Angkas Wins Hearts with Hilarious App Upgrade Announcement

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Angkas, the popular motorcycle taxi app, took a unique approach to promoting their latest upgrade – a video advertisement packed with humor and heart. Released on March 9th, the video features CEO George Royeca in a starring role, and it's quickly gaining positive buzz online.

Angkas CEO George Royeca 

The charm factor comes from Royeca himself. He embraces a low-budget, PSA-style setup, complete with intentionally awkward moments. This self-deprecating humor makes him instantly relatable. The video even uses a retro DVD player aesthetic, complete with a bouncing Angkas logo – a playful nod to the app's improvements.

Watch the full ad here: https://fb.watch/qKt3lDbW3X/

But it's not all about laughs. Royeca acknowledges user feedback and openly discusses the app's earlier limitations. This transparency builds trust with Angkas customers. His passion for the app's potential to improve commutes and livelihoods is also evident, making him appear invested in the Angkas community.

The video's core message is clear: the new app offers a significantly enhanced experience. Customers can expect faster booking, a smoother user interface, improved location tracking, and even cashless payment options.

By combining humor, honesty, and genuine enthusiasm, Angkas crafted a video that's both entertaining and informative. They successfully promoted the app's benefits while leaving viewers with a positive impression of their CEO, George Royeca. It's a win-win for Angkas and their customers. Ready to experience the upgrade for yourself? Download the new Angkas app today! You can find it on the Apple App Store for iPhone users and Google Play Store for Android users. Look for the one with the glitter on the logo!

The Final Pitch Season 5: Real Estate and Livable Cities

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The Final Pitch has launched its fifth season with the theme "Real Estate and Livable Cities"

The Final Pitch Season 5 will feature landowners and entrepreneurs who will pitch their properties and businesses to a panel of investor-judges who are looking to own a piece of their properties or companies.

The country's first and only business reality television show, The Final Pitch fifth season will start filming this November and will begin airing early 2020. 

"For the first time ever, we will be producing a season with a theme - The Final Pitch Season 5: Real Estate and Livable Citles Edition will be the first season focused on real estate projects, urban solutions, and property technologies that contribute to the livability and sustainability of our cities," said John Aguilar, serial entrepreneur creator and host of the show. Aguilar is also the CEO of Dragon's Nest, a startup venture builder that will be building the ASEAN region's next exponential startups.

Previous seasons of the show focused on various technology startups and SMES pitching their businesses to investor judges for funding. This time, real estate-related deals and solutions for the property sector will be at the forefront.

Pitching for Real Estate

"With the jitters created by the possible volatility of the demand from the POGO sector impacting the entire industry, there is now an even more urgent need to prepare for an eventual down-cycle of the property sector, and future-proof the business interests of developers and construction industry stakeholders," Aguilar noted.

"This can be done by either consolidating landholdings for the future, or even totally shifting business models to prepare for the seismic shifts that technological disruption will bring to the real estate sector," he added.

A property owner or owner's representative or broker can pitch a property to the show's investors.

"Whether for sale or joint venture, we are looking for properties across the Philippines ranging from raw land, buildings, islands, even prime properties in the Metro," Aguilar stressed.

"Our foremost criteria for accepting these properties for consideration will be that the title is clean. We will not engage in a broker or broker's representative who does not have exclusive rights to market or sell the properties they are proposing. Properties or projects with an existing prospectus or highest and best land use study are preferred, but not required. If the property is for sale, the selling price must be at least 20% below market value."

The properties must be free from any liens and encumbrances and must be fully owned by the party pitching the property. These properties will be pitched to the investors with the intertion of selling the properties to them, or engaging in a possible joint venture project together. The terms of the deal may be flexible, but if the project is not interesting, the project might not even make it past the consideration stage.

"Ultimately, we are looking for great deals for the investors for properties that can be land banked, renovated, or developed for the future," Aguilar shared.

Developing Livable Cities

Aside from real estate deals, the season will also feature startups who will pitch businesses that make for livable cities-green and sustainable building materials and technologies, clean energy, all the way to smart home and proptech (property technology) startups.

Entrepreneurs who pitch their enterprise, service or invention must have at least a minimum viable product or prototype. Businesses that provide solutions that improve people's quality of living, particularly those that address safety, hygiene, healthcare, the environment, recreation, pubilic transport and access to goods and services will also be considered.

Investor judges and mentors

The show's panel of investor Judges is a mix of property developers, businessmen, and corporate leaders keen on exploring new enterprises that can complement their businesses, integrate effectively into their value chain, allow them to diversify their portfollo, or enable them to create meaningful impact through strategic initiatives and intervention.

The fifth season's judges are real estate movers:

-- Victor Consunji, CEO of Victor Consunji Development Corporation, an innovative developer of homes and modern neighborhoods

-- Cary Lagdameo, First Vice President of Davao-based Damosa Land Inc., the real estate arm of the Anflo group of companies;

-- Cesar Wee Jr, President of Wee Community Developers Inc, one of the fastest growing premium residential developers in the country;

-- Jet Yu, founder and CEO of Prime Philippines, one of the youngest and most aggressive real estate consultancy firms in the country.

-- George Royeca, Chief Transport Advocate of Angkas - 

In the mix to look for livable cities solutions and technologies

In turn, the show's mentors, who will guide the finalists in the different aspects of their business proposals with Amor Maclang, Public Engagement head of the Urban Land Institute and co-founder of GeiserMaclang Marketing Communications Inc., and Hardy Lipana, President and CEO of Conveyance Realty Services Inc.

Interested property owners and entrepreneurs who want to pitch their property, solution or startup may log on to thefinalpitch.ph/application. Deadline for submission is by November 11, 2019.

The Final Pitch airs Sundays at 8 pm, with replays every Monday at 9:30 pm and Saturdays 1 pm on CNN Philippines. The show is produced by Streetpark Productions, Inc. To view past seasons and to find out how you can get involved in future seasons, log on to TheFinalPitch.ph

ANGKAS: "To solve traffic, gov't and private sector need to work together"

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The biggest problem these days is the traffic congestion and becoming more serious day after day. It is said that the high volume of vehicles, the inadequate infrastructure and the irrational distribution of the development are main reasons for increasing traffic jam.

The traffic problem in the Philippines has become so huge that one agency cannot hope to solve it alone. The solution can only come from the collective effort of several groups—from both the government and the private sector—who work together to come up with a workable, feasible traffic plan.

Recently, the first-ever conference that provides a platform for public and private stakeholders - the Roads and Traffic Expo, was held at the SMX Convention Center in Manila, (October 1 and 2 ) and provided a platform for government agencies and private partners to discuss the solutions.

Angkas, the first app-based motorcycle ride-hailing service in the country, participated in the expo to discuss sustainable solutions that address the malignant traffic congestion problem in the Philippines. 

Inclusive mobility champion and Angkas Chief Transport Advocate George Royeca had a talk during the recent Roads and Traffic Expo and called for the collective effort from both the government and the private sector, and to work together to come up with a workable, feasible traffic plan to solve the traffic problem in the Philippines.

Royeca also joined a discussion panel in the expo with Ariel Lim, Former Presidential Assistant on Public Transport Affairs; Winnie Castelo, Councilor 2nd District of Quezon City, Former Congressman and Chairman of Congressional Committee on Metro Manila Development; Atty. Ariel Inton, Head of Quezon City Task Force for Transport and Traffic Management, Former Director of LTFRB, and moderator Amor Maclang, director of Transport Watch. 

The panel discussed best practices on public-private partnershipsin addressing the lack of mobility in the country’s cities as well as affordable, inclusive, and efficient transport options. 

During the discussion, Royeca emphasized the importance of collaboration between the public and private sector in providing better transport options.

“We at Angkas are dedicated to providing a safe, reliable, and affordable transport option for everyone, and we will do whatever it takes to continue doing so,” Royeca declared. 

“Angkas is not the be-all, end-all solution to traffic—no single agency or company can do that. But because of our current partnership with DoTr, we’ve shown that we can at least ease the traffic by providing an inclusive transport option,” he added. 

Angkas, which is currently on a government-sanctioned pilot run, has become a case study for the successful partnership between a private enterprise and government agencies. In June 2019, Angkas was granted by the Department of Transportation a six-month trial run that legally allowed the service to operate in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu. 

All 27,000 biker-partners were swiftly trained on new safety protocol to comply with the mandated requirements of the DoTrTechnical Working Group (TWG). Thus far, Angkas has maintained its 99.997% safety record despite initial speculation from government bodies on its safety. 

“This is why we will continue to work with all stakeholders involved—because we believe the problem can only be resolved if public and private stakeholders work together to come up with a comprehensive solution,” Royeca stressed.

“Financial losses incurred from delays caused by traffic affect both individuals and institutions. Before people even get to work, they are already exhausted from their commute,” Royeca shared. 

“Filipinos deserve better. Our hard work and perseverance, despite all odds, are admirable, but we need to address the problem and give Filipinos a better quality of life,” he added. 

In a study done by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the agency projects that the Philippines will lose P5.4 billion every day by 2035 if the traffic congestion problem is not properly addressed. 

The two-day Roads and Traffic Expo saw discussions on holistic solutions from public and private partners that addressed not only traffic management but the entire ecosystem that led to the mismanaged state of the transport sector today. 

Angeline Tham, the CEO and Founder of Angkas, joined the second day of the trade show to talk about the role of safe and inclusive mobility options in building more sustainable cities.