Mondelez Philippines evolves school adoption program
Mondelez Philippines, a committed partner of public schools for the past nine years, has been implementing the Joy Schools program, a school adoption initiative which supports the nutritional needs of students through a 9-month daily feeding program, and interventions for nutrition education and the promotion of active play.
The extensive feeding program has helped some 4,500 undernourished students improve their nutrition and well-being, in line with the Company’s purpose to empower people to snack right, with the right snack, for the right moment and made the right way.
Since 2011, the Joy Schools has adopted 16 schools nationwide. Three more schools have been adopted this 2020, namely Don Galo Elementary School and Fourth Estate Elementary School – both in Paranaque City, and Balara Elementary School in Quezon City.
This year however, a challenge much greater than malnutrition is being faced by the new batch of adopted Joy Schools: The COVID-19 pandemic. With no face-to-face schools in the foreseeable future for these schools, the Joy Schools program has had to evolve to serve the needs of the students and schools.
“We had to evaluate how to continue making an impact on our students’ nutrition and learning,” shares Toff Rada, Mondelez Philippines CGA Country Manager.
Since the start of the pandemic, Mondelez Philippines has also shared 10,000 cases of its snack products to health front liners and communities in need, through the support of 53 organizations. More recently for Brigada Eskwela, the Company shared snack products with 40 public schools in three Metro Manila cities, benefitting 3,500 teachers and school staff.
“We commend the support of Mondelez Philippines in continuing to assist our public elementary schools, at a time when they need it the most,” shares Elvin Ivan Y. Uy, Deputy Executive Director of Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), a partner of Mondelez Philippines since 2013 for the Joy Schools program.
IEE addresses clients’ changing needs
Pandemic notwithstanding, the International Elevator & Equipment Inc. (IEE), a group company of Mitsubishi Electric, remains a trusted partner of industries amid changing client needs to help improve lives and enhance working conditions.
Through innovative engineering solutions, efficient installation, and high-quality maintenance that adhere to its slogan, Changes for the Better, IEE continuously provides solutions to its partners like commercial establishments like malls and hotels, and offices like BPO buildings.
These include industrial air conditioning units, variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems for BPO buildings, water chillers, and complementary AC ventilators, smart and intuitive elevators with earthquake response sensors, automatic escalators, and even jet towel hand dryers .
Bonifacio Global City, Clark City in Pampanga, and even some public infrastructure under the Philippine Construction Industry Roadmap 2020-2030 are but examples of the type of product and service IEE has pledged.
P&A Grant Thornton on digital transformation
Professional services firm P&A Grant Thornton recently hosted a webinar on “The Impact of COVID-19 on Digital Transformation Agendas” with guest speakers from global artificial intelligence and intelligent automation company AntWorks and digital transformation enabler Microsoft, and participated in by CEOs, CFOs, and digital transformation experts.
“The past three and a half months have compelled our organizations to go digital in many ways… Changes to our work practices during this pandemic, however, are the just of the tip of the iceberg that is digital transformation,” said Ma. Victoria Españo, chairperson and chief executive officer of P&A Grant Thornton.
Herbert Bactong, P&A Grant Thornton’s director for digital transformation services, shared highlights from the firm’s recently concluded Digital Transformation Survey which showed while 80 percent of respondents have work-from-home programs, and 66 percent started work-from-home arrangements during the quarantine, only 54 percent of these companies plan to keep the practice after the quarantine.
Bactong said SMEs have a higher percentage of ongoing or completed digital transformation projects than large companies due to their flexibility and the less complex project requirements of smaller organizations.
The top three ongoing or completed digital transformation projects of those surveyed are process automation and digitization, workforce mobility, and digital marketing.
Companies are also interested in data analytics and e-commerce implementation.
The five significant challenges of survey respondents in digital transformation include security issues, lack of budget, lack of project management tools, lack of skills, and lack of formal strategy.
Hugo Walkinshaw, chief partnership officer of AntWorks, talked on practical resiliency tools, such as digitization and automation, as we move away from the traditional systems.
Yvette Watson, Modern Work & Security Business lead of Microsoft Philippines, talked about secure remote work and enabling a secure remote setup using the tech giant’s offerings.
To cap off the webinar, Bactong said: To transform, you need a strategy. “Roadmaps help identify and communicate with stakeholders your digital strategy. It also helps reduce project risk and increases return on investment.”
Paperless Trail touts digital document management
Systems integrator and application developer Paperless Trail Inc. highlights the importance of embracing the “new normal” in doing business through industry-leading solutions that effectively move compliance and document management to the digital space.
These include Archive One, Activity Factory, and Go Paperless!
Archive One is a document management software (DMS) that serves as an auditing tool, which seamlessly classifies, stores, secures, and retrieves essential documents. It is particularly helpful in the IT-BPM sector, whose companies usually employ thousands of individuals, therefore giving companies a huge amount of data to track.
Activity Factory is a workflow software that eliminates paper forms and the manual conduct of routing and approvals. It utilizes a checklist system that breaks down the workflow of business-wide operations into concrete steps.
Go Paperless!, the scanning service brand of Paperless Trail,enables the digital storage of business records and addresses the challenge of storing and retrieving paper-based documents.
Paperless Trail’s services are powered by Microsoft Artificial Intelligence which helps in digitizing thousands of documents daily by extracting text from images and conducting word analysis for contextualizing information.
Contactless delivery by J&T Express
J&T Express, a leading e-commerce delivery in Southeast Asia, said the pandemic has highlighted the need for business to adopt contactless delivery solutions.
These include regular sanitation of warehouses, working personnel, packaged goods, and delivery partners.
J&T said customers may also tap contactless delivery through e-commerce apps and online payments.
But J&T said the most important factor in doing contactless delivery will be to create a bond of trust that will ensure the safe delivery of the product, and also the safety of both parties.
In creating a trustworthy transaction, online sellers will need a reliable delivery partner to finish the contactless delivery process.
J&T said it has a suite of services that ensure fast deliveries and affordable rates. With real-time tracking and insurance coverage, products are delivered safely to customers.
Innovations at Ortigas Malls
Ortigas Malls is providing an avenue for its tenants to maximize their online presence through the Live Studio — a content creation hub located inside the mall for all tenants to showcase different products and explain their features in a live feed.
A fun and interactive way to learn about what Greenhills, Tiendesitas and Estancia tenants have to offer, each Live Studio will be equipped with a complete camera and lighting setup for them to shoot their updates, latest deals and newest products that consumers can watch safely at home.
On-the-ground services in Greenhills Mall now include Shop N Wash, car wash service that customers can avail of while completing their shopping chores.
OPPO Save the Children raise funds
OPPO has partnered with the international children’s organization, Save the Children Philippines, in assisting students in select remote areas of Caloocan, Navotas, and Malabon to enroll in schools under the new normal.
OPPO extended its partnership with Save the Children through a fundraising collaboration for the organization’s Project ARAL. The partnership aims to raise a total amount of P500,000 to help provide Basic Learning Kits to more than 500 Filipino students for their upcoming online classes. This kit will include art materials, notebooks, pencils, and other learning tools.
Recently, OPPO donated 100 brand new OPPO A12e units and 100 brand new rockspace Torch Bluetooth Earphones to help students access education materials through the internet under the new online distance learning arrangement by the Department of Education.
Additionally, OPPO recently launched its #eSchoolWithOPPO Back to School Sale where students and parents can avail of the brand’s best-selling A9 2020, A5s, A5s Smart, Reno2 and Reno2 F smartphones at a more affordable price.
Bayan Academy steps up online training
Bayan Academy, a social enterprise empowering Filipino workers with skills and knowledge, saw the pandemic as an opportunity to expand its reach via online communication.
With programs validated by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and supported by global financial services giant J.P. Morgan, Bayan Academy offered its various courses online, starting with Contact Center Services, Virtual Assistant and Basic Programming.
Skills that will be developed from these courses were identified as “essential” or with high demand, especially as the economies of the New Normal will rely heavily on AI-enabled digital technology and automation.
During the enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila, Bayan Academy intensified its online courses.
A second batch of online training graduates completed the Basic Programming using Python course. This would allow the graduates, some who are underemployed ones, to find work or business in the digital economy, which is robust during the pandemic when everyone is quarantined at home.
“Online training will now become the norm rather than the exception,” said Dr. Eduardo Morato, Jr. chairman and resident of Bayan Academy. “The crisis is not a time to retreat, but to equip ourselves further, retool our way of thinking, and update our skills. This is what we are doing at Bayan Academy as we continuously reach out to retrenched workers; micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and all those who want to improve their lot in life and survive not only this crisis, but whatever the future may bring.”
MDRT to hold virtual conference
Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), an association of financial professionals, will welcome its more than 72,000 members from 70 territories, including over a thousand members in the Philippines, to its five-day virtual event starting on Aug. 3, 2020.
Registered attendees will learn how to guide their clients and businesses to success with over 200 pieces of content during the live sessions and subsequent on-demand weeks throughout the rest of the month.
The main event, which will be broadcast in five global time zones, will feature all the components of MDRT’s in-person annual meeting and global conference, including dynamic main platform speakers, focus sessions, dynamic ConneXion Zone sessions, digital networking opportunities and more.
Sessions at the virtual event will be broadcast or translated into 13 languages.
Each day, the event will feature Main Platform and MDRT Speaks sessions addressing universal lessons for industry and personal achievement, as well as Focus Sessions on more specialized client services or practice management topics from industry experts. Attendees will also dive deeper into various topics during their ConneXion Zone sessions on August 4 and August 6.
Non-member speakers to provide motivation and refresh member perspectives will include former NFL All-Pro and magician Jon Dorenbos, relationship expert Esther Perel, US Army captain and Miss USA winner Deshuana Barber and more.
Attendees can also take advantage of the MDRT Build Your Network matching service.
MDRT members can register for the MDRT Virtual Event. Qualified financial services professionals seeking MDRT membership can still join this year, with all late fees waived under the MDRT Productivity Action Plan.
