5 Ways Technology Is Changing Business For Pinaypreneurs

Globe Business celebrates five successful female entrepreneurs whose stories show how tech is driving the digital transformation of their businesses

In celebration of international women’s month, Globe Business, in partnership with Shopee Philippines and the Women’s Business Council of the Philippines, gathered five Filipina entrepreneurs in a webinar entitled, Pinaypreneurs: Taking the Digital Lead

Rica Peñalosa (Ate Rica’s Bacsilog), Kim Lato (Kimstore), Sheree Gotuaco (Stylist in Pocket Technologies), Yayu Javier (Avanza, Inc.), and Mylene Abiva (Women’s Business Council Philippines) served as sources of inspiration for more than 2,000 viewers over Zoom and Facebook Live, as they shared important lessons they learned from running a business, and how technology has helped them make dramatic shifts in order to weather very tough times. 

1. Tech to get ahead

Moving from a brick-and-mortar retail business to fashion technology, Sheree continues to discover unlimited potential for her business. Among the realizations is that with technology, opportunities abound一even in the most challenging times.

At the start of the lockdown, Sheree called up her team and mobilized them so they could immediately shift to producing personal protective equipment (PPE). At that time, there were no other providers equipped with raw materials and manpower to meet the high demand. “We were one of the few who were able to supply the community,” recalls Sheree. 

When the demand for PPEs went down in 2021, Sheree returned to her business of  producing company uniforms. “We already had patented technologies like uniform management technology that allows for gathering data and giving size recommendations to hundreds or thousands of employees,” she says.

2. Tech for business continuity

Rica literally juggled motherhood and business; she gave birth while her enterprise was getting off the ground. Globe Business mobile plans with data allocation and unlimited calls and SMS to all networks proved to be critical for her in order to keep in touch with business stakeholders. “We depend on it,” Rica says.

Strong mobile signal continues to be an integral part of her business, as customer preference has shifted from dine-in to food delivery. It supports Ate Rica’s in facilitating store orders, and serves as a boost for delivery riders as well, who battle the elements and handle the food from restaurant to customer.

3. Tech to react to change

Kimstore relied on technology to be able to pivot as quickly as the business environment changed during the imposed lockdown. Kim immediately provided her employees with Globe Prepaid Internet Kits so they could continue working from home. Through Globe Business plans with higher data allocation and faster speed, they were able to serve their customers without interruption. 

Kimstore also had to take their payment system up a notch. “Our Globe Business account manager facilitated the raising of our GCash limit, so transactions with our widening customer base became seamless,” Kim shares.

4. Tech to manage business processes

Yayu saw the need to develop an e-commerce platform to adapt to the needs of their market. By having the capability to manage back-end processes and offer a customer-facing platform at the same time, businesses enjoy more visibility plus the convenience of overseeing operations from anywhere.  

Yayu describes the potential of e-commerce sites: “We are able to do more marketing-driven technologies that provide the best customer experience and quality for customers.” 

5. Tech to build alliances

The work of the Women’s Business Council-Philippines (WBC) involves harnessing technology in order to support more women entrepreneurs all over the Philippines. WBC held various capacity-building sessions on digital transformation, and even completed a study called Women Rise that covered the entire Philippines. As a result, WBC was able to mobilize women to avail of financing for their businesses, and even hosted two virtual expos for them. 

WBC is also part of Arise Philippines. Mylene says, “That opens up the possibility of Pinaypreneurs to trade with our ASEAN neighbors with the use of e-commerce and technology.”

As seen in these stories, each Pinaypreneur deals with challenges in different ways. Globe Business provides Pinaypreneurs a leg up in terms of digital solutions, depending on their needs. With the help of technology, Pinaypreneurs discover better ways of doing things that can be adopted and institutionalized moving forward.

Hear more of their stories and catch the highlights of Pinaypreneurs: Taking the Digital Lead here.

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