Half of the direct employees of the Ence-Energía y Celulosa biofactory in Navia reside in the council itself and in neighboring municipalities (Coaña and Villayón): of all the current workforce, 416 workers, 206 are domiciled in the closest environment. In addition, the number of residents of the shipping municipality itself directly employed by Ence has increased from 93 in 2017 to 137, an increase of 47 percent in two years.
In July 2017, Ence and the Navia City Council signed a Collaboration Agreement, to promote employment generation, environmental improvement, cultural development and welfare for citizens. One of the commitments was that at least half of the newly recruited people in Ence, provided that the training and professional requirements were met, were residents of Navia. In these two years, the biofactory has gone from 363 to 416 workers, an increase of 53 people. Navia’s workforce has increased by 44 people, so the aforementioned commitment is fulfilled.
In addition, the plant indirectly generates a significant number of jobs in the environment. As an example, during the last annual technical stop, which took place between May and June, up to 50 companies in the Asturian West served Ence, which involved the participation of some 350 workers belonging to them.
Ence’s biofactory in Navia is also an important professional development center for young people in the region. Each year, on average, twelve Navia neighbors carry out internships in the company to complete their studies, whether they are related to Vocational Training, or to recently graduated university students, through the Talent Program.
Ence promised, in the same way, to give priority to suppliers based in the region. In this sense, the biofactory makes annual purchases from suppliers in the West that reach, on average, 3.5 million euros per year.
Finally, the Agreement includes sponsorship and patronage, by Ence, of events and initiatives of a social, cultural and sports nature. In the last two years, fifty cultural and sports entities have benefited from Ence’s contribution, which has reached 200,000 euros. This contribution has given support to the celebration of dozens of tests and sports competitions, as well as social and cultural events of all kinds.
In order to give continuity to the collaboration between the company and the local entity, representatives of the Ence management have met with the new government team of the Navia City Council, to take stock of the Agreement and deepen measures and improvement actions to advance in the satisfaction of this common objective.
