—Esperanza Azteca formed better human beings through 80 orchestras with the participation of 16,000 underprivileged children—
—8.5 million volunteers collected 42,000 tons of garbage through Limpiemos Nuestro México cleanup campaign—
—The Juguetón, the biggest toy drive in the world, distributed more than 16 millions toys to low-income children—
MEXICO CITY, Jan. 5, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Grupo Salinas (www.gruposalinas.com), a group of dynamic, fast-growing and technologically advanced companies, deeply committed to the modernization of the countries where they operate and founded by entrepreneur Ricardo Salinas (www.ricardosalinas.com), celebrates solid performance of its member companies, where annual revenue represented about 1% of Mexico's GDP with strong levels of profitability.
Aside from generating wealth, Grupo Salinas promotes social change for better living standards. Member companies offer products and services that improve the well being of families in Mexico, Central and South America and the US. Grupo Salinas also supports health, nutrition, education and environmental initiatives through Fundación Azteca. Similarly, programs such as La Ciudad de las Ideas, Caminos de la Libertad and Kybernus promote economic development and strengthen freedom. Grupo Salinas companies focus on sustainability and rational use of natural resources in their value chain, promoting a culture of environmental responsibility.
Fundación Azteca (www.fundacionazteca.org) has been moving Grupo Salinas values to action for 17 years. Esperanza Azteca (www.esperanzaazteca.com.mx) integrates a network of 80 youth orchestras and choirs with participants in Mexico, El Salvador and starting this year in Los Angeles, promoting values like discipline, excellence, and teamwork through music, to more than 16,000 underprivileged children. Created five years ago, Esperanza Azteca looks to benefit more than half a million participants in its network of orchestras in a 10-year span.
Meanwhile, Limpiemos Nuestro México (www.limpiemosnuestromexico.org), which creates community awareness regarding waste disposal through Mexico's biggest cleanup campaign, brought together 8.5 million volunteers to collect and separate more than 42,000 tons of garbage throughout the country.
The Juguetón (www.azteca.com/jugueton) —the biggest toy drive in the world—collected and delivered in 2014 more than 16 millions toys to underprivileged children during Three Kings' Day, the traditional gift giving holiday for children in Mexico. Through 19 annual drives, more than 155 millions toys have been distributed, generating joy in more homes every year.
In 2014 there were six Movimientos Azteca (movimientoazteca.org) campaigns —television awareness and fundraising events for designated causes— that raised more than Ps. 115 million for the Mexican Red Cross, homeless girls, rheumatic treatment, foster homes, food banks, prenatal care and communities in the Tarahumara Sierra, among other programs.
Meanwhile, Plantel Azteca provided free middle and high school technical education to more than 2,300 low-income youth with high academic performance. The foundation also supported the Escuela Nueva (New School) program, in Puebla, where close to 5,000 kids from 100 grade schools from rural communities will benefit from a special active learning curriculum.
Fundación Azteca has also extended activities to the US, Peru, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Grupo Salinas strengthened the activities of its Kybernus(www.kybernus.org), program that looks to foment political and social leadership through a values-based culture to generate a better future for Mexico. In 2014 the program almost doubled participation to 892 students in 22 Mexican states.
It also sponsored the Ciudad de las Ideas (www.ciudaddelasideas.com) thinkers' festival that brought dozens of brilliant minds to the city of Puebla to present cutting edge ideas to thousands of attendees. Grupo Salinas supports Caminos de la Libertad (www.caminosdelalibertad.com), which promotes the value of freedom through essay contests and other forums. In addition to awarding top essays, it presented the Una Vida por la Libertad award to the Scottish historian Niall Ferguson for his ideas in favor of progress of societies in a free environment.
As a complement to initiatives that strengthen market freedom and promote intelligent use of the financial system, Banco Azteca started the Financial Education and Small Businesses Program to present youth with the tools for responsible financial decisions.
Recently, Grupo Salinas, launched the Tanishka Forum Mexico which seeks to organize groups of women to propose solutions for their communities. The program has proven highly successful in India and looks to build on the success in Mexico.
Grupo Salinas also supported Fomento Cultural Grupo Salinas (www.fcgs.com.mx), which promotes the preservation of Mexico's cultural heritage and artistic creation, as well as the history, identity and values of our culture. Highlights of the year include sponsorship of the Design Week Mexico design and architecture fair, including the Alejandro Castro architectural pavilion. Fomento Culturalalso presented the photo exhibition Memory Revealed: The emergence of archaeological photography of Claude Désiré Charnay, and collaborated in the exhibits Fascination by Modotti Weston and Under the Mexican Sky by Gabriel Figueroa.
The companies of Grupo Salinas have a strong commitment to improve the environment and promote economic development together with environmental protection to enhance prosperity and quality of life. From 2008 to date, Grupo Salinas implemented sustainable actions in Mexico and Latin America that have translated into 286 GWh of energy savings, the equivalent annual consumption of 166,813 households.
Grupo Salinas has been adding value to the communities in which it operates for over 100 years, and is well positioned to continue to generate welfare and progress for millions of families in 2015.
About Grupo Salinas
Grupo Salinas (www.gruposalinas.com) is a group of dynamic, fast growing, and technologically advanced companies focused on creating shareholder value, building the Mexican middle class, and improving society through excellence. Created by Mexican entrepreneur Ricardo B. Salinas (www.ricardosalinas.com), Grupo Salinas operates as a management development and decision forum for the top leaders of member companies. These companies include: Azteca (www.azteca.com; www.irtvazteca.com) Azteca America (us.azteca.com), Grupo Elektra (www.grupoelektra.com.mx), Banco Azteca (www.bancoazteca.com.mx), Advance America (www.advanceamerica.net), Afore Azteca (www.aforeazteca.com.mx) and Seguros Azteca (www.segurosazteca.com.mx). Each of the Grupo Salinas companies operates independently, with its own management, board of directors and shareholders. Grupo Salinas has no equity holdings. The group of companies shares a common vision, values and strategies for achieving rapid growth, superior results and world-class performance.