Canada's Top 100 Employers (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 20
20
( 2025 )
SPONSOR CONTENT
At BASF, there are many kinds of chemistry
W
hen she enters the
BASF Kids’ Lab at
the Royal Ontario
Museum (ROM)
in Toronto, Daniela Lopera gets
excited. She’s not a kid, but she
loves to see the reactions of the
children who participate. Which
is understandable, since it’s her
employer, BASF Canada Inc., that
partners with ROM to offer the
lab, which she helps organize. And
for the global chemistry firm, says
Lopera, the lab is “one way that BASF
gives back to the community.”
Lopera is a communications
specialist for BASF, focusing on
social engagement and charitable
giving, and her enthusiasm for the
company and her job is immediately
evident. She joined the Torontobased company in 2022, not long
before the ROM partnership was
announced. Part of BASF’s social
engagement strategy, the Kids’ Lab
promotes STEAM education –
science, technology, engineering, arts
and mathematics – among young
museum visitors attending ROM’s
Signature Family Programs.
“There's a lot of
interconnectivity and a very
supportive culture.”
— Daniela Lopera
Communications Specialist
“It's amazing to see the kids really
engaging with science education and
participating in the experiments,”
says Lopera, who helps co-ordinate
schools’ involvement and attends
each session. “It's truly inspiring to
see the kids’ faces light up.” Making
slime is a big one – “they always ask
to do more slime, because they want
to make more colours.”
As part of her volunteer activities
with the company, Lopera has also
participated in donation drives
and holiday wrapping activities for
low-income families – it reminds
her of her own early years, when
her family had just arrived from
Colombia and were the beneficiaries
of a similar program. Seeing the
same generosity at BASF, she says,
“it was just déjà vu.” To support
employees’ personal volunteering
efforts, BASF offers up to one day
annually of paid time off during
work hours.
Lopera is also a passionate member of the Women in BASF employee
resource group, which offers her
more opportunities to get involved in
volunteering and fundraising
activities. “I love participating,
because not only am I giving back
to the community, but I'm also
networking and connecting with
colleagues.”
All of which syncs with her view
of BASF, which she says has “a very
collaborative environment. I can
always go to a colleague if I have any
questions or need help – someone
said to me that BASF stands for
Better Ask Someone First! And it’s
true. There's a lot of interconnectivity and a very supportive culture.”
With just over 1,000 employees at
10 sites across the country, BASF is
“very employee-centric,” says Peter
Halder, head of people. “It's in our
mission statement that we create
chemistry for a sustainable future,
but chemistry is also something we
try to create for our colleagues and
our work environment.”
Employees at BASF Canada participate in a donation drive and giftwrapping event.
As part of social engagement,
BASF is also committed to sustainability and diversity, equity, and
inclusion – which it showcases by
engaging employees in eco-friendly
activities like tree planting, and in
diverse community initiatives with
organizations like Indspire. “We put
a lot of emphasis on building a diverse culture, having an organization
where we welcome and advocate
for people of all backgrounds,” says
Halder.
The company draws from a wide
range of professions, depending on
$
2,000
scholarship program for
employees' children
the site, he says. “We have a large
agriculture business, predominantly
in the West, based around canola.
So we have agronomists and agricultural background folks. We have
engineers and we have specialists
in coatings and paints for the
automotive industry.” Not to mention
technologists, with a growing interest
in AI, and people in corporate roles.
One of whom is Lopera, who has
found real chemistry at the company.
“The great thing about BASF,” she
says, “is that they hire for the potential they see in the person.” ¢
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