87 Caja de Ahorros in Panama

Team 44 Poster

Team Reflection

The innovation our team selected is Caja de Ahorros, a Panamanian public bank created and run by the Panamanian government, whose main goal is to promote “the habit of saving” and to provide financial solutions that contribute to Panama’s economic and social development, especially among lower-income families. Its main functions consist of savings and checking accounts, offering options to encourage saving, mortgage loans, emphasizing social interest housing, financing micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, as they support entrepreneurs’ growth and development, financial education, with initiatives such as “El Programa Nacional del Ahorro” and the “Huertos Escolares de Zambo” (Zambo being their long-time mascot), aimed at creating early sustainability habits, and digital services, providing mobile and electronic platforms such as “La Caja en Línea.” Caja de Ahorros has implemented innovative initiatives to promote financial inclusion and literacy, inspiring other institutions to jump on the “positive change bandwagon” as well. With a 90-year history, Caja de Ahorros remains a fundamental institution in Panama’s financial system, focusing on the community’s well-being and sustainable development.

Caja de Ahorros has numerous projects that align with several SDGs, such as (1) Ending Poverty, which was implemented by the “mortgage payment pause” during COVID-19, a decision taken under the current general manager, in 2019, to temporarily aid loan-payers as they navigated through the pandemic. They were the first bank in the nation to support this initiative, becoming sort of a trailblazer for other institutions. They also provided funding for public school gardens, incentivizing sustainable agriculture that educates children and benefits their families. They also help these low-income communities with financial literacy to help them manage their money better, fulfilling their goal (4): Quality Education. Caja de Ahorros promotes gender equality under goal (8), Decent Work and Economic Growth, by guaranteeing a safe workplace with fair compensation and opportunities for both men and women. They have programs that help women understand and tackle leadership and financial skills to lessen inequality in the labor force, which fulfills (10) Reducing Inequality. Finally, the bank gives lower interest rates for projects that include solar energy panels and electric cars. They also encourage recycling inside and outside the organization as part of the goal (13) Climate Action.

We were very surprised with the amount of innovations and actions Caja de Ahorros was taking towards a greener community, how they are very involved in social responsibility programs, whose main focus is to help to give back to the community in ways that do not necessarily involve any financial activities. When people usually imagine banks, the first thing that comes to mind is economic transactions and a big, serious corporation that only wants money. However, this could not be farther from what Caja de Ahorros really is. They have impacted the community outside and inside of the organization. From their initiative of big recycling bins with color-coded categories to incentivize and educate citizens on the importance of recycling, to their funding of public school gardens that promote sustainable farming, to educating communities on the importance of saving and using their money correctly, to their flexibility with loans and interest rates on solar panel and electric cars to promote their usage, to all the adjustments they are implementing inside the organization, such as eliminating trash bins, foam cups, plastic straws and implementing the “shredding paper initiative.” Where they directly recycle all the paper they are no longer using and sell it to recycling companies, and all the earnings they collect they use to finance the school gardens and finance reforestation campaigns, creating a circular economy for the organization.

Not to mention the fact that Caja de Ahorros has a program for women where inequality is addressed through the bank’s efforts to promote gender equality by promoting a supportive environment for female employees, which can be reflected through their flexibility in maternity and paternity leave. Also, the bank has created a program aimed specifically to expand women’s financial literacy and help them manage finances effectively. This internal focus extends to external initiatives as well, with training programs for women who own small and medium businesses to teach them how to manage and finance them correctly towards sustainable goals. Additionally, Caja de Ahorros is working towards the United Nations Gender Equality Seal certification, encouraging other companies in Panama to improve their gender inclusivity, earning them the sixth position for “Best Places to Work in Panama.”

As a team, we learned the importance of learning to accept each other’s differences in terms of language, culture, and communication in cross-cultural environments. In the beginning, we all had different expectations regarding how working together would turn out and what we would learn from this experience. As a team, we came to appreciate the value of understanding different cultural expectations in areas such as communication style and time management. The experience highlighted the importance of being flexible and respectful, having cultural awareness, and helping the team build a stronger appreciation for different perspectives and ideas.

We applied several key concepts from our courses, such as cross-cultural interactions, learning to work together as a team, and project management skills. We learned to be patient with each other’s working styles and time orientations to ensure smooth and polite interactions. Additionally, setting clear schedules and assigning specific tasks to each team member helped the team overcome challenges related to communication, ultimately helping to keep the project on track. We organized the work through a combination of weekly Zoom meetings and ongoing communication over WhatsApp. Everyone made an effort to accommodate time zone differences and adjust our agendas to try and maximize productivity, and even though some team members took on more responsibilities than others, we still divided everything based on each others’ strengths, assigning tasks according to each person’s skills or interests. For example, one member took on the role of designing the poster, while others focused on transcribing the interview and others worked on the essays. This approach helped us maintain accountability throughout the project, see who was working and who wasn’t, and ensure that all deadlines were met. Despite the overall success, some challenges persisted, specifically in engaging all team members equally. A few members kept their cameras off and stayed muted during meetings, making it difficult to have more dynamic conversations and better exchanging of ideas. The limited participation led to certain members being perceived as less involved than others. Another minor challenge was coordinating daylight savings adjustments, which required changing several times a meeting. Additionally, while everyone contributed, some felt that the workload was not always balanced, with certain members taking on more responsibilities.

Overall, this project was a very rewarding experience, which strengthened our team’s cross-cultural communication. This project helped us be more understanding, patient, and respectful towards each other and what makes us different. It taught us to listen to different perspectives and ideas and meet people from different parts of the world. As team members, we learned valuable lessons about collaboration, flexibility, and the importance of having clear communication, especially in virtual settings. The challenges we faced taught us practical strategies that we could all use in future projects like this one, which emerged from this experience of being more culturally sensitive and helping us better prepared to work in international teams moving forward.

Individual Reflections

David Kueneman:

Throughout this project, I found that the experience was very enriching and provided me with excellent experience working internationally that I can take into future career opportunities. I felt as though our group communicated well over WhatsApp when it came to planning our meetings as well as helping each other with questions pertaining objectives we were working towards. In our virtual meetings, I felt that it was harder to communicate with the group as a whole when some members had their cameras off, and mics muted for the majority of the meetings. This made exchanging ideas and having productive live conversations a challenge as not all parties were participating to their maximum ability. However, I thought our group had no trouble staying on track when it came to the workload that we made for ourselves to make sure there was never any worry of missing deadlines. I also thought our group divided the amount of work between ourselves very well, I believe that everyone completed their fair share of the assignments and not one person did a significant amount more than the rest. With the time zones, I thought that deciding meeting times was never difficult as Spain and Saudi Arabia are only one hour apart meaning they were usually available at the same times. Our meetings usually took place in the mornings (EST) and never lasted longer than thirty minutes as we would pre-emptively decide on an outline for the meetings the day before. To summarize, I enjoyed spending time working with and getting to know a bit about my group mates and would be eager to complete similar exercises like this one in the future.

Ghala Alturki:

In this work, I felt the team spirit and the beauty of working with different cultures and countries, as I became aware of the organizational and cognitive differences of each individual in the group, which made me eager to learn and provide more to complete this project in a way that reflects and shows these aesthetic differences. In addition, I am happy with every step of this project, starting from choosing the appropriate time for all individuals, then choosing the sustainable company, then distributing tasks to team members, each according to what he loves to work with or has skills to accomplish his task, and finally presenting this project in the best way that befits our effort. My participation in this work was designing the poster, through which I presented a summary of the most important information for Panama’s Bank and highlighted the creative details from choosing colors and methods of displaying data. I am very grateful for this work that made me a person who loves to learn, develop, and expand my network of knowledge and friends. It also developed in me time management and planning in practical and collective fields. Addition regarding technical matters in our culture that we do not open the camera during meetings because we follow our religion and adhere to it, so I was sharing my reactions and giving ideas and this is great for me and this is related to our society and culture. Other than that it was just a valuable experience and expertise. I think I did my best to complete this project in the best possible way, regardless of cultural differences.

Danah Alhussain: 

Collaborating on a project focused on Caja de Ahorros gave our team valuable experience in navigating cross-cultural dynamics. With members from different countries, we held weekly Zoom meetings to coordinate tasks and strategies, which helped us build trust and open communication.Our coursework on cross-cultural communication played a crucial role in bridging differences within the team. We applied concepts like active listening, adaptability, and an awareness of different time orientations, all of which were essential for smooth interactions and mutual understanding. For instance, since punctuality and meeting etiquette varied across cultures, we established clear guidelines to respect everyone’s expectations. Overall, the project went well, especially when we created a structured meeting agenda and assigned roles for accountability. This experience taught us that flexibility, respect, and cultural awareness are key to successful teamwork. We came away with a stronger appreciation for diverse perspectives, and we’re now better prepared to approach future projects with more cultural sensitivity.

Taylor King: 

This project was a great experience, and I would look forward to doing something similar in the future. The group I had the pleasure of working with was willing to work around everyone’s schedule to make meetings fit, willing to do the work necessary to get a good mark, and just overall thoughtful of others’ time and prior commitments. I have never been a part of a virtual team in the past, so this was a new challenge for me but overall, I think it went relatively well. The time zones were something that played a bit of a challenging role in the scheduling of meetings. For example, David and I were waking up for a meeting around 9:00 AM while the other 4 members of the group had to take time out of the middle of their day to make the meeting times work. Another challenge we had to overcome in this last week was the clocks going back for us. Scheduling this past week’s meeting became increasingly difficult because we had to change times all around at least twice just to make sure everything was correct. Worldtimebuddy.com helped a lot when it came to scheduling meetings for everyone. There were some cross-cultural dynamics that everyone had to be aware of when joining meetings, for example, members may not turn on their cameras for the meeting or unmute their microphones which was different at first, but I got used to it. One thing I would say was a challenge was making sure that the whole group participated actively in group meetings and on our WhatsApp group chat as well. Communication is so important for a group project like this that if there is no communication, members can feel like others are just “social loafing” and not taking this project seriously. Skipping meetings, and not participating in conversations about certain topics is a sign of a lack of communication. Overall, I enjoyed this project and would be open to doing something similar in the future or even for a career.

Julianna Farrugia: 

This was definitely a gratifying yet challenging project. I had never worked with an international team, where we had to coordinate meetings according to different time zones, learn to accept and respect our language barriers, and some teammates’ decisions of portrayal and participation. Even though some team members were very much eager to participate and take more active roles than others, I feel like we made it work. We stayed on track with each assignment and deadline, making sure to turn everything in on time and take turns submitting assignments, dividing the Weekly Minutes, for example, very well. I also think there was better communication and chemistry with some team members than with others, especially as some team members never turned their cameras on or answered questions, even though they were directly addressed to them. This is a project where communication is extremely important, and if there’s no clear communication between all members of the team, it becomes very difficult to reach a common understanding where all team members actively participate. I also believe that some team members took on more responsibilities than others, and although this is very common, it’s also unfair. I believe this was our biggest challenge as a group, and it is something that can be addressed and worked on for future projects such as this one. Overall, I’m incredibly proud of what we achieved, of having our team choose the company I proposed, and of being able to tell the story of an organization I’m very proud of, where my family and I have been involved for several years now. Caja de Ahorros represents the best parts of my country, Panama. It’s an organization full of people who want to work united towards a better country, people who wake up early each day to go to work with a smile on their faces, people who have poured their entire work career towards an organization they believe in, and of people who want to make a positive impact on our community. I am proud to tell their story, be part of the change, and have a team as passionate and as moved as me by this incredible story.

Andrés Rodríguez:

Me and my team learned so much through this project on how to work as a unified team to accomplish our goal, which was to deliver the best possible story. We had our ups and downs, for example noticing how some team members were more engaged than others and recognizing the uneven distribution of effort among us, nevertheless we met our goals. This project helped me with communication and organizational skills, especially as we had to overcome a language barrier and coordinate across different time zones. So we had to work around everyone’s schedules, but we made it work with clear communication. We worked effectively and efficiently as everyone was busy with their normal school work, but we divided the work among the members. I would say the thing that didn’t work out as I expected was the regular team meetings, some members would keep their cameras off and stay on mute, only contributing when directly asked. I believe they had valuable insights that could have enriched our discussions, as well as additional perspectives, which always help to hear everyone’s opinion. One thing that worked well was everyone’s flexibility and willingness to find or propose different meeting times that suited the group, even if it meant to occasionally meet on a Sunday.

References

Caja de Ahorros. (n.d.). About us. Caja de Ahorros Panama. Retrieved from https://www.cajadeahorros.com.pa/acerca-de-nosotros/