Monthly Archives: November 2018

On November 11, tune into a special Facebook Live Jam session with Shopee’s Christmas Ambassador, Jose Mari Chan, along with popular bands, Ben&Ben and Itchyworms

Shopee, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, will be celebrating the peak of the first wave of Shopee 11.11-12.12 Big Christmas Sale with 24 hours of free shipping with the lowest ever minimum spend of ₱99 exclusively onNovember 11. On 11.11 Big Christmas Sale, users can also look forward to deals up to 99% off all categories, Shopee Shake and flash deals happening nine times throughout the day, and a special Facebook Live Jam session featuring Shopee’s Christmas Ambassador, Jose Mari Chan, along with popular bands, Ben&Ben and Itchyworms.

Terence Pang, Chief Operating Officer of Shopee, said, “We are very happy with the overwhelming support from shoppers across the country since the start of the Shopee 11.11 – 12.12 Big Christmas Sale on October 26. To thank our users and to add to the celebration, we are excited to be bringing a special free shipping promotion and an exclusive activation with our Christmas ambassador, Jose Mari Chan, on November 11. We also have more exciting things in store with Jose Mari Chan in the lead up to Christmas, and hope to have everyone join us in celebrating the year-end season.”

At 11 AM on November 11, users can tune into a special Facebook Live Jam Session for exclusive performances by Jose Mari Chan, Ben&Ben and Itchyworms. As a special treat, exciting giveaways will be given throughout the session, including voucher codes and prizes from brands like Unilever, Honor, Ace TV and many more.

Shop the first wave of promotions for the Shopee 11.11 – 12.12 Big Christmas Sale happening now till November 11. For more information, visit https://shopee.ph/11-11

Download the Shopee app for free on the App Store or Google Play Store.

In coordination with Haribon Foundation, the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) pioneered the implementation of the Biodiversity on Wheels (BOW) Program in Surigao del Sur on 25-26 September 2018 as the final leg of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Program for the year.

Leading with vision and courage. Bounty Agro Ventures, Inc. (BAVI) President and General Manager Ronald Mascariñas accepts award as one of the Outstanding Leaders in Asia at the Asia Corporate Excellence & Sustainability (ACES) Awards.

Bounty Agro Ventures, Inc. (BAVI) President and General Manager Ronald Mascarinas was recently lauded as one of the Outstanding Leaders in Asia at the Asia Corporate Excellence & Sustainability Awards (ACES) held at the Fairmont Singapore last October 11, proving that he isanything but chicken in his leadership.

Cited as an individual who exhibits the ideal blend of business acumen, professionalism, entrepreneurial caliber and astuteness, Mascariñas was instrumental to the continued success of one of the largest poultry integrator companies in the country.

Under Mascariñas’ leadership, BAVI rose to be one of the top poultry integrators, and has set itself apart from the industry by being the first and only poultry integrator to offer No Antibiotics Ever (NAE) chicken. BAVI is presently the country’s largest rotisserie chicken chain, with more than 1,200 rotisserie stores nationwide.

BAVI was initially established as a poultry integrator company operating in Cebu and Davao, Philippines, carrying the Bounty Fresh brand. Incorporated in 1997, BAVI is presently ranked 207th among the top 1,000 corporations in the Philippines.

In 2002 the company embarked on a program to modernize operational capability and market expansion, led by Mascariñas. The President helped link together hundreds of broiler contract farms, dozens of hatcheries, feed mills, poultry processing plants and processed meats plants, with the end goal of establishing a highly efficient supply chain in poultry integration. The venture was an unmitigated success, and consistently earned Triple A ratings from the National Meat Inspection Service for cleanliness.

The implementation of the Asian Free Trade Agreement, however, led to an open market, which led to cheaper imports. Faced with thin margins and fierce competition, BAVI faced a dire threat to its existence. In the light of this challenge, Mascariñas made a bold move to diversify operations. BAVI launched its own retail operation, and developed a complementing range of cooked chicken and dressed chicken products. In 2009, the company launched its oven roasted chicken business under the trade name “Chooks-to-Go”, completing the integration cycle of poultry operations, from the farm to the dinner table.

Mascariñas, attributed his bold business strategy to the trinity of Vision, People and Training. “I have always believed in the importance of a good reputation founded on ethical and fair business relationships; and the paramount importance of competent and trustworthy people in the organization working as a team. What connects the two is good management. A good leader teaches, guides, and even handholds, if needed. A good leader does everything to ensure that people who work with them are encouraged, and taught the value of discipline.”

Mascariñas’ win is one of 11 awards won by the Philippines at the fifth Asia Corporate Excellence & Sustainability Awards.

While many women are still waiting for the passage of House Bill 4113 that seeks to extend paid maternity leave from 60 to 100 days for workers in both government and private sectors, some Filipino employees are already enjoying this benefit.

Top insurer AXA Philippines does even better than the proposed law. An employee who is a mother may avail of a fully-paid 112-day maternity leave. A father who is legally married may take a 28-day paid leave.

“AXA promotes a diverse and inclusive workforce because we believe that this has a positive effect in all business aspects,” says AXA Philippines president Rahul Hora. “We support and encourage employees to find balance between their personal and professional lives.”

Under the company’s Global Parent Policy, AXA offers an innovative benefits program to all AXA employees who are parents—whether biological or single. AXA is committed to giving its employees with children peace of mind to promote productivity, and aims to let them “take pride in bringing their whole selves to work.”

Providing the best benefits to its employees reinforces AXA’s position as the leading global insurance provider. For more information on AXA and its career opportunities, visit www.axa.com.ph/careers.

Group bolsters its regional leadership with the new funding and full consolidation of Vietnam’s No. 1 property portal, Batdongsan.com.vn

PropertyGuru Group(‘PropertyGuru’ or ‘the Group’), Asia’s leading property technology group, recently announced that it has securedS$200 million (approx.) [US$145 million] in a Series D round of funding by leading global investment firm KKR. As one of the most active private equity investors in Southeast Asia (SEA), KKR boasts a long track record of successful partnerships with leading technology companies across Asia and now joins PropertyGuru’s coveted board of investors alongside TPG, Emtek and Square Peg Capital.

This investment round bolsters PropertyGuru’s leadership in SEA with the full consolidation of Vietnam’s No. 1 property portal Batdongsan.com.vn into the Group, also announced today. The consolidation underscores the Group’s commitment to Vietnam and collaboration with Batdongsan.com.vn that started in 2016. Vietnam’s economic growth is robust with GDP projected to expand by 6.8% in 2018. PropertyGuru is the property technology leader across five markets in the region with its portals: PropertyGuru in Singapore and Malaysia, DDproperty.com in Thailand, Rumah.com in Indonesia and Batdongsan.com.vn in Vietnam. In SEA, the Group has 55% market share, reflecting the strong preference of propertyleading global investment firm KKR. seekers for PropertyGuru’s portals. The Group also runs Asia’s most prestigious property awards brand, Asia Property Awards in 11 key markets across Asia.

The funding round provides significant impetus to PropertyGuru’s leading position as a high-growth technology company in the region. The Group will continue to fuel investments in technology and bring solutions that benefit home seekers, real estate agents and property developers. Earlier this year, the Group unveiled a successful Brand Refresh with revamped websites and mobile apps that are powered by Artificial Intelligence – an industry first in SEA.

Hari V. Krishnan, Chief Executive Officer, PropertyGuru Group, said, “This new investment is a great validation of the technology-driven growth that PropertyGuru has delivered. Backed by a decade of market leadership in Southeast Asia and delivering a record year for business performance – today the Group is profitable, cash flow positive and has revenues growing more than 25 percent year-on-year. We are pleased to have KKR, a blue-chip tech investor, join our board, as we have ambitious plans for innovation and growth in the decade ahead.”

Hari continued, “We first invested in Batdongsan in 2016 and have been impressed with their very strong market leadership fuelled by delivering great value to the Vietnamese property sector. Today, we reinforce our commitment to Vietnam with the consolidation of Batdongsan. We look forward to making our regional expertise fully available to Vietnamese property seekers as well as to help the country’s real estate industry benefit from ASEAN integration.”

Ashish Shastry, Member & Head of Southeast Asia, KKR, said, “We are thrilled to be investing in PropertyGuru, one of the most exciting tech-enabled businesses in Southeast Asia. With rapid online migration well underway across many industries, the PropertyGuru team, led by Hari V. Krishnan, has clearly established itself as the Southeast Asian champion in the online property space. We look forward to partnering with them to help take them to the next level.”

KKR’s investment in PropertyGuru is being funded from KKR Asian Fund III. The investment is part of the firm’s strategy to invest in high-growth markets that the firm believes can benefit from a rapid increase in technology adoption. Other technology investments KKR has recently announced in Southeast Asia include Voyager Innovations (the leading technology company in the Philippines focused on digital payments, digital finance, and marketing technologies) and Go-Jek (Indonesia’s leading on-demand mobile platform for ride hailing, food delivery, and mobile payments).

Ganen Sarvananthan, Chairman of the PropertyGuru Group Board and Co-Managing Partner of TPG Capital Asia, said,“We are excited with the two significant developments of the company. We welcome KKR as an investor and representatives on the board and look forward to working with them to accelerate PropertyGuru’s growth across the region. Vietnam is an important market for us; integrating Batdongsan into the PropertyGuru family will help to penetrate new verticals and increase sales in the market.”

Lê Xuân Trường, Batdongsan Founder and Managing Director, said, “Batdongsan and PropertyGuru Group have had a long-standing partnership and we are very pleased to cement that today as PropertyGuru invests further in the business. Batdongsan continues to be the market leader in Vietnam. We are proud of what we have achieved to date and are excited about the next phase of Batdongsan’s growth as it become part of Southeast Asia’s leading online property Group. PropertyGuru brings the region’s best real estate opportunities and technology expertise and with these, we will better serve the needs of property seekers in one of the fastest growing property and digital markets of Southeast Asia.”

Batdongsan.com.vn has over 4 million monthly property seekers generating 70 million-page views and over 1 million new property listings added every month. The market success of Batdongsan.com.vn is credited to its strong team of over 600, spread over 9 cities in Vietnam.

Expected to rise to 20th in global GDP rankings by 2050, Vietnam is primed to be the world’s fastest growing large economy from now to 20502. The country’s real GDP expanded nearly 7.4 percent during the first quarter of this year and is expected to expand by 6.8 percent this year (up from 6.5 percent in World Bank’s previous forecast)3. Coupled with a burgeoning middle class and rapid urbanisation, the market presents tremendous upside opportunities for PropertyGuru. Vietnam is also one of the fastest growing internet markets in the world – with 67 percent internet penetration, over 70 million unique mobile users, and 55 million active social media users as of this year.

Redpeak Advisers acted as financial advisor to PropertyGuru, while Allen & Gledhill was its legal counsel.

In Real Life also known as IRL is a boy band from the American reality television music competition series Boy Band, which premiered June 22, 2017, on ABC. The band is composed of the final five vocalists from the show namely, Brady Tutton, Chance Perez, Drew Ramos, Sergio Calderon, and Michael Conor.

The band, who won the ABC summer reality competition, debuted their first single, “Eyes Closed” on the show’s finale. It went on to debut at the top of the iTunes charts, and reached #3 on Spotify’s Global Viral Chart. “Eyes Closed” was performed for the first time on the finale of Boy Band after they were voted together by America, a first in US television history.

In Real Life is a a pop boy band that experiments with other sounds such as pop-rap, dance-pop, teen pop and Latin pop. They cite One Direction as their main influence and are compared to them for both starting off on reality television. The BackStreet Boys, Boyz II Men, Jackson 5, Charlie Puth, Bruno Mars, Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran, Justin Timberlake, Sam Smith, Jay-Z, and Eminem have influenced individual members of the group.

This November, the band will capture the heart of every Pinoy with their music such as “Tonight Belongs to You,” with 5.4 million views on Youtube in just 3 months and Tattoo with 2.3 million views as of the moment.

They will be touring around the metro this November, for their first international tour to Manila dubbed as Tonight Belongs To You Tour Philippines! They are scheduled to do a series shows starting from November 3 thru November 12, 2018. 

Also, you may tune in to @m1mentertainment and 105.9 Like FM to hear their new songs.

Catch them live at the following SM flagship malls :

November 6 – SM Mall of Asia

November 7 – SM Seaside Cebu

November 9 – SM Fairview

November 10 – SM North Edsa – Annex

November 11 – SM Las Piñas and SM Megamall Fashion Hall

TBTY Tour Philippines is brought to you by WEU Event Management Services.

Follow In Real Life social media pages for updates and more info about the band :

Facebook  – https://www.facebook.com/irlmanila/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/InRealLife

Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiX45c7hT9HBwnP7jEUK_tA

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/inreallife/