Tag: Enterprises

Manila, Philippines – Local open finance platform UBX has partnered with the Women’s Business Council Philippines (WomenBizPH) and mobile financing powerhouse SeedIn to empower Filipina women to become successful entrepreneurs.

The partnership entails the three companies collaborating in building a women-to-women (W2W) investment and lending portfolio. This will provide beneficiaries with financial tools such as investment products and credit lines to empower them in their journey to become entrepreneurs. 

The network of top women business leaders and entrepreneurs of WomenbizPH will have priority to choose and act as investors for their chosen portfolio.

Meanwhile, UBX’s SeekCap, an online lending marketplace, will facilitate the beneficiary onboarding, while disbursements and payments will be coursed through i2i, the banking-as-a-service venture of UBX, and BUx, a payment gateway.

In addition, SeedIn will play the role of the primary lender. SeedIn will connect female investors to the portfolio both from WomenBizPH and its existing investor pool. Beneficiaries can request for a loan for around PHPP300,000 or investment in a portfolio with around PHP1,000.

WomenBizPH Trustee and Treasurer Ida Tiongson said, “With the help of our fintech partners UBX and SeedIn, what we hope to do with is to be able to provide opportunities for women led businesses to get funding and hence would have a chance not only to survive but thrive.”

Meanwhile, Mylene Abiva, chairperson of WomenBizPH, commented, “This partnership with UBX and SeedIn, fortifies our commitment to support local small businesses and this extends to the elimination of gender disparity as well. Women play a major role in the country’s microeconomy, and empowering them by providing alternative financial solutions will undoubtedly make a big impact in improving the economic landscape in the Philippines.”

Lastly, Anne Yosuico, chief product officer at UBX, said, “UBX recognizes the gender gaps that hinder women from reaching their maximum potential. Thus, our vision of finance for all means eliminating these obstacles by providing women with innovative digital business tools and credit options through open finance.”

Philippines — In recent years, there has been a pivotal shift in consumer buying patterns – consumers have started making more important buying decisions on their smartphones. According to a study by Google, mobile searches for ‘best place to buy XYZ’ have increased by 70%, and 59% of consumers mentioned that the convenience of shopping on their mobile device is important when deciding which brand or retailer to buy from.

With this trend, it is crucial for enterprises to keep up and capture a touchpoint with their customers at the right stage in the buying journey. Since smartphones have become an integral part of this journey, enterprises need to expand their available communication channels to include WhatsApp.

MoEngage’s insights-led engagement platform allows enterprises to learn what their customers are looking for on their mobile app or website, use AI to predict what next steps their customers are going to take, and help them automatically send contextually relevant recommendations, alerts, and reminders on multiple communication channels.

Through this collab, enterprises can have personalized communication with their tech-savvy, mobile-first customers on WhatsApp. WhatsApp is used the most by consumers in the age group of 26 to 35 and is present in almost 180 countries.

Another report shows that, while 54% of consumers prefer using WhatsApp to receive shipment status and delivery updates, 50% of consumers use WhatsApp for appointments and to get notifications of upcoming events and 23% of consumers want to receive promotional offers from their favourite brands via WhatsApp.

As more enterprises adopt WhatsApp, the WhatsApp team is improving how businesses can communicate with their customers. For example, earlier enterprises were limited to sending timely notifications, making it difficult to follow up with their customers outside of a 24-hour window. To enable seamless and timely interactions between enterprises and their customers, WhatsApp now supports more types of messages, for example, to let customers know when an item is back in stock. The team is also working on a periodically-updating service available for more types of conversations.

MoEngage is also studying behaviours and how they can integrate personalized messages to keep customers reminded and engaged on their shopping needs albeit with a very busy schedule as long as they consent to it.

Raviteja Dodda, CEO and co-founder of MoEngage, said, “By teaming up with Meta, we aim to bridge the gap between enterprises and their customers by allowing them to leverage insights about their customers, their journeys, and the long-term impact of WhatsApp campaigns on key business metrics like LTV, revenue, retention, and product stickiness.”