Jonatan Loidi Proposes Mining as Path to Reduce Poverty in Mendoza
For Jonatan Loidi, mining can be one of the tools to address one of Argentina's most urgent problems: poverty. "We need to do everything to reduce the 40% poverty that Argentina has today and transform it into something around 5 or 6%. That is our opportunity," he stated during Experiencia Endeavor Cuyo 2026, which brought thousands of people together in Mendoza on October 8, in a conversation with Comunicaciones Mineras.
CEO and founder of GrupoSet, Google Ambassador, and one of the most sought-after speakers on entrepreneurship, innovation, and transformation, Loidi focused on the potential of copper and lithium to generate employment, strengthen regional economies, and open development opportunities. However, he warned that leveraging this wealth requires responsibility: "These minerals are ours. So let's take care of them."
The Cuyo Endeavor experience brought together more than 5,000 people at Nave Cultural on October 8. (Courtesy Cuyo Endeavor)
Mining to Generate Jobs and Reduce Poverty
For Loidi, the mining opportunity is not limited to investments and resource extraction. Its potential also lies in the economic activity that each project can drive around it, from job creation to supplier development and local value chains.
Addressing critics of the industry who argue that companies take everything, he stated: "Nobody invests 100 billion dollars in a mine to take everything. You'll take your profit. The rest will remain."
In that sense, he highlighted the importance of taxes, employment, and infrastructure as channels to strengthen the territory. However, for this activity to translate into improved living conditions, "provinces must have the capacity to oversee projects and negotiate their terms," warned the international speaker.
One of the advocates for continuous personal transformation and continuous improvement visited Mendoza and spoke about mining as an opportunity for Argentina.
"Monitor It, Oversee It": The Role of Provinces
Loidi held that the use of natural resources must be accompanied by controls and clear rules. "Monitor it, oversee it, there are taxes, there is employment. You strengthen your territory, your value chain, and you negotiate," he said.
From that perspective, protecting the environment and developing mining are not necessarily conflicting objectives. The challenge is to establish oversight mechanisms, demand compliance with regulations, and ensure that the activity generates benefits for the communities where it operates.
The Challenge of Preparing People
The possibility of reducing poverty also depends on people being able to access the employment opportunities that productive transformation opens up. On this point, Loidi warned about the changes introduced by technology.
"Today we don't only compete against humans, we compete with machines," he noted. And he added: "We will all become obsolete if we don't do something to update ourselves."
Training and capacity building thus appear as fundamental conditions for connecting investments with employment. To take advantage of the mining opportunity, having natural resources is not enough: you also need trained workers, competitive suppliers, and a long-term development strategy.
Experiencia Endeavor Cuyo took place on October 8 at La Nave Cultural. (Courtesy Experiencia Endeavor).
An Opportunity Argentina Should Not Miss
Loidi believed that the country has favorable conditions to drive its development, but warned that opportunities must be accompanied by planning and strategic decisions.
"A province, a city, a country is like a family. You have to take advantage of your opportunities, your strengths, and work on your weaknesses," he said.
His argument links mining to a discussion that exceeds the sector: how to transform Argentina's productive advantages into employment, growth, and improved living conditions.
The goal he proposes is ambitious: moving from poverty close to 40% to levels of 5 or 6%. For Loidi, mining can contribute to that objective, as long as the wealth of resources is converted into concrete opportunities for society.