HONG KONG—The global marketing arm of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has partnered with the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE) to bring to overseas Filipinos in Hong Kong the Smart Pinoy-Go Negosyo caravan.
The event, spearheaded by the PLDT Global Corp. (PGC), aims to provide entrepreneurial ideas and insights on possible business opportunities which they can explore in the Philippines, PLDT Executive Vice President Eric R. Alberto said.
“This is our way of providing our overseas Filipinos a viable option when they return home and decide to start a business in our country,” he said.
The first leg of the Smart Pinoy-Go Negosyo caravan will be held today in Hong Kong. It will be held in cooperation with the Philippine Consulate General.
Nearly 200,000 Filipino household workers and professionals with their families are currently living in this former British Crown Colony.
The caravan will include talks on financial literacy, basics of franchising and developing the right mind-set to be conducted by Ramon Lopez, executive director of Go Negosyo; Armando Bartolome, chairman of the Association of Filipino Franchisers Inc.; and Mon Abrea, chief strategy officer of Abrea Consulting.
There will also be a forum featuring the successful entrepreneurs led by Myrna Padilla, a former migrant worker and the founder of Mynd Consulting—a business-process outsourcing company based in Davao City; Celestino Reyes, chairman and CEO of Reyes Haircutters; and Ginger Aganon, owner of Lagalag Outdoor Co., who have successfully expanded their business through the digital platform. Plus, there will be an exhibit that will showcase the various Philippine businesses, where caravan participants can sign up for more information or possible franchising.
“It will be a whole day of learning and fun for our entrepreneurial overseas Filipinos and we’re giving them access to the Smart Pinoy-Go Negosyo caravan for free,” PGC President Alex Caeg noted.
The event to be held at the Bayanihan Center on Victoria Road targets around 300 participants consisting of overseas Filipinos in Hong Kong with Philippine Consulate representatives. “We are pleased to bring the Go Negosyo know-how to our overseas Filipinos. We hope that the stories from our successful entrepreneurs will inspire them to plan for their future and prepare for their eventual return to their home country,” PLDT First Vice President and Head of PLDT SME Nation Kat Luna-Abelarde said.
Smart Pinoy has been serving overseas Filipinos in Hong Kong since 2004, following a partnership with HKT, a subsidiary of PCCW Hong Kong. “Through Smart Pinoy, we are able to service the needs of our overseas Filipinos with our wide range of telco and digital services distributed via a strong and strategic retail channel,” PGC Hong Kong General Manager Edith Gomez said.
Aside from vast data and voice offers, Smart Pinoy empowers its customers to prepare for their return to the Philippines.
“Through our Load & Save Program, our customers earn peso rewards for every reload, which is credited to their Smart Money account. Peso rewards can be remitted to their loved ones in the Philippines or save it for future business engagements,”Gomez added.
PLDT Hong Kong’s advocacy on OFW Reintegration Program started in 2013.
PGC hopes to bring the Smart Pinoy-Go Negosyo caravan to other territories where it operates, namely Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Guam, Macau, the UK and the US.
Go Negosyo is the advocacy of the PCE, which was organized by top business leaders, to popularize entrepreneurship among Filipinos as an alternative to unemployment, job-seeking or migration.
“The Smart Pinoy-Go Negosyo caravan for our overseas Filipinos is actually an expansion of our partnership with Go Negosyo, as we both aspire to empower our people by providing them the tools that they need to start their own business,” Alberto said.
source: Business Mirror
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