Oscar Santos is 16 years old and one of the youngest employees of AXA Mexico. He is one of ten students who joined our headquarters in Mexico City a month ago to be trained four days a week, during one year. The fifth weekday, Oscar and his colleagues attend Conalep, a state-run school, to complete their final year of the “bachillerato técnico administrativo”. This represents 10th to 12th grade for Mexican students, the ultimate stage before entering university.

AXA is the first financial services company in Mexico to join the “dual education system”, inspired by its success in Germany and Switzerland. The initiative was launched 5 years ago by the Mexican government in coordination with the private sector, seeking to offer more promising professional opportunities to young Mexicans. To date, more than four thousand students have been given the chance to benefit from sound training, a combination of practical experience and theoretical knowledge, thus improving their chances to find a good job without having to attend university.

AXA is running this initiative with the intention to create a specific insurance career together with the Mexican Insurance Association, AMIS. The graduates of the program will form a welcome talent pool. Furthermore, we believe education to be an essential pillar and worthy pillar to support in Mexico: it will help develop a new generation that lives in the present, understands the past and is looking to improve their personal future as well as society as a whole. Oscar told me last week that he still found it hard to believe he was working at a company like AXA.