Owen Bethel, founder and president of solar design and construction company INTI Corporation, will address a major Latin American and Caribbean conference in Panama next month on the subject of diversity, inclusion and women’s empowerment.

INTI Corp, the firm responsible for the design, engineering, procurement and construction of the nation’s largest solar installation, was the first company in The Bahamas to sign on to the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles. That announcement was made during the February groundbreaking of two solar farms that

will boost the Grand Bahama Power Company’s capacity and increase redundancy especially critical in times of natural disaster.

Mr. Bethel said he accepted the invitation to be a panelist on the opening morning of the three-day public private partnerships conference hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) because of the company’s commitment to women’s empowerment and promotion of women in non-traditional employment roles.

“While we in The Bahamas see the strength of women in our personal lives and our daily interaction whether in a government office, bank or retail environment, the stark reality is that not much has changed over the decades in terms of ownership or top level management,” said Mr. Bethel. “In fact, IDB studies show that women hold only 15 percent of top management positions and own only 14 percent of companies in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

INTI Corporation has pledged to extend all efforts to hire, train and promote women in all areas of the organization both within the headquarters in Nassau and on the various projects in the field. In addition to its major project in Grand Bahama, INTI is in the process of solarizing all Super Value stores and properties in New Providence.