Manila, Philippines – Small businesses in the Philippines are the most bullish compared to its counterparts in the Asia-Pacific region, with nearly nine of ten SMBs expected to grow this year due to technology investment. This is according to the latest data from professional accounting body CPA Australia.

According to the data, three quarters of Filipino small businesses grew in 2022, an increase of 10 percentage points from 2021. A robust economy contributed to 89% predicting growth this year. This optimism is reflected in plans of around 58% of local businesses to hire more staff this year.

A strong focus on maintaining customer relationships and using social media contributed to growth. Around 44% of businesses nominated customer loyalty as a positive factor. Meanwhile, over 90% used social media for business purposes, including promoting to potential customers (65%) and selling products or services (59%).

The data also remarked that Filipino small businesses’ ability to identify the right technologies to invest in and profit from further strengthened their competitiveness. Seven-in-10 of businesses said their investments last year had improved profitability, strongly surpassing the survey average of 55%.

Nonetheless, increasing costs and difficulties accessing external funds may hamper financial returns and development plans. Four-in-10 businesses said increased costs were negatively affecting their businesses, the highest result in all surveyed markets. The cost of materials (42%) ranked as the cost most felt by local businesses, followed by fuel (38%) and utilities (36%).

Nicklaus Wee, regional manager for emerging markets, said, “Due to increasing domestic demand and a speedy recovery in the services sector, particularly in tourism, many Filipino small businesses expanded solidly. They continue to be one of the most dynamic in the Asia-Pacific region.”

He added, “The COVID pandemic has fundamentally changed consumer behaviour. The survey shows that Filipino small businesses are adopting a more customer-oriented approach, including increasing their interaction with potential customers. Using customer feedback allows them to swiftly identify the best options, including technological solutions to meet customers’ needs.”

London, United Kingdom – Global marketing research firm YouGov has named Steve Hatch, recently the vice president for Northern Europe at Meta, as its new chief executive officer. Said appointment officially takes effect on August 1 this year.

Hatch will replace current YouGov CEO Stephan Shakespeare who will assume the role of non-executive chair at the company. Shakespeare will work closely with Hatch in the initial months of his appointment to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities at the company.

He has over 30 years of experience leading high-growth marketing, media, and technology companies. He was appointed as Facebook’s first regional director for the United Kingdom in 2014, overseeing a fundamental evolution of the platform. In 2016, he became Meta’s vice president for Northern Europe, managing all business operations and strategy for the region, driving the introduction of Meta’s e-commerce products, and development of the company’s insight tools.

Prior to joining Facebook, Hatch spent 15 years at WPP, his final role being CEO of media agency MEC. Before joining WPP, Steve worked in strategy roles at Omnicom and Y&R.

Speaking on his appointment, he said, “YouGov is a business I have closely followed and admired for some time. The company is in a strong position with a clear strategic direction and significant investment in technology and international reach driving robust client demand and consistent top-line growth performance in recent years.” 

He added, “I look forward to working closely with Stephan, the wider board and the full YouGov team on the great opportunities ahead in the third strategic growth plan as we look to create further value for customers, partners, shareholders, and colleagues.”

Jakarta, Indonesia – Populix, the Indonesia-based consumer insights platform, has secured fresh funding of $7.7m in a Series A round of financing. The fresh funds will be used to further digitise its entire data collection process. 

Populix, which was founded in January 2018, is a homegrown consumer insights platform which provides research and data collection for businesses, institutions, and individuals through quantitative and qualitative studies. Populix offers a pool of over 300,000 verified and highly targeted respondents throughout Indonesia that are readily available to provide quick and reliable responses. 

With this new round of financing, the company said it will continue to optimise existing products and release new services. Furthermore, to drive efforts forward, the company shared it will be recruiting product and tech engineering experts to enhance data collection efforts and better meet the needs of more clients, as well as bring on marketing and regional expansion roles. 

The company also revealed that it’s planning to initiate regional expansion by 2023 to neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, building off its dominant position in Indonesia, with a focus on the Poplite product line.

Poplite is the platform’s offering for mass audiences which is a pay-per-use SaaS research platform that allows anyone to build surveys and collect targeted and actionable business intelligence. For experienced research buyers, meanwhile, Populix offers comprehensive datasets on a subscription basis that track different generational groups in Indonesia. 

“People are no longer relying on instincts alone to run their businesses,” said Timothy Astandu, co-founder and CEO of Populix

He adds, “At Populix we are building a world where both aspiring entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 CEOs alike can access fast and relevant data to drive business decisions.”

Populix leverages technology to build a one-stop-shop research platform. By moving data collection online and on mobile device, Populix aims to make research fun and rewarding for respondents and simultaneously make research quicker, simpler, and more accurate for businesses.

The said funding round was led by Intudo Ventures and Acrew Capital, with participation from Altos Ventures and Quest Ventures.