Gabay Guro winner receives Chery Tiggo
Gabay Guro, the flagship education program of PLDT-Smart Foundation (PSF) under its Gabay Karunungan advocacy, recently turned over the Chery Tiggo Grand Prize to 38-year-old teacher Anafel from Misamis Occidental.
A first-time attendee of Gabay Guro’s virtual Grand Gathering last October 2021 which gained more than 500,000 live viewers, Anafel is also the first-ever Grand Gathering winner from Mindanao.
Gabay Guro is a 15-year-old program that has been empowering Filipino teachers through its seven key pillars — scholarships, trainings, classroom donations, livelihood programs, connectivity and computerization, teachers’ tribute, and digital innovations. It reinforces PLDT and Smart’s commitment to the UN Sustainability Development Goals #4, Quality Education.
Anafel is a junior high school and mathematics teacher from Sta. Maria National High School.
New features at ShopeePay
ShopeePay continues to introduce features that impact the lives of Filipinos.
ShopeePay provides useful features such as ‘send money for free’ and the cheapest load up to 5GB for P10 this 4.4 ShopeePay Sale.
Until April 6, consumers can look forward to even more rewarding perks at the 4.4
ShopeePay Sale such as zero transaction fees when sending money and the cheapest load offers. It is also giving instant savings with exclusive free shipping vouchers and cashback promotions.
Since its launch in 2019, Shopee’s integrated mobile wallet, has been providing convenience, security, and rewards.
Users can send money for free. This feature allows users to send money from their ShopeePay wallet to any bank, e-wallet, or Shopee user with zero transfer fees.
New users can get up to free P200 when they fully verify their ShopeePay account and make their first transfer (at least P50) to any bank, e-wallet or Shopee. Their transfer also qualifies them for the “Send, Scratch & Win” raffle promo.
On top of the cheapest load offer, all users can enjoy up to 50 percent off on load at the 4.4 ShopeePay Sale. New users can also avail of P75 load for only P1 when they purchase for the first time via ShopeePay
Through ShopeePay’s Scan To Pay feature, users can do contactless payment via QR code and receive 20% percent cashback for products and services purchased at partner merchants.
Starting March 27, users can also get up to 100 percent cashback on participating billers with ShopeePay.
Empowering 162 Laguna farmers
BPI Foundation, in collaboration with AGREA Foundation, uplifted the lives of 162 farmers in Laguna, enabling them to become more sustainable and financially resilient as part of the Farm to Table program.
A total of 68 farmers learned, explored, and incubated ideas to spark transformation in their communities; the Masterclass for Outstanding Village Economies (MOVE) enabled 70 women farmers to have improved nutrition at home and in their communities through training on food processing and selling of healthy products; and the Youth Leadership and Agripreneurship Workshop (YLAW) introduced 24 young farmers to the basics of agricultural production, enabling them to define their life goals and lead their communities toward economic development.
The farmers were also linked to direct markets, trained on financial literacy via training sessions under BPI Foundation’s FinEd Unboxed program, and provided opportunities to avail of formal financial services through BPI Direct BanKo, the microfinance unit of BPI, to increase their capacity to earn and provide for themselves and their families.
The farmers from Majayjay are all set to sell their produce in neighboring communities such as Bay, Los Baños, and Calamba in Laguna; and in Metro Manila.
Libreng Tawag, Libreng Charging
Globe recently deployed Libreng Tawag and Libreng Charging stations in some Batangas evacuation sites after Taal Volcano’s alert level was raised to 3, indicating possible succeeding eruptions.
Libreng Tawag and Libreng Charging stations were made available to families evacuated in Agoncillo Central School, Brgy. Poblacion, Agoncillo town, Batangas from March 26 to 28.
As part of its intensified disaster preparedness program, Globe assures the public that its technical and support personnel are always on call and that standby generators are ready for use by its facilities to ensure that communications services remain up in affected areas.
Globe also advised affected residents to heed local government units’ evacuation calls, store enough food and water, prepare face masks and first aid kits, keep extra batteries for their flashlights, and charge their mobile phones.
Globe is prepared to activate existing GoWiFi facilities to provide additional internet connection in nearby areas as the need arises.
Globe, likewise, provides its customers free data access to the website of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology for updates from authorities. The company also reminded Filipinos to only tune in to legitimate and trusted websites for correct information.
Bringing hope for Odette-hit areas
Santé, its employees and business owners, gathered their resources to assist their fellow members that were directly affected by the Typhoon Odette.
The leading health and wellness brand successfully produced and turned over 63 relief boxes, which consisted of clothes, water, and other essentials. It also contained food, rechargeable electric fans, flashlights, blankets, pillows, and many more.
Santé is one of the fastest-growing distribution and direct selling companies globally. Aside from New Zealand and the Philippines, Santé is also present in key markets, such as Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Abuja, Lagos, and Cyprus. It offers premier natural and organic health and wellness products and services designed to improve people’s quality of life so they can live more and do more.
New face of Isuzu Makati
On March 30, 2022, Isuzu Philippines Corp. (IPC), with Isuzu Gencars, Inc (Gencars), launched the new face of Isuzu Makati, the brand’s latest dealership in the country to formally adopt the corporate design philosophy known as the Isuzu Outlet Standard (IOS).
Gencars has 7 branches under its wing — Isuzu Legaspi, Isuzu Naga, Isuzu San Pablo, Isuzu Batangas, Isuzu Batangas City, Isuzu Sta.Rosa, and Isuzu Makati.
The latter is the group’s first branch to bear the IOS and on-going plans are in the works for the other branches. Over the years, the said group has earned a reputation as one of the brand’s most trusted partners and helped extensively expand its reach in the Southern part of Luzon.
Hero of the Year
For her commitment in promoting the financial literacy of Filipinos while effecting positive change in the communities she works with, SmarTrade president and CEO Joyce Ann Mayo was bestowed the ‘Hero of the Year’ award by the Women of Global Change (WGC), an international non-profit and social impact organization, and Aspire Magazine Global.
The award is given to individuals and organizations that embody a strong social responsibility and implement humanitarian works.
With Mayo at its helm, SmarTrade has trained more than 20,000 Filipinos in financial literacy for the past five years. The company has been providing free learning sessions and personalized one-on-one financial coaching to help individuals become financially adept and to teach them how to make better investments for themselves and their families.
From idea to unicorn
Microsoft has launched its Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub in Asia, to empower startups’ ambitions and fuel innovation to drive economic and societal progress for Asia and beyond.
Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is a new digital and truly inclusive platform for Founders in Asia. The platform offers over $300,000 worth of benefits and credits, giving startups free access to the technology, tools, and resources they need to build and run their business from the most trusted, secure, open-source friendly and compliant cloud platform, to best-in-class developer and productivity tools including GitHub Enterprise, Visual Studio Enterprise and Microsoft 365.
Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub will empower entrepreneurs to innovate and grow by connecting them with mentors who will provide them with industry, business, and technical support to guide them through their next business milestones. Founders will have access to Microsoft Learn and a variety of startup and unicorn programs to help them build connections with customers and accelerate their growth.
AboitizPower, Connected Women team up
AboitizPower has partnered with Connected Women to train 60 women from Toledo City in Cebu on artificial intelligence data annotation and other important computer skills to get them ready for the future of work.
This initiative is part of the Elevate AIDA (Artificial Intelligence Data Annotation) program that Connected Women runs, which was launched in June 2020 at the height of the pandemic. Elevate AIDA was created in partnership with UN Women and WeEmpowerAsia and aims to provide women in rural areas in the Philippines with remote work skills, basic professional and computer skills, and AI data labeling skills so they can become active contributors in the digital economy and artificial intelligence industry.
TVI, together with the Aboitiz Foundation, entered into a memorandum of agreement with Connected Women in a signing ceremony in Barangay Bato in Toledo City on March 23, 2022 to train unemployed women, particularly mothers, from its partner communities in barangays Bato, Cabitoonan, and Awihao in Toledo. At the end of their training program, these women will be able to do basic data annotation tasks such as image identification and categorization.
