Techint: Strategic Choices for Community Impact

In early 2024 Erika Bienek, Chief Community Relations Officer at Techint, had to decide whether to invest in a new company-owned and operated technical school in Veracruz, Mexico, or invest instead in strengthening the city’s public education system. Techint, a global industrial conglomerate with $38.4 billion in annual revenues and 97,000 employees in 2023, had a longstanding commitment to community development through education. Over the past five years, the group invested $204 million in its Community Relations program, focusing on four synergistic education initiatives. The Roberto Rocca Technical School (RRTS)—owned and operated by Techint—offered high-quality technical education to underprivileged students, while other programs strengthened public school infrastructure, provided scholarships, and supported after-school learning. TenarisTamsa, Techint’s subsidiary in Veracruz, had been active in the region for decades, and a new RRTS would expand its footprint. However, some stakeholders argued that broader impact could be achieved by supporting public schools serving over 40,000 students or by launching a community training center to meet urgent workforce development needs in the local energy sector. With Techint’s tradition of deep community engagement and rigorous standards, the question for Bienek and her team was how to allocate the newly earmarked $30 million to generate the greatest long-term impact for Veracruz—through direct, measurable educational transformation, or broader support for the public system.