Meet Madiskarte Moms PH, a new online community of mompreneurs helping fellow mompreneurs

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The current economic condition has undoubtedly given rise to more home-based “mompreneurs,” or full-time moms wanting to start or grow an online business to earn additional income for their family. But as every entrepreneur knows, starting a business is not always easy, and it helps to have a community of fellow business-minded mommies for much-needed support and encouragement.

This is where Madiskarte Moms PH finds its purpose. A Facebook community launched in the thick of the pandemic, Madiskarte Moms PH encourages entrepreneurship among mommies wanting to earn from home through side hustles while still enjoying quality time with their families. Together with its highly engaging YouTube channel, Madiskarte Moms PH is a safe, friendly space where beginners can interact with more seasoned sellers for tried and tested tips on growing a business while attending to their duties at home.

Powering Filipino business owners with the strongest connections and the most reliable digital tools, PLDT Home Biz has recently reached out to Madiskarte Mom PH’s 95,000 mompreneur members to provide much-needed support for their ventures.

“We saw the rise of homebased entrepreneurs using online tools to grow their businesses when the pandemic struck. Many of these ‘homepreneurs’ are moms or homemakers who wanted to find an extra source of income to support their families during this time of uncertainty. As part of our advocacy to encourage entrepreneurship in the country, PLDT Home Biz is very supportive of these Filipino moms who are setting up their side hustles from the comfort and safety of their homes. At PLDT Home Biz, we believe in supporting the dreams of every Filipino family through strong connectivity,” says Patrick Tang, First Vice President and Head of PLDT Home Customer Management. “We are here to help them grow their side hustle into a registered and sustainable business.”

Join the Mommy Movement!

There are many exclusive perks to joining Madiskarte Moms PH. In this safe online space, members can meet, learn, and collaborate with other like-minded mompreneurs. They are also entitled to free webinars and trainings led by mom industry experts, to help them kick-start or upgrade their side hustle skills.

Joining the ever-growing Facebook group and YouTube channel also gives easy and free access to community events and exclusive gatherings. This can expand our Madiskarte Moms’ network by connecting them with established enterprisers from different industries. Educational materials and other tailor-made resources for mompreneurs are also available anytime to help them in their home-based business. Other activities such as live interactive sessions with side hustling- experienced personalities are held monthly.

"Dito sa Madiskarte Moms PH, madami kang matututunang diskarte para magsimula ng small business sa mas sulit na halaga. You get to meet other mommies who share the same interests and who can offer you tips and best practices. You can also interact with personalities who have already launched successful businesses and learn from them. Most of all, you can find partners or suppliers within the group who can help you grow your side hustle,” Tang says.

As part of PLDT Home Biz’s support for our Madiskarte Moms, the brand is set to launch Gawad Madiskarte 2022—the community’s first ever and grandest awards dedicated to its members who have stood out with their inspiring entrepreneurial stories.

Powered by PLDT Home Biz, Gawad Madiskarte 2022: Pagkilala sa Tagumpay ng Madiskarteng Pinay pays tribute to the Filipina entrepreneurial spirit and celebrates successful home business owners who also inspire others to pursue their dreams.

Grow your business with confidence by joining the Madiskarte Moms PH community and connect with other mompreneurs, mom experts, partners, and suppliers as you start earning from the comfort of your home. 

To be a member, click this link: https://pldthome.info/MMPHFBLaunch and to subscribe to the YouTube channel, visit https://pldthome.info/MMPHYTLaunch.

realme makes bold push into premium with GT 2 Series, aiming at global high-end market

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Driven by its “Dare to Leap” philosophy, realme is making the great leap towards the high-end segment with a new premium tech lifestyle for users worldwide.   

realme Founder and CEO Sky Li announces the company’s high-end push plan and predicts it can be as hard as “starting a new business” all over again.  

 

Shenzhen, China. January 04, 2022: realme, the youngest among the world’s top 6 smartphone brands and the Philippines’ no. 1 smartphone brand for 2021, today unveiled its first-ever and much-anticipated premium flagship series in China. The three-year-old tech brand continues to take on challenges beyond its limits to pursue greater-than-ever tech and design innovations.  

Creating a new premium tech lifestyle  

Beyond just scaling up specifications and services, realme designed the GT 2 Series to be a premium companion for everyone’s modern tech needs.   

Co-designed by award-winning designer and former MUJI collaborator Naoto Fukasawa, the GT 2 Series features the world’s first bio-based eco-friendly polymer smartphone design. The Paper Tech Master Design offers customers a more sustainable alternative while not compromising overall aesthetic and durability. 

 

The Paper Green version of the realme GT 2 Pro, the company’s most premium flagship ever.  

With the realme GT 2 Series, users can enjoy a top-tier and exclusive experience with several leading technologies. Among them are the 2K Super Reality Display screen which offers more realistic perceptions and adaptive interactions, and the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset for breakthrough experiences across 5G, gaming, camera and AI. It also features the world’s only 150-degree camera lens for unique fish-eye photography, as well as an interesting 360-degree NFC to make the likes of contactless payment and Bluetooth pairing easier.  

 

Aiming at the global high-end market  

“To be honest, for realme, which has only been established for three years, it is no less challenging to do a premium business than to start a new one,” shares realme’s Founder and CEO Sky Li at the virtual launch event, “Going premium is not just about shouting slogans or assigning sales tasks. We have encountered and will continue to encounter unprecedented challenges in terms of user insights, tech innovation and brand building. But we are still quite confident as we are fully prepared,” adds Li.   

realme has cracked the world’s top 6 smartphone brands in just three years, the fastest in the industry. It has made a strong mark in global markets with a TOP 5 spot in 21 markets as well as a rising momentum in 5G smartphone dominance. It was the fastest growing 5G Android smartphone brand globally in Q3 2021 with a yearly growth rate of 831%.  

Given its strong momentum, realme has decided to further meet its customers’ needs and pull out all the stops to advance into the high-end segment. It commits to investing more than 70% of the company’s R&D resources to focus on advanced technologies research, expanding cooperation with trending designers and institutions to elevate product design, as well as having a deeper global market penetration with China and Europe as dual engines.   

There’s no word yet on the local availability of these new product innovations to the Philippines. In the meantime, you can know more about realme’s latest innovations by staying tuned at the realme PH Facebook page at http://facebook.com/realmePhilippines or visiting the official realme website at https://www.realme.com/ph/.  

 

The new champions of Open Finance in the Philippines : Empowering the underserved and underbanked through technology

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As the country progresses into a digital economy, new champions have emerged to position Open Finance as a critical pillar that can bring financial inclusivity to millions of Filipinos. Leaders in government, banking, fintech, and insurance discussed how they can empower the underserved and underbanked during the virtual stakeholder meeting and thanksgiving celebration hosted by World Fintech Festival (WFF), Digital Pilipinas Movement, and Fintech Philippines Association (FPH).

Wick Veloso, President of Philippine National Bank (PNB) and Philippine Bankers Association (PBA), stressed customer-centricity as a guiding principle of Open Finance to “allow banks and other financial providers to better serve their customers.” Jojo Malolos, President of digital bank GOTyme, affirmed the utmost importance of giving opportunities to each customer: “We have to be serious in penetrating the base of the pyramid, the unbanked, and really bank them … Imagine giving loans to farmers by just … getting their consent to give out their data, you will be able to craft loans specifically for their needs.”

Edison Tsai, Partner and Executive Director of SeedIn Technology, explained major benefits of Open Finance: “The first result is that it empowers consumers” by giving them better control over their financial data. Second, “it allows financial providers or third-party providers to better create solutions and services that are more catered to consumer needs.”

However, concerns on consumer data privacy and safety are always at the center of the discussion on Open Finance through which banks and other organizations can share customer information with third-party providers. In this environment, Veloso underscored that information should be shared only with the consent of the customers who remain the owners of their personal and financial data.

Commissioner Raymund Liboro of the National Privacy Commission (NPC) also emphasized that protecting their data privacy can strengthen consumers’ trust in companies. He said, “Our role, really is to promote trust,” placing importance on the sim card registration. He continues as “this will play a big role in ensuring that digital finance, open finance, and banking, will be relied more on trustworthy tools and implements.” He emphasized that should organizations succeed in obtaining trust, companies will flourish, creating jobs and opportunities that will lead to a more robust market. Dan Wolbert, VISA Philippines Country Manager, named the critical areas of data that should receive the most focus: “transparency to the data they are sharing; transparency on who might use that data; [the] purposes that data may be used and however long … and [that] they manage their data preference.”

Featured in one of the panels, Todd Schweitzer, CEO of Brankas, reiterated that it is essentially the “technology, products, and the policies that enable customers to securely access financial services from third-party providers. They can choose how and where they would access it, and to whom they can share their data securely.” The decoupling of the financial service provider from its access point allows financial services to combine their products to become building blocks for Open Finance.

Other leaders shared how they succeeded in branching out into Open Banking. Noel Santiago, Chief Digital Officer of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), said that their early attempts to encourage customers to top up their toll fee wallets had “almost zero transaction volume back in 2018.” Soon, the uptake that was magnified by the pandemic garnered more than 300,000 transactions per day, while creating a synergistic system with the banks that benefit the consumers.

According to Lawrence Ferrer, President of Bayad Center, the pandemic was a game-changer in their continuing integration of Open Finance with their payment services. He acknowledged, “There was a significant shift towards going online. One of the things that I personally took charge of was developing different digital solutions that would cater to our customers.” Their research showed that payment of bills and loans were their clients’ priorities.

The Open Finance Oversight Committee (OFOC), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas-led initiative supported by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), can accelerate Open Finance development. Gorriceta Law Managing Partner Atty. Mark Gorriceta described it as “the transition group that will lead the implementation of initiatory and transition-related activities pertaining to the establishment of a formal structure. [It will also] formulate policies pertaining to Open Finance.”

Schweitzer, as the Director of Open Banking Exchange Asia, said that the Philippines is taking a “balanced approach to Open Finance” and that the BSP, through the OFOC, is “setting guidelines on basic technical operational standards” while remaining technology agnostic to allow space for innovation. He added that Open Finance and the OFOC “encourage financial institutions and technology service providers to get a step ahead” by participating in industry pilots and sandboxes.

He also looked forward to the collaboration among the leaders that can come out of the celebration as the new year approaches: “Open Finance and its technology are ultimately about providing more services to customers, especially those who rarely have access to them. Financial inclusivity can and will make this nation move forward.”

Amor Maclang, Digital Pilipinas Convenor and FPH Executive Director, also remarked that laying the foundation for Open Finance transformation is fintech which she described as “not a vertical but a horizontal that powers various industries” while creating a seamless interaction across sectors. The Digital Pilipinas movement advocates technology to solve pervading national issues and improve the Filipino quality of life.

First Row: National Privacy Commissioner Raymund Liboro

Second Row, From L: Noel Santiago, Bank of the Philippine Islands Chief Digital Officer; Todd Schweitzer, Brankas CEO; and Wick Veloso, Philippine National Bank and Bankers Association of the Philippines President

Third Row, From L: Dan Wolbert, VISA Country Manager for the Philippines; Jojo Malolos, GOTyme President; and Amor Maclang, Digital Pilipinas Convenor & FPH Executive Director

Fourth Row, From L: Lawrence Ferrer, Bayad Center President; Jove Tapiador, FPH Co-founder & Trustee; and Mark Gorriceta, Managing Partner of Gorriceta Law & FPH Trustee

Bottom Row, From L: Edison Tsai, SeedIn Technology Partner/Executive Director & FPH Trustee; Ida Tiongson, FPH Trustee; and Host, RJ Ledesma

Xiaomi Corporation announces donation USD 200,000 for those affected by typhoon Rai in Malaysia and Philippines

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Xiaomi Corporation recently announced that World Vision Philippines and Yayasan Food Bank Malaysia will each receive a donation of one hundred thousand US dollars from Xiaomi Foundation Limited, to support those affected by Typhoon Rai in the Philippines and Malaysia.

In the Philippines alone, based on the country's disaster council, more than 870,334 families or 23,380,167 individuals have been impacted by Typhoon Rai, and over 348,642 houses damaged. Hundreds and thousands of volunteers are working around the clock to help those affected and to provide survival essentials such as food and water, hygiene kits, kitchen and cooking sets, emergency shelter kits, and more.

As a global company, we believe it is our duty to be responsible, and to give back to communities impacted by situations such as this.

Those who would like to aid those impacted by Typhoon Rai, can also do so via the below accounts:

Donation account in the Philippines:

World Vision Development Foundation Inc.

BANK 

BRANCH 

ACCOUNT NO. 

SWIFT CODE

BPI 

Matalino 

4251-0024-15 

BOPIPHMM

BDO

West Avenue 

000-2700-4341-1 

BNORPHMM

PSBANK 

Ortigas 

038-33200013-8 

PHSBPHMM

METROBANK 

West Avenue 

060-7060-5186-41 

MBTCPHMM

Donation account in Malaysia:

Yayasan Food Bank Malaysia (MONSOON & FLOOD HUMANITARIAN RELIEF 2021/2022)

• RECEIVING BANK: MAYBANK BERHAD (Putrajaya Branch)

• BENEFICIARY NAME: YAYASAN FOOD BANK MALAYSIA

• SWIFT CODE: MBBEMYKL

• ACCOUNT NUMBER: 566010630584

Xiaomi Corporation hopes for the best for those affected, and for a speedy recovery in the affected areas.

Make extra income from home with Globe At Home and Google Negosyo Talk!

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Are you looking for another source of income to help your family? Or have you started some ‘side hustles’ to keep those funds flowing? Then this learn-to-earn program from Globe At Home Prepaid WiFi in collaboration with tech-giant Google is right for you!

Globe At Home Prepaid WiFi joined Google in the Google Negosyo Talk: Trending Negosyo - Usapang Online Business held last December 3. The event was perfect for those who wanted to earn extra, start an online raket, or improve their current business at home.

Favorite mompreneur and Globe At Home Prepaid WiFi ambassador Neri Miranda and YouTube content creator Madam Ely gave insights and shared their experiences and knowledge to start and grow a small online business at home.

“We know that Filipinos are always malikhain and hardworking especially for their families’ needs. This webinar is especially designed for our madiskarteng kababayan who hustles non-stop for their family. Google and Globe At Home Prepaid WiFi are here to ensure that malayo ang mararating ng business mo,” said Barbie Dapul, VP Marketing of Globe At Home.

Globe At Home Prepaid WiFi helps you go beyond internet access and to see your home as a place of security, learning, opportunities, and growth. Whether you are a Raketera At Home or want a Negosyo At Home, it ensures that you are right on track. Expect more of these exciting Negosyo At Home talks next year!

Globe At Home Prepaid WiFi is your ever-reliable digital partner for the things you want to do. For a one-time payment of P999, you can already own one with free 10GB of data. You can enjoy ultra-fast LTE, and a shareable and reloadable connection that you can share with the whole family. It is also very easy to use, just plug and play!

Globe strongly supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly UN SDG No. 9, highlighting the roles of infrastructure and innovation as crucial drivers of economic growth and development. It is committed to upholding the UN Global Compact principles and contributing to 10 UN SDGs.

For more information about Globe At Home, visit glbe.co/GAHPW