Business E-Journal: March 2023
In collaboration with the Swiss Embassy in Manila, we aim to map all SwissCham members in the Philippines including those firms and entities, which have Swiss roots or doing business within Switzerland. We started with ecozone locators in nearby provinces and gathered them in a luncheon hosted by His Excellency Alain Gaschen. Participants shared a similar passion towards the promotion of sustainability and digitalization to fast-track economic development. The gathering likewise served as a venue for like-minded executives to share best practices and discuss ideas on common challenges and opportunities.
In Jakarta, a network of Swiss Business Hubs in ASEAN and Switzerland met to analyse market conditions and formulate strategies to further promote Swiss exports to the region. SwissCham Philippines had the opportunity to narrate its transition and unique dynamic of working with S-GE, SECO, FDFA, and colleagues in the region – all contributing towards the implementation of the Swiss foreign economic policy strategy.
In this issue, we are happy to showcase what our members have done in their respective fields, and by this, we refer to Delta’s motor-mounted pump driving energy-saving water supply for the country. We have Icos and Buhler connecting dozens of start-ups to accelerate sustainability, and Roche Philippines looking for more ways in addressing cancer treatment and promoting social awareness.
We also feature existing members such as STAMM International Inc., Franke Food service Systems Philippines, and Nestle Philippines. On several occasions, we are also visited by Filipino MSMEs who wish to venture to EFTA and Switzerland, and recently, we had the chance to meet Acenzo, which specializes in imports and exports.
We are grateful to Wilson Tan of SGV & Co for reminding us to rev up and ‘adopt abold mindset of optimism and growth and leave the pandemic mindset of caution and risk aversion behind’.
He adds that successful transitions of any kind muststart with people (humans at the centre of inclusive growth). I am sure many of uscan relate to this, if we wish to drive change, we invest in our people.
Finally, we hope to see you all in our roundtable series next month as we invited the Secretary of the Department of Information Communications Technology(DICT) to share with us what his department plans to transform a digital Philippines.