for  CATERINA Corporate house.

 

Innovation is one of your biggest bets, is it a challenge to convince your customers to join such an important transformation?

Well, what we aim to be is a tool to achieve a 100% green planet. With that purpose we founded Holaluz, to connect people to green energy.

It is a commitment based on three pillars and it is what we tell people we want to join us. Firstly, it is 100% green energy. It is cheaper, (thanks to the intensive use of technology and data) and finally, we carry the responsibility to innovate, to think about how the future should be on behalf of our customers.

In other words: green, cheaper energy, which, like CATERINA Corporate House, puts customers at the centre and makes a commitment to future generations.

The challenge is not only to convince but also to make ourselves known, to let people know what we do.

Two-thirds of the people who know us consider Holaluz to be the best option.

 

CATERINA Corporate House is also committed to caring for the environment, in fact, supplies are managed through Holaluz. How important is it to you that the companies you collaborate with have this sensitivity?

We are a company that has obtained the world’s number one ESG Risk Rating, (which measures impact and risk concerning the environment) and we are also the first electricity company in continental Europe to obtain global certification from BCorp, in recognition of the social and environmental commitment of companies.

Both certifications look at all our suppliers, the relationships with the people in our team, our customers… This implies that our relationships are with companies that also care for the environment.

For us, it is exciting to inspire customers like CATERINA

I also believe that, for CATERINA, it is important in building their story for them to be able to offer sustainability in their spaces, for corporate stays, with flats for professionals that have 100% green energy.

I also find CATERINA’s idea very inspiring.

 

As a mother of three girls, how do you manage to combine family life with the presidency of a growing company when you are away from home for long periods of time?

It’s very easy! You need a certain flexibility, which is something we take into account at Holaluz. Besides that, all I have to do is surround myself with a team of people who are better than me.

Is that false modesty?

No, not at all, I’m serious. It is essential to have the best collaborators, otherwise, you can’t do it.

Growing as a team and enjoying your work are some of the personal values that you have transferred to your professional life. Is this the formula for achieving the best version of each member of the Holaluz team?

We have five corporate values:

  • “Shake”: A smoothie. We want to have a good time while we work, sometimes it’s about being in a relaxed and fun environment.
  • We want to feel very connected to the work we do, to be challenged and to have a good time as we sail these seas together.
  • “Always People First”, people always go first.
  • Teamwork, synchronisation, alignment and trust.
  • It is possible. At Holaluz anything is possible. We work to find the “How can we”, to be able to make anything possible.

Is it essential to create a sense of home in your working environment, or is it perhaps secondary and results are prioritised?

We do not claim to be a family. What we want is to be a high-performance team. Obviously, we work with respect, affection, admiration and support for each other, but we are a team of professionals focused on achieving our goals.

Holaluz is a modern company in many aspects, it introduces activities and motivational elements for its employees: organic fruit, nursery, summer camps for the children of its employees… Is it also an important consideration to know how to choose suitable accommodation during business trips?

Most of our staff work and live in Barcelona. We don’t do corporate stays at the moment. However, I think that for people coming from abroad it is the best option for business trips.

If we had to bring in someone from the United States or another part of Europe on an ad hoc basis, we would use such a service.

When we talk about a private client interested in contracting renewable energy, what type of home are we referring to?

This is the average everywhere. We have more than 200,000 customers spread across every postcode in Spain, including all the islands, Ceuta and Melilla. We have a penetration that correlates almost perfectly with population density.

In addition, our clients’ age is the average age of the Spanish population and their purchasing power is just above average, but not much.

We are not targeting a specific type of household. The fact that the offer is about green energy, cheaper energy and that it also focuses on placing people at the centre, the combination of these three pillars makes it a completely transversal offer.

 

Holaluz’s headquarters remain in Barcelona, but the commitment to “The Rooftop Revolution” knows no borders… Does being a local company limit its expansion?

At the moment we are a company located in Barcelona that provides service to all the postcodes in Spain, and we intend to continue doing so at least until 2023, but with a global influence.

In fact, when we went public, we were very careful that our shareholders were from benchmark countries, especially from places like London, Nordic markets, Paris and Frankfurt. We have a case at Harvard, for example. In short, we have a global influence, although for the moment we have operations throughout Spain.

Is the feeling that caring for the planet is everyone’s responsibility universal? Have you seen this to be the case in your business travels, or from your company’s displaced professionals?

We are firm believers that power is in the hands of the people. Everyone with their own decisions can decide what kind of world they are building and what kind of future they want for the people. You can be a hero, just sitting on your sofa at home, by switching to HOLALUZ.

I think it is an idea that is everywhere, it is certainly not exclusive to Spanish people.

The conviction that individual wills can add up to a larger movement, thus generating a relevant impact on the world. Yes, of course, it is a global idea. It is everywhere in the world, even after COVID, I think even more so.

CATERINA corporate house and other enterprising women such as the businesswoman Rosalía Mera, who opted for renewable energies, and Carlota Pi, have demonstrated their concern for the environment. Caring for the planet is present in large business projects.

 

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