Diego de la Torre de la Piedra

Diego de la Torre de la Piedra was a pioneer in issues of social and environmental responsibility in the Peruvian business sector. Since the 1980s, when he was becoming a leader, he clearly understood his goal: to move from success to recognized leadership.

He met the first requirement when he became a cofounder of La Viga, the largest distributor of construction materials in the country, which, since 1988, has been facilitating urbanization and modernization for the popular sectors in Lima who live on the peripheries of the city. His objective was to create a cultural bridge between the migrants from the and westernized sectors of Lima society. De la Torre helped lower the cost of transporting materials and inputs for housing construction, enabling La Viga to contribute to urbanizing 20 percent of Lima and to a new, increased Peruvian middle class.

He is a cofounder of the Peru Capital Network, the first network of angel investors in the country.

In 2013, he received the Integral Entrepreneur prize of the Latin American Business Council (CEAL).

In 2014, de la Torre became director of Endeavor Peru, a company that supports high-impact ventures through access to an international network of angel investors. He reviewed more than 100 companies from which he selected only four. His initial goal is to support 10 companies that generate a minimum of 3,000 jobs.

However, de la Torre’s most significant achievement lies in his two positions of national and international prominence, the first of which is president of the United Nations Global Compact for Peru, where he promotes the adherence of businesses to 10 principles related to human rights, the environment, anti-corruption measures, and labor rights. Thanks to de la Torre, more than 100 firms have adhered to the UN Global Compact for Peru from 2003 to date. Peru’s continuous economic growth over the last 15 years has contributed to a reduction in poverty from 54 percent to 22.7 percent and was achieved through socially responsible projects.

De la Torre’s second distinguished post is president of Peru 2021, an association that brings together corporate social responsibility initiatives from around Peru. Under de la Torre’s presidency, a large number of enterprises brought together over 400 social responsibility programs. He also brought the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) methodology to Peru for the preparation of sustainability reports and adopted the Socially Responsible Enterprise (SRE) certification, which was awarded to more than 69 companies.

He is also director of Lumni Peru, a human capital fund administrator that invests in the education of university students in exchange for a proportion of their future income. Thus far he has raised 8 million USD, a sum that is financing the studies of 700 Peruvian young people. The goal is turn Lumni into an investment vehicle for companies such as private pensions funds (AFP) and insurance companies to consolidate a human capital fund worth 250 million USD annually.