Insular Foundation is CSR Company of the Year
Insular Foundation, the social responsibility arm of Insular Life, was recognized as the World Vision CSR Company of the Year by Asia CEO Awards 2020.
Insular Foundation focuses on helping the Filipino youth achieve quality education through various programs such as its enduring Gold Eagle Scholarship Grant for College Students, Adopt-A-Scholar program for public elementary school pupils, donation of disaster-resilient classroom buildings for public high schools, storytelling workshops, and donation of children’s storybooks to elementary students.
Insular Foundation also contributes to the country’s environmental protection efforts in partnership with local government units and non-government organizations such as: the Kawayanihan Project in Lubao, Pampanga; and donations to the Philippine Eagle Foundation to support their research and conservation efforts for the endangered Philippine Eagle.
During the pandemic, the Foundation provided personal protective equipment, and free life insurance and hospitalization allowance to frontliners in nine hospitals in Metro Manila.
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Manila FAME enters digital age
The country’s premier design and lifestyle promotion event Manila FAME is holding its annual staging through a new digital trade platform for the home, fashion, and lifestyle industries.
FAME+ provides a new avenue for exhibitors to showcase their products to the world.
The FAME+ launch event on October 22 carried one of Manila FAME’s show highlights, Design Commune, to its new online home.
The digital Design Commune is envisioned to be a pilot program that reimagines the process of product development through 3D rendering and virtual exhibitions. Design Commune featured designs and products developed for the Ambiente trade show and the Maison&Objet and More Digital Fair.
Benefits in joining FAME+ include 24/7 year-round promotion of products in a virtual showroom, a digital storefront for each exhibitor, complimentary digital content production and curation for 100 exhibitors, one-on-one consultations with product development specialists, and access to forecasts and industry insights to keep stakeholders updated on the latest trends.
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Local startup 1Export helping exporters
Local startup 1Export, an end-to-end platform for cross-border trade and fulfillment, is helping micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) grow their markets by finding them the appropriate buyers for any and all of the products that they wish to export.
1Export smooths out the process with a tech platform, which makes creating the correct documentation for any country simple. MSME suppliers can also conveniently use automated labeling through a simple upload of a photo, making the path to going global a seamless one.
1Export said its services adequately equip partner suppliers with their exporting needs paired with a 100 percent port clearance rate.
1Export has won numerous awards internationally (Gojek Xcelerate 2019 & SoGal San Francisco 2020 Global Pitch winner), because of its focus on making exporting easier for businesses big or small. It remains to be the largest export e-commerce platform in the Philippines in terms of revenue share.
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SYKES’ COVID-19 response lauded
SYKES recently received recognition for its agile and innovative response to the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. It was given by the international business award body Stevie Awards for Great Employers.
Recognized for its exemplary COVID-19 pandemic preparedness and response, SYKES was granted a Silver Stevie Award for implementing the Most Innovative Work-From-Home Plan and a Bronze Stevie Award for having the Most Innovative Workplace Redesign.
The expansion of the company’s existing work-at-home (WAH) plan has enabled 75 percent of its entire workforce to work remotely.
The Stevie Awards for Great Employers also commended SYKES’ innovative work-at-home plan, where it deployed thousands of PC setups, including accessories, office chairs, and WiFi connection, to provide WAH access to roughly 12,000 employees. The contact center also set up OneLeap a one-stop shop online portal where employees can learn best practices on how to easily transition to their new work environment.
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Allianz PNB, San Juan City partner for first bike pit-stop
Allianz PNB Life and the local government of San Juan City have partnered for the construction of the country’s first solar-powered bike pit stop.
The facility which will be constructed in the San Juan City Hall Complex will feature a bike parking area, a bikers’ resting area and a small footprint bike repair station complete with hanger arms, repair tools and air pump.
Apart from the bike pit stop, the partnership will also install safety bollards for bikers on major thoroughfares across the city to provide safe lanes for bikers to travel.
The city also earlier launched bike lanes and deployed bike patrollers to ensure the safety of bikers and quarantine protocols.
Allianz is looking to bring its Ride Safe Movement campaign to more areas across the country.
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PT&T partners with VMware
Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (PT&T) has partnered with US-based VMware Inc. to offer a new service that allows enterprise clients to manage their bandwidth usage.
PT&T said the VMware Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) complements its connectivity offerings as this improves network quality and application performance as well as simplifies support and troubleshooting.
Touted as the next big thing in multi-site interconnect technology, SD-WAN works by automating network discovery and configuration, and redirecting network traffic to the most reliable links. Some solutions also add security capabilities to enable optimally protected traffic.
Ella Mae Ortega, PT&T general manager for IT services and large enterprise, said the inclusion of VMware SD-WAN in the company’s product portfolio further strengthens its lineup of core business solutions aimed at providing value added services to customers.
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Gov’t agencies give Enchanted Kingdom’s
health, safety measures a thumbs up
After a six-month hiatus of park operations, Enchanted Kingdom has finally been given the green light to reopen after representatives from several government agencies — DOT, DTI, and DOLE — personally visited the first and only world-class theme park to check if the health and safety measures parkwide are in place prior to reopening this October.
Santa Rosa City Mayor Arlene Arcillas also inspected major rides, restaurants, and even restrooms to see how the physical distancing will be enforced, and in a statement said “we want to show the people also that we have to move on, but then we have to move on, practicing safety protocols.”
“I personally see that the compliance is there, the system is there,” DTI- Calabarzon Regional Director Malou Toledo, said.
DOLE-Laguna Provincial Director Guido Recio did not see any cause to halt the Park’s reopening plans, “I will tell our Regional Director, there’s no reason to say that EK is not allowed to reopen,” he shared.
The DOT-Calabarzon, meanwhile, led by Accreditation Unit Head Maritess Castro awarded the Provisional Accreditation Certificate to Enchanted Kingdom attesting that the Park has met the requirements and qualifications stated under the Interim Guidelines for New and Renewal Applications for Accreditation during the period of community quarantine.
To know more latest park advisories and information, please visit EK’s official facebook page at www.facebook.com/enchantedkingdom.ph or check out the website at www.enchantedkingdom.ph.
