Around 1.3 million senior adults in Ecuador are impacted by ageism in the workforce, with many being forced to retire or unable to find new employment opportunities due to their age, despite possessing valuable experience and expertise. This issue has been largely unaddressed in the country, prompting Banco del Pacífico to take action by launching Senior Economy.

Banco del Pacífico’s brand value is the belief that every Ecuadorian deserves a decent work and the opportunity to, independently, grow economically. They are committed to empowering individuals and businesses from all walks of life with the financial tools and resources they need to achieve their goals and thrive.

Therefore, the main objective is to combat ageism by promoting the expertise and knowledge that seniors bring to the table while providing seniors with opportunities to continue working.

Senior Economy aimed to create a new business model that would capitalize on the experience of seniors, showcasing their value as a resource to businesses. By placing a price on their expertise, the initiative enabled seniors to demonstrate their skills and enabled businesses to tap into their knowledge.

Through a multi-channel approach that combined immersive storytelling and experiential marketing, Senior Economy challenged ageist stereotypes and fostered new connections between businesses, experienced workers, and the bank. This cross-functional approach created a mutually beneficial relationship between businesses and senior adults while promoting Banco del Pacífico's values of inclusivity and diversity.

The Senior Economy initiative's initial step was to gather seniors' work history data from resumes uploaded on bancodelpacifico.com platform. The platform allowed seniors to upload their resumes in various formats such as word, pdf, or jpg, which were then converted to plain text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tools. The data was organized and stored efficiently using SQL for easy access.

To quantify seniors' experience, a weighted ponderation formula was implemented, considering essential factors such as years of experience, industry expertise, acquired skills, and educational background, with each factor assigned a unique weight based on its significance. The resulting calculations provided a price for each senior's experience, which was made available as a valuable service to businesses in need.

To ensure effective targeting, the initiative focused on identifying seniors seeking opportunities to use their expertise and businesses facing challenges due to a lack of experience.

In October 2022, the Senior Economy initiative was conceptualized and underwent development and testing before being officially launched in November of the same year. To determine the economic value of seniors' experience, a formula was created that relied on data from their resumes. Seniors were encouraged to submit their resumes and work history on the bank's website, which was used to calculate the value of their expertise.

Banco del Pacífico utilized a variety of channels, including online platforms, on-site banks, and social media, to promote the Senior Economy initiative and communicate the value of seniors' experience to businesses seeking their services. The initiative is ongoing and limited in scope to Ecuador, but has the potential to expand to other markets in the future.

• Companies hiring senior adults through the platform saw an average revenue increase of 15% and 12% growth.

• Customer satisfaction ratings - Senior adults: 88%, Businesses: 90%.

• Over 19,593 senior adults joined, creating 10,862 successful matches.

• 29% of seniors secured stable clients, and 26% worked with multiple clients.

• The initiative led to a 35% increase in brand awareness and a 27% boost in positive perception for Banco del Pacífico.

• The Minister of Economy estimates that the Senior Economy program could contribute to a 0.40% increase in Ecuador's economic growth over 10 years.

The results demonstrate the initiative's ability to create commercial opportunities while addressing social issues, fostering economic growth and social impact, and enhancing the bank's reputation as a socially responsible institution.