(From left) DTI-CB director Lilian Salonga, TMP president Atsuhiro Okamoto, TMP chairman Alfred Ty, and DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual.
As one of the past recipients of the Philippine Quality Award (PQA) for Performance Excellence, the Department of Trade and Industry-Competitiveness Bureau (DTI-CB) gave a special recognition to Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP) during the PQA 25th anniversary event held at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.
TMP shared its best practices exhibiting the PQA Excellence Framework in this event attended by government officials, PQA stakeholders, public and private organizations.
Livelihood program
Pilmico Foods Corp. recently renewed their partnership with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to provide livelihood assistance to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations (ARBOs) nationwide.
The Pilmico-Aboitiz Foundation Livelihood Program in cooperation with DAR will provide ARBOs with livelihood opportunities through egg machines and gilt dispersal kits donations.
Since the establishment of the partnership, Pilmico and DAR have distributed a total of 177 livelihood kits, amounting to a total of over P 17.2 million to beneficiaries nationwide.
Packworks wins IGNITE pitch
Packworks, a Philippine-based startup that provides a business-to-business platform to sari-preneurs, bagged the top spot in the Philippine leg of the Startup World Cup (SWC) during the regional Wildfire Pitch Competition at IGNITE 2022 last October 14.
They are set to vie for the $1 million grand prize in the 2023 SWC Grand Finale organized by Pegasus Tech Ventures in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, USA.
Packworks bested 9 other early-stage startup finalists in the competition. Sharing the podium were runners-up Smile API, a digital platform that fast-tracks financial application processes, and ALLCARE which provides worker benefits like healthcare to freelancers and solopreneurs.
Founded in 2018, Packworks offers a business-to-business platform for community-based micro-retailers or sari-sari stores and empowers them with financial literacy through an integrated mobile app ecosystem called “Super Sari Store App.”
Through the app, store owners can process their business’ inventory, bookkeeping, and data collection.
Tech Innovator of the Year
Fresh from their 4As Agency of the Year wins, local digital indie Propel Manila reigns supreme again at the 2022 Boomerang Awards, bagging Tech Innovator of the Year two years in a row, and winning the prestigious Agency of the Year, together with 12 more recognitions for its multiple campaigns.
Innovating nonstop and making it an everyday thinking has guided Propel in creating works that matter for its brands, people, and communities.
This huge win comes from major pieces of work for Globe x Pride@Tech Retold With Pride, Lazada Laz Play Charades, and MindNation 10.10 Real Retail Therapy, getting recognized across categories.
The 2022 Boomerang Awards of the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines is the country’s premiere digital marketing awards show that recognizes and celebrates the best of the best when it comes to creative and effective digital marketing technology and innovation in the Philippines.
Ovialand turnover of new school buildings
Ovialand Inc. has turned over two brand new two-storey elementary school buildings to Masin Elementary School, based in Candelaria, Quezon.
The turnover marks the completion of the construction of new school buildings that were initiated earlier this year. The construction was done in partnership with Kyushu Yaesu Inc. , a real estate developer based in Fukuoka City, Japan.
Each school building has 8 classrooms in total, with each classroom accommodating up to 40 students. The turnover is a milestone in Masin Elementary School’s history as it is the school’s first infrastructure upgrade in more than 50 years.
Abot-kayang Hooloogan
SB Finance Co. Inc. and Davao-based appliance and motorcycle dealer, EMCOR, have signed a memorandum of agreement allowing their customers to buy various products on installment through Pay Hooloogan by SB Finance.
Under the partnership, customers who use Pay Hooloogan can avail of financing options with no down payment required.
Special discounts will be made available to users of the payment method and will have the option to convert straight purchases to installment plans at any time.
Hooloogan offers a credit line for as high as P200,000 that customers can use to purchase appliances, furniture, laptops, smartphones, motorcycles, and three wheelers at Hooloogan partner establishments through the Pay Hooloogan facility. Customers can avail of light payment options from three to 48 months.
5th site
VXI Global Solutions, a leading BPO and CX provider, unveiled its fifth site in Davao City.
The company announced the new location at SP Dacudao Loop, Agdao, Davao Park District, which will add to VXI’s over 40 global service locations and generate new job opportunities for citizens in the region.
VXI is currently the largest employer in the region with 7,000 plus employees in existing sites at SM Ecoland, Felcris Centrale, Robinsons Cybergate, and Robinsons Cybergate Delta.
Metaverse-centric event
QBO Innovation Hub will be holding an event called “Metaverse and The Future of Design” on October 21.
The event, a partnership with Accenture, will be networking mixer for startup founders, developers, artists, players, creators, and enablers in the metaverse spacein the Philippines.
“Our aim for this event is to help different stakeholders, creative talents, and startup founders in enriching their present knowledge of the metaverse so that they can further explore how they can dive into developing new content and products that can be showcased in this exciting new platform,” said Katrina Chan, executive director of QBO Innovation Hub.
Chan shared that this metaverse-centric mixer event is aligned with QBO’s mission to help create a globally competitive startup ecosystem in the Philippines.
MPIC boosts livelihood for fisherfolk
(From left) Muntinlupa City Lake Management Office department manager III Herminio dela Cruz, Buli barangay captain Ronaldo Loresca, Muntinlupa City Mayor Rozzano Rufino Biazon, LAWA and Gabay Kalikasan ambassador Dominic Roque, MPIC chief finance, risk, and sustainability officer Chaye Cabal-Revilla, Huawei Philippines senior PR manager and program lead Karrie Buenafe, Laguna Lake Development Authority Community Development Division OIC Jaime Mora, Laguna de Bay Integrated Fisheries Aquatic Resources Management Council chairman Lauro Protacio.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) supported the livelihood of around 800 members of the City Fisheries Aquatic Resource Management Council (CFARMC) by providing fishing boats or bancas to eight barangays in Muntinlupa.
In a ceremonial turnover last October 11, MPIC together with Huawei Philippines, Maynilad Water Services Inc., the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA), and the City Government of Muntinlupa, entrusted eight bancas to barangays Sucat, Buli, Alabang, Cupang, Bayanan, Putatan, Poblacion, and Tunasan. Maynilad also turned over three solar paddle wheels aerator water treatment system that improves the quality of water in rivers and lakes, to the City’s Lake Management Office.
Clean-up drives will also be conducted in Laguna Lake, aligned with MPIC, Maynilad, and LLDA’s Laguna de Bay Welfare Awareness advocacy of protecting Laguna de Bay.
“Fishing is one of the oldest, most basic, and most important forms of livelihood. We see it as an integral part of our company’s mission to uplift fisherfolk communities, who help supply our communities and our country with adequate food,” said Manuel V. Pangilinan, MPIC chairman, president and chief executive officer.
Lalamove, DTI push MSME growth
Lalamove announced its strengthened partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry Region 3 (DTI-3) for the upcoming Likha ng Central Luzon Trade Fair.
The partnership sees Lalamove’s continued support of the government’s efforts to empower micro, small and medium enterprises under the One Town, One Product Philippines stimulus program.
This entails the provision of business logistics solutions to businesses across provinces within Central Luzon — namely Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales — that are designed to drive growth, widen reach, and boost economic performance.
Likha ng Central Luzon Trade Fair, a major regional trade promotion activity jointly organized by DTI-3 and Philexport-3 aims to gather and champion the region’s entrepreneurs. The annual event will run its 24th edition on October 26 to 30 at the Mega Trade Hall, SM Megamall.
Through the on-demand delivery platform’s long-distance delivery and last-mile delivery solutions, the partnership hopes to push entrepreneurs to grow further with the app’s affordable rates (fixed price for the first 40 kms), reach farther with wider coverage across 31 serviceable areas in Luzon, and broaden their market through a wide-ranging fleet of vehicles fit for every delivery requirement.
Telementoring for surgeons
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Philippines is collaborating with the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) through two key initiatives — Remote Surgical Education and Collaboration in Thoracic Surgery (RESECT) and Remote Education in Thoracic Anesthesia Program (RETAP).
Through RESECT and RETAP, multiple surgeons in remote locations are able to virtually interact and undergo telementoring through the innovative Proximie platform, which allows them to virtually “scrub in” to any operating room anywhere in the Philippines.
J&J Philippines has three main goals for this solution: to drive the advancement of surgical skills of surgeons in remote areas via the virtual scrub-in; to simulate face-to-face skills and procedure training during “live” surgery; and to help build the confidence of surgeons operating in remote areas .
LCP is the first hospital in the Philippines to use Proximie under RESECT and RETAP, which were launched in October last year.
