Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

The gas industry plays a critical role in driving the global economy. Since natural gas is considered among the world’s most important resources, the trading and marketing of this vital product is a highly essential business. In America, one of the industry’s top new energy trading companies is Anahau Energy, a company that generates over $350 million dollars in gross annual sales revenue and an award winner of the "2008 National Supplier of the Year" by the National Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc (NMSDC), founded by Fil-Am Suyen Encarnacion Pell, and her sister and partner, Theresa Encarnacion Gendron. This prestigious award recognizes Anahau for excellence in business acumen and community service. Only four out of 15,000 companies across the country received this award (one per profit category). For winning the award, Anahau Energy was featured in the May issue of Fortune Magazine.

With tenacious perseverance, the young women are setting a new standard in the natural gas business and breaking the age-old trend of men dominating the industry. The young Pinays boldly embraced the challenge of being among the very few, successful female traders in the field, evidenced by Anahau’s remarkable success to date.

"At a recent event, one of our large utility customers noted that Anahau’s team may be the first and only woman-owned, American-Filipino combination in the energy marketing and trading business in America. We are very proud to be innovators in our field," said Suyen Pell, president of Anahau. "As female traders in this market arena, we have embraced the challenge of being among the very few, successful female traders in the field. Perhaps our success lies within our womanly sixth sense. We seem to have a knack for what our customers want and need. Many of the larger suppliers don’t seem to be able to catch on to the type of service our customers prefer. In a sense, maybe there is a certain advantage to being a woman in this industry. At the end of the day, it does not matter whether you are a man or a woman, we believe what is important is service and product combined. We have to remember that there is a person on the other end and when you show enthusiasm and respect for what others do, while providing the best service humanly possible, customers will come back. Through diligence, dedication, innovative business strategies, creative supply solutions and high quality service, Anahau has overcome its many challenges and is making its mark in the energy industry," Pell told Asian Journal.

Anahau Energy is a trader of natural gas commodity, buying from large producers which they, in turn, resell to utilities companies such as Southern California Gas Company, Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric, South West Gas, and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and local distribution companies (LDC), utilities, municipalities, industrial end users, energy marketing/trading companies, energy hedge funds, and other wholesale energy players nationwide.

Founded in 2005, Anahau Energy is a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) that began operations in February 2006. Pell shared more about her company. "Anahau began its operations with only a business plan, our team’s combined experiences, expertise and successes and a strong desire to succeed. In building a business from scratch, Anahau’s main challenge was to create new, strong working relationships with its customers. To address this challenge, Anahau ensures that no short cuts are taken when servicing new customers. This approach of focusing on the highest quality of service has helped deliver the best overall product to our customers and has been the driving force that separates our company from other small start-ups in the sector," Suyen stated.