Tag: Philippines

Manila, Philippines – Women’s health ecosystem in Asia, Ease Healthcare, has officially launched its digital health services and mobile app in the Philippines, aimed at empowering Filipinas with the tools and support they need to make informed decisions about their sexual, reproductive, and menstrual health and wellness. 

Through the Ease app, users can gain access to convenient, affordable, personalised, and credible women’s health information and services from the comfort of their own homes. Users can access teleconsultations with leading local medical professionals for their various women’s health needs, as well as opt for discreet medication delivered right to their doorsteps within one to two business days in Metro Manila and Antipolo, and three to 10 days for the rest of the Philippines. Ease will also be building more in-app community features localised to the specific needs of Filipino women.

As part of the app launch, Ease has partnered with ‘It’s OK to Delay’, an SBC (social and behaviour change) campaign by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) ReachHealth project, to educate young adults in the Philippines about family planning and contraception. This partnership has launched a virtual live event, ‘Girls Helping Girls’, which was held in April 2022, focused on family planning.

Together with local organisations such as Philippine Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM), Ease also aims to address four key access gaps for women’s health in the Philippines through its services, namely inconvenience, high costs, stigma, and lack of education. 

Juan Antonio A. Perez III, POPCOM’s executive director, said that in a conservative society like the Philippines, women’s health is not often openly discussed, which has led many young women to come unprepared in making informed decisions about family planning and their own sexual and reproductive health matters. 

“We’re excited to democratise conversations on women’s health with Ease, and we look forward to more partnerships with them in the future,” added Perez.

Meanwhile, Guadalupe Lazaro, Ease Healthcare’s co-founder, noted, “Besides providing greater education, we also wanted to build a safe community for women to exchange information and ideas without feeling judged so that more could make informed decisions about their own health. Through these efforts, we hope to change the landscape of women’s health in the Philippines.”

Rio Ho, Ease Healthcare’s co-founder, shared that today, they have over 12,000 women in the Philippines alone using their app and teleconsultation services, and they look forward to growing this community with this official launch. 

“We hope to establish ourselves as a trusted and reliable source for women’s health services and education in the country,” said Ho.

Manila, Philippines – Consumer finance company Home Credit in the Philippines has partnered with the Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC) and local independent media agency PraXis, to produce an on-air radio program over MBC’s radio station DZRH and its sister stations across the archipelago.

The two-minute daily radio show will discuss topics around the fundamental financial literacy issues every Filipino needs to know—saving money, managing budget, accessible financial options, rising above debts, growing money, and tips on entrepreneurship. The radio program will also tackle digital transformation and financial fraud prevention.

Said effort is in line with Home Credit’s thrust of championing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) programs by pushing financial inclusion among the underserved sector in the country. This is also in support of the government’s goal of pushing financial literacy to more Filipinos, especially among those in the informal sector.

Ken Lerona, head of PR at Home Credit Philippines, said, “With the majority of Filipinos still trying to rise from the effects of the pandemic, the financial literacy radio program hopes to uplift the lives of the hard-working class by helping them choose sound decisions in managing their hard-earned money and keeping their overall financial health.”

He added, “Now, more than ever, we need to own our part and collaborate to help the nation, especially our fellow Filipinos who are unbanked and underserved. Through this collaboration with DZRH and PraXis, we at Home Credit hope to push financial inclusion and financial literacy to millions of our kababayans (countrymen) across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.”

To effectively carry out this radio program, Home Credit Philippines and PraXis will collaborate to find topics that will help address and shed light on Filipinos’ financial concerns.

Jun Nicdao, president of the Manila Broadcasting Company, commented, “As the most credible A.M. station that Filipinos listen to, it is an honour for us at MBC-DZRH to provide Home Credit the platform to promote financial literacy among Filipinos. We are confident that through this partnership, we will be able to equip Filipinos with the right values and knowledge that will help them come up with the right decisions in their personal finances.”

Meanwhile, Gladys Basinillo, CEO at PraXis, said, “We are delighted to be part of Home Credit and DZRH’s advocacy in promoting financial literacy and inclusion among Filipinos. It is a collaboration that we really look forward to, and we hope to inspire Filipinos to be better at managing their finances. We’re excited to bring people and institutions together in making initiatives that can impact the lives of Filipinos.”

The financial literacy program will air on DZRH beginning June 2022, during its prime time between 4:00 to 5:00 a.m.

​Philippines — TM Wholesale, the wholesale arm of Telekom Malaysia (TM), has signed a collaborative agreement with Globe Telecom (Globe), for a nationwide rollout of Globe’s co-branded gaming solution called Globe Gamer Grounds powered by Ember in the Philippines.

The partnership will provide Globe with access to Swarmio’s plug-and-play Ember platform for gaming that will enhance Globe’s gaming and e-sports services and bring it closer to its millions of mobile and broadband end users. Leveraging TM’s established global network and infrastructure ecosystems, the platform enables Globe’s customers to enjoy ultra-low latency gaming experiences with faster download speeds.

As an established digital solutions provider in the Philippines and an enormous provider of telecommunications services, the Globe Group of companies also has a significant presence in various digital solutions businesses, leveraging its substantial customer base, distribution capabilities, and strategic partnerships to establish a footprint that spans numerous industry sectors including fintech, healthcare, entertainment, adtech, e-commerce, manpower, IT services, and venture capital.

Amar Huzaimi Md Deris, EVP of TM Wholesale, stated that they are thrilled to collaborate with Globe as the gaming and e-sports industry is now considered the world’s biggest entertainment industry, with ASEAN gamers dominating the market.

“As a regional operator, TM Wholesale takes pride in making superior gaming experiences accessible to the industry via our wholesale offerings which provide a seamless and high-quality digital experience to users. This collaboration also aligns with our vision to create a more vibrant digital ecosystem throughout the region,” Deris adds.

Meanwhile, Ralph Aligada, head of Globe Games and Esports, shared, “With Globe’s all-in-one gaming platform, the community of gamers will enjoy a seamless and high quality digital experience. We are hopeful that with this agreement, there will be more opportunities and innovative solutions that would benefit our gaming community and users in the country, perhaps even across the region.”

Previously, TM Wholesale and Swarmio Media, a Canada-based gaming and e-sports technology company established a partnership to provide accessible and high-quality digital gaming and e-sports services throughout ASEAN. This partnership with Globe marks a breakthrough in TM’s collaboration with Swarmio Media, enhancing e-sports gaming and levelling up digital experiences for the Philippines and across the region.

Manila, Philippines – Local fiat and crypto wallet services provider Coins.ph has raised US$30m in their latest series C funding to accelerate investment in its Web3 ecosystem, as well as expand its presence in Southeast Asia.

In addition, the additional funding will support the company by reinforcing the platform’s crypto-native credentials and adding new products and services. Current growth plans include adding more cryptocurrency tokens, upgrading and relaunching the Coins.Pro exchange, offering additional crypto-focused merchant and payment services, supporting GameFi and guild management products, and entering new geographies.

For Wei Zhou, CEO of Coins.ph, the new funding is a significant milestone for the platform, and will allow them to accelerate and scale faster, bringing them one step closer to achieving their vision of being the go-to platform for all crypto, Web3, and P2E gaming in Southeast Asia.

He also added that as the Philippines continues to witness the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies, there is a real need for a secure, regulated, and user-friendly product in the market. Zhou also noted that they are solving that problem by delivering crypto and payment services that allow their customers to access, invest, trade, and spend their crypto assets seamlessly as a part of their daily lifestyles.

“We enable our users, even those without bank accounts, to easily access a wide range of financial services directly from their mobile phones. Our mission is to increase financial inclusion across Southeast Asia’s largely unbanked population of 650 million through our highly trusted brand and long track record of operating in full compliance with regulations. We see a massive opportunity to capture new users as engagement with Web3 surges in the Philippines and beyond. We will continue to build upon our leading market share and acquire new customers with a product that connects digital-first users with real-world goods and services,” he stated.

Coins.ph had been previously bought out by Zhou, who previously served as the chief financial officer at Binance, alongside Joffre Capital. Through the buyout, Zhou has been appointed as Coins.ph’s new CEO, as well as serving as CEO of the platform’s holding company that also operates Thailand’s blockchain-enabled platform, Coins.co.th.

Manila, Philippines – Shopper marketing consultancy, Behaviorally, has announced its expansion to the Philippines, servicing its clients from a new Manila hub, with Joy Abella-Yu, former senior director for business development and media at insights and consulting company Kantar Philippines, joining as the new vice president.

Aside from her previous role at Kantar, Abella-Yu has also held leadership roles at numerous research agencies, as well as client companies, including Johnson & Johnson, The Hershey Company, and Procter & Gamble, amongst others. She has over 15 years of market and consumer insights experience having worked throughout SEA and in the US. Abella-Yu will be joined by Kat Lim, Behaviorally’s director of client development, servicing brands in the region from the new hub.

According to Behaviorally, this move is the latest in Behaviorally’s rapid expansion in Asia and globally including new offices in Switzerland, Australia, New York City, France, and Germany. Behaviorally applies a digital-first approach to shopper research, a unique behavioural framework, state of the art AI technology, and decades of category expertise to define and diagnose the factors that influence consumer behaviour and drive shopper growth at both the digital and physical shelf.

Crispin Beale, Behaviorally’s group president, said that Abella-Yu’s extensive experience will help FMCG companies in and outside of Asia shape their go-to-market and retail strategies, as well as develop successful innovations.

“Plus her knowledge of media and digital trends make her the perfect fit for helping us implement our strategic vision in this region and guide our customers to success,” added Beale.

Manila, Philippines – 917Ventures, the venture builder of local telco Globe, has launched Concati, a one-stop application programming interface (API) marketplace, where developers can access high-quality APIs to effortlessly enhance existing solutions and get to market faster.

This suite of secure, scalable, and enterprise-grade APIs can be easily integrated into an organisation’s digital systems, allowing companies to come up with better products more quickly. Users can cut their building costs and development time by one to two months. 

With an easy-to-use API management platform, businesses can explore and connect seamlessly. Concati also offers reliable maintenance and aftersales support. In addition, Concati APIs work well with all major development languages. Developers can simply use the technology they are most familiar with. 

Mikey Garrovillo, head of product, technology and data at 917Ventures, said, “We are excited to introduce Concati to developers around the world for an elevated user experience among their customers. Anyone creating a new web or mobile application can benefit from the flexibility and convenience that Concati provides. The APIs are also relatively cheaper compared to their regional and international counterparts.”

Available APIs include address service, centralised logistics, consent management, feedback service, inventory service, leaderboard and missions, maintenance service, OTP service, push notifications, referral service, scheduling service, voucher service, and user service.

Manila, Philippines – As Grab in the Philippines doubles down on its efforts to pave the way for financial inclusion for all Filipinos, especially for its merchant-partners, the super app’s lending arm, Grab Financial Services Philippines, Inc., an SEC-licensed financing company, has launched its new loan service programme called Quick Cash.

With Quick Cash’s fast disbursal and easy application process, merchants can easily acquire a business loan that is tailored to their current needs, with no collateral required, and a flexible repayment term from 6 to 12 months. It is also able to personalise loans for each business to ensure they are able to afford their loan safely. Just as well, daily and automatic micro-deduction are also put in place by the program to help make repayments more convenient and hassle-free.

To avail loans, interested merchants will only have to confirm their merchant details with Grab with no additional requirements needed, and they are already all set to receive their needed capital and financial support – all in less than seven days.

Martha Borja, head for Grab Financial Philippines, shared that many of the budding MSME merchant-partners are in need of access to financial solutions – especially in the first few steps of their business which they have worked very hard to bring into fruition, and Grab is fully-committed to supporting them every step of the way. 

“Our new loan service programme will provide many of our MSME merchant-partners the very push that they need to scale their enterprise and grow their business on the Grab platform,” Borja said.

Manila, Philippines – PDAX, the digital asset exchange in the Philippines, has expanded its portfolio in the country, as it starts offering four new additional coins that Filipino crypto enthusiasts can buy, sell and trade via the platform’s mobile app. The new coins—Solana, SUSHI, XLM, and BNB—are now available to all members beginning this month. 

Each of the four new coins brings unique qualities. Solana, for one, is considered a more viable alternative to Ethereum due to its high speed and low transaction fees, while SUSHI is an Ethereum-based token that runs Sushi, a decentralized exchange platform where people can trade unique and hard-to-find cryptocurrencies that aren’t yet listed in major coin exchanges.

Meanwhile, XLM, otherwise known as Stellar Lumens, was designed to make transferring money as simple and affordable as possible. As for BNB, it is used to avail discounts on trading fees, pay for transaction fees, and invest in other cryptocurrency projects.

With the launch of these four new coins, PDAX mobile app now offers a total of 26 coins, the most out of all the licensed local exchanges.

Nichel Gaba, PDAX’s founder and CEO, said, “As the leading digital exchange in the country, we are constantly finding ways to expand our crypto offerings and address the needs and pain points of our users. With these new coins, we hope to encourage more Filipinos to start trading crypto.”

Before this month’s rollout, PDAX made some of the coins available for early access to members of PDAX Prime, a new exclusive service that provides high-volume Filipino crypto investors full access to even more tokens. PDAX Prime gives clients access to 50 tokens, including 30 exclusive over-the-counter (OTC) digital assets.

Aside from trading crypto on the exchange app, PDAX also offers easy transfer methods to private wallets so clients can use their assets for investing in DeFi, NFTs, and yield farming, amongst others.

Manila, Philippines – Alternative payment tools have emerged as mainstream for e-commerce payments in the Philippines and accounted for 30.7% in total e-commerce value in 2021. This was according to the latest data from data and analytics company GlobalData.

According to the data, the share of alternative payments in the total e-commerce payment value in the Philippines stood at 30.7% in 2021, up from 21.0% in 2017. Alternative payments were followed by cash and payment cards, which accounted for 29.8% and 23.5%, respectively.

In addition, the Philippines’ e-commerce payment market is crowded with several domestic and international alternative payment solution providers with GCash, Maya , PayPal, and GrabPay leading the space. According to a previous 2021 financial services consumer survey, GCash alone accounted for 18.2% share of the total e-commerce payment value in 2021.

Nikhil Reddy, payments senior analyst at GlobalData, said, “Although ‘cash on delivery’ continues to remain one of the preferred payment methods for Filipinos, alternative payment solutions have surpassed cash to become the most preferred payment tools for e-commerce purchases over the last few years. This is supported by the rising internet and smartphone penetration, growing consumer preference and rising merchant acceptance.”

He added, “The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the adoption of e-commerce payments in the country, as wary consumers increasingly favoured online shopping to avoid getting exposed to disease vectors. This has also benefited alternative payment tools, with consumers citing convenience, speed, and reward benefits as key factors.”

The rise of alternative payment methods allows the e-commerce market in the Philippines to grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.8% between 2017 and 2022, is expected to further grow at a CAGR of 15.8% over 2022-25 to reach PHP495.2b (US$9.7b) in 2025.

“While alternative payment tools lead the Philippines e-commerce payment space, they are also now increasingly being used for in-store payments. With the growing adoption of QR code-based solutions among merchants and government initiatives to push electronic payments, alternative payments are poised to disrupt the country’s overall consumer payments space,” Reddy concluded.

Manila, Philippines – Automobile manufacturer Nissan in the Philippines has appointed Juan Manuel Hoyos, former general manager of global brand and engagement at Nissan, to be its new president during the handover ceremony held last 11 May 2022 at Okada Manila.

In his new role as president, Hoyos will be responsible for steering the company’s direction to drive product innovation and business improvements. During the event, he shared his plans to strengthen the Nissan brand in the country to improve its competitiveness and to continue to provide excellent aftersales service to its customers.

Hoyos joined Nissan in 2017 as marketing director for the Latin America region, where he later took on the role of general manager of global engagement brand, based in Nissan’s global headquarters in Yokohama. Before Nissan, Hoyos has also held various management positions at Renault and General Motors.

The event also celebrated the achievements of the outgoing president, Atsushi Najima, as he begins his new role as the chief financial officer at Nissan India.

Recounting his achievements and challenges during his term, Najima commented that he is excited for Nissan in the Philippines as it charts a new chapter with Hoyos at the helm, as his vast experience in the automotive industry will help him sustain the growth that they have established in the last three years, as the country steadily recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic

“It is a bittersweet moment for me as I move to my new assignment. My family and I will definitely miss the warmth and hospitality of our colleagues and partners. At the same time, I am proud of the company Nissan Philippines has become through the hard work, passion, and perseverance of its people,” said Najima.

Meanwhile, Hoyos noted that they will continue to focus on their highly dedicated people, excellent products and service, and exceptional customer experience so they can sustain the company’s growth trajectory through this management transition. 

“I look forward to further growing the Nissan brand in the Philippines, building upon the solid foundation of trust it has laid over the years,” he said.