Globe Group shares story of purpose -led transformation in UN’s Vision 2045 documentary series

Reflecting its long-standing commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Globe Group is participating in the UN’s Vision 2045, a campaign that features documentary films about how businesses from around the world are taking collective action for a better global future.

In its documentary, the Globe Group’s senior leaders talk about the company’s purposeled transformation – innovating with compassion, care, and kindness to deliver life-enabling services to Filipinos.

Globe Group President and CEO Ernest Cu looked back at how Globe transformed from telco to techco, turning the business around from a farsecond player when he came in 2008 to an industry-leader and gamechanger. Behind this success is Globe’s mission to serve.

“Key to every telecom company is the quality of its network infrastructure. A good network spells a good service experience for our customers. We brought the Filipino and introduced to the Filipino the concept of what a smartphone was. This brought about a new age of data, which in turn spelled partners and new life-changing experiences. We then asked ourselves ‘what was next?’ We decided that we would become a purpose-led company,” said Cu.

Globe Chief Commercial Officer Issa Guevarra-Cabreira shared how Globe’s expansion is rooted in the company’s desire to help enrich and enable the digital life of its prepaid users, the bulk of Globe’s customer base, through greater access.

“Speaking to customers, I realized that prepaid users— the vast majority of whom come from the lowest socio-economic brackets— had the same desire for innovation as everyone else and, arguably, an even greater need for digital enablement. Thus we began to explore how we could make it financially feasible for Filipinos to access the benefits of the internet,”

Guevarra-Cabreira said.

Globe’s transformation was further accelerated by the pandemic, when many day-to-day transactions and activities swiftly shifted to online platforms. In the midst of the crisis, Globe’s platforms shone through as life savers. There’s GCash, the country’s #1 financial services app, which enabled convenient digital payments, fund transfers, and even provided options for a savings account, investments and a credit line to those in need. KonsultaMD, the Globe Group’s telehealth app, meanwhile, provided accessible doctor consultations when Philippine hospitals and their personnel were stretched beyond capacity.

“We came into the pandemic as a company and came out as a group of companies. We are now shifting to become a digital solutions platform and have seen incredible success in bringing pioneering techenabled services that address Filipinos’ needs. Our goal is to continuously grow and fortify the Globe Group by providing more products and services that can address the daily struggles of Filipinos through digital solutions,” said Cu.

As it continues to grow, the Globe Group is on the constant lookout for startups from around the world with an aligned vision for the future and a mission to make positive change. Through its venture capital firm Kickstart Ventures, Globe has been supporting companies that tackle some of the world’s biggest problems, from food security to pollution, among others.

“We are very conscious of our role on this planet, of our responsibility to keep delivering life-enabling solutions. Our hope is that by partnering with these companies, we can work towards much more ambitious goals, bigger solutions and tackling bigger problems that perhaps on our own we won’t be able to address,” said Minette Navarrete, Kickstart President.

The bedrock of Globe’s expansion and transformation is its core telco business, where it continues to operate sustainably. Globe was the first publicly-listed Philippine-based company to commit to setting science-based targets and was recently recognized by Standard Insights as the Most Sustainability-Driven Network Operator in the Philippines. The company was also included as one of Asia Pacific’s Climate Leaders in a list developed by the Financial Times and Global Market Research Firm, Statista.

Key to this are its efforts to green its network and supply chain, and push for greater energy efficiency across its op-

3 cacao farmers from Davao to compete in Paris

By ANTONIO L. COLINA IV

DAVAO CITY—Three cacao farmers from this city will represent the country in the 2023 International Cocoa Awards at the Salon du Chocolat in Paris, France from October 28 to November 1.

This was announced by Director Abel James I. Monteagudo, of the Department of Agriculture-Davao, at the opening of the Mindanao Artisan Chocolate Fair on Friday at SM City Davao.

These farmers are Judith Gabasa of Bagong Silang and Policarpo Enricoso Jr. of Barangay Saloy in Calinan District, and Melina Villaflor of Callawa, Buhangin District.

Monteagudo said they would be flown to Paris after winning the Philippine Cacao Quality Awards (PCQA) last year in Butuan City out of 100 entries from all over the country.

“Davao Region really has what it takes to be recognized as the Chocolate and Cacao Capital of the Philippines with chocolate products at par with the best in the world,” he said.

He said that the agency would continue to strive to make the region produce more “best cacao beans” and “empower more award-winning cacao farmers, chocolatiers, and entrepreneur to be globally competitive.”

Monteagudo added that cocoa processors in the region are “scaling up,” many of them are venturing into the international markets like the United Arab Emirates and the United States, which have preference for dark chocolates from the Philippines.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), cacao production during the first quarter of 2023 slightly declined to 2,350 metric tons from 2,380 MT reported in the same period of 2022.

Out of this total, Davao Region produced 1,800 MT or 76.6 percent share to the country’s cacao production during the quarter.

Monteagudo said there is a growing demand for cacao in the global market.

He said local supply could not meet the high demand from domestic and international markets, which present huge market opportunity for the local farmers.

Acknowledging that the Philippines may not be able to compete with other countries that produce high volume of cacao, he said the government is focusing on improving the “quality” of the beans.

Under Republic Act 11547 passed in 2021, the entire Davao Region has been declared as the cacao capital and Davao City as chocolate capital of the country.

The law recognizes the “importance of cacao as a driver of rural development not only because of its singular potential as a raw material that can increase the country’s export earnings tremendously, and put the name of the country in the map for producing the finest chocolate beans, but for having provided livelihood to many small farmers in the countryside.” (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)