Marlon Stockinger: the Prince of Speed enjoys a fast-paced life in the fast lane.

Filipino-Swiss racer Marlon Stockinger recently bagged the third place win at the Nurburgring leg of the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 series, Stockinger inches closer to his dream of being a Formula One driver. 

Marlon Stockinger: Living the life in the fast lane

The Nurburgring win moved Stockinger two notches higher in the championship standings, placing him at the number eight. He will compete again at the next round in Hungaroring track in Budapest, Hungary on Septermber 13-14-the seventh of nine tracks forming Renault’s World Series. The competition is a major step to qualify for the F1 series, known as the fastest and premier racing sport. 

After igniting his passion for racing with go-karting when he was nine, Stockinger moved to Europe when he was 17 to pursue his dream of being an F1 racer. In February 2013, he joined the Lotus F1 Junior Team, where one undergoes rigorous training to prepare to compete in the F1 races. 

As the Prince of Speed, Marlon enjoys a fast-paced lifestyle on and off track. For someone who knows what it’s like to deal with constant travels, he finds fast and seamless connectivity as instrumental to close the gap separating him from home. “I know what it feels like to want to be constantly updated, especially if it has something to do with the people I care about. It helps me concentrate better if I know my loved ones are okay, especially during difficult times such as typhoons,” he said. 

As the perfect embodiment of speed, Globe has always been committed to supporting Stockinger’s F1 journey. On August 30, Globe will stage “Slipstream”—an event where fans and racing aficionados can gather and witness Stockinger drive his Lotus-Gravity Charouz Formula Renault 3.5 car around the premises of Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. 

Slipstream will also let attendees experience Lotus F1 simulators, booths, freebies, and games in partner-establishments. The day will be capped off with a high-velocity concert and party to celebrate Stockinger's and Globe's milestones.

Globe schedules relief ops in Orion, Bataan

Tomorrow, July 19, 2014 Globe will set out to distribute relief goods in Orion, Bataan, one of the areas that were hit by Typhoon Glenda.

They will give out uncooked rice, noodles, canned goods, and coffee prepared by Globe volunteer staff to at least 200 families in Orion.

Globe also set up Libreng Tawag and Charging stations in Orion to help in the communication needs of the residents who still have no electricity and have no way to charge their cell phones.       

More Libreng Tawag and Charging stations were also provided at the Daraga Public Market in Daraga, Albay and the North-bound jeep terminal in Naga City, Camarines Sur.

Earlier, similar facilities were put up at the Daet Elevated Town Plaza, Daet, Camarines Norte; University of Eastern Philippines, Catarman, Northern Samar; in front of Tradecom Office, Lapu-lapu St. and in front of Legazpi Public Market, Legazpi City, Albay; Merville Access Road, Paranaque City, Metro Manila; and  People’s Hall, Brgy. Poblacion, Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila.

Source: beta.globe.com.ph

Globe Extends ICT solutions to Mercy Corps Cash Transfer Program

I’m happy to share this wonderful news about how Globe is extending its ICT solutions to Mercy Corps, a global humanitarian organisation. 

While Mercy Corps implementing a cash transfer and financial literacy program for 25,500 households in the affected areas of Typhoon Yolanda, primarily in the islands of Leyte, Cebu and Panay.

Globe Telecom will be aid in monitoring the disbursement of funds as well as providing financial literacy advisories to individuals through their mobile phones.

“Globe Telecom’s vision is to provide financial inclusion for the country’s entrepreneurial poor by giving them access to financial services. At the same time, we want to reach as many disaster victims as possible. 

From L-R:  Globe SVP for Corporate Communications Yoly Crisanto, Mercy Corps Country Director Erynn Carter, and Ayala Foundation, Inc. Sr. Director for Programs Rowena Lopez

This partnership with Mercy Corps assures us that those two objectives are achieved,” said Yoly Crisanto, Senior Vice President, Globe Corporate Communications.

“This generous donation from Globe will increase the speed and efficiency with which we can promote economic recovery in areas that were hardest hit by the typhoon,” said Erynn Carter, Philippines country director for Mercy Corps. “Most importantly it will help us promote the long-term financial resilience of affected families.” 

The Department of Social Welfare and Development helped select the families that were invited to take part in the program.

Globe Telecom’s donated services include Text Connect subscriptions, Tattoo Myfi sticks, tablets, cellular phones, Globe BridgeCom Affinity SIM cards, and mobile postpaid subscriptions. 

In addition, Ayala Foundation, Inc. (AFI) is handling the disbursement of funds raised by the Globe-initiated “Bangon Pinoy” program, which serves communities devastated by calamities. AFI envisions communities where people are productive, creative, self-reliant, and proud to be Filipinos. 

Filipinos enjoy free access to Spotify with a Globe GoSURF data plan subscription

Another music streaming app is gaining attraction globally when the world’s most popular music streaming service Spotify announced its user reached over 40 million worldwide, recorded 10 million paying subscribers, and created 1.5 billion playlists available with over 5 million playlists each day.

Rapper Eminem is the most streamed male artist of all time, followed by David Guetta. In the female category, Rihanna tops the list as most streamed female artist with Katy Perry next in line. 

Avicii’s Wake Me Up is the most streamed song of all time with more than 235 million streams, while David Guetta is the most followed artist with more than 5 million followers. 

In the past month, Top 100 Pop Tracks on Spotify was the most streamed playlist, while Clean Bandit’s “Rather Be feat. Jess Glynne” was the most played song in offline mode.

Spotify offers the best free music experience in the history of the smartphone, giving users access to over 30 million of songs with amazing audio quality of up to 320kbps and other features such as playlist creation, music discovery, organization tools, and offline mode.

In the Philippines, music-loving Filipinos can enjoy free access to Spotify, which also offers the most extensive OPM songs, by subscribing to GoSURF, Globe Telecom’s mobile internet plan that offers megabytes (MB) of data consumable per kilobyte. The MBs in every GoSURF data plan are used to browse the Internet to surf, send and receive e-mails, update social networks, download games and apps, and more. 

“With our exclusive partnership with Spotify, we strengthen our vision to provide an enriched online experience and access to free online content for our digitally-attuned customers, says Peter Bithos, Chief Operating Advisor at Globe. “With its extensive music catalogue and innovative features, Spotify gives us a new and exceptional way of listening to music. Coupled with our GoSURF data plan, our customers get to enjoy the best of both worlds; consumable mobile internet to do the things they love plus 30 million songs to listen to and share, all for free. Make your world sound wonderful with GoSURF and Spotify for a mobile experience like no other.”

Customers on GoSURF can enjoy free access to Spotify without worries as usage of the app will not consume allocated MBs for every GoSURF data plan. 

Prepaid subscribers can register to GoSURF10 for as low as P10 for 10MB of data plus access to Spotify for an entire day. Postpaid customers can subscribe to GoSURF299 for as low as P299 for 700MB of data plus access to Spotify Premium for 30 days. Tattoo Prepaid customers can avail of GoSURF50 for as low as P50 for 250MB of data plus access to Spotify for 3 days.

Startup Weekend Cebu Winner GIGBox: bringing venues and artists together

Startup Weekend Cebu winner GIGBox is trying to do something new in the local music scene:  bring venues and artists together through an online gig scheduling system.

“I love music.  Whenever I go around the world, I go to local hangouts where I can listen to independent music and check out the scene. Since then, I’ve met a lot of interesting people like John, a restaurant owner in Cebu. One time he was so irritated because the band they hired cancelled for the night.  He was telling me that he’s tired of the system.  So I thought, why not try to bridge the gap between artists and venues by coming out with a web-based platform where venues can connect with bands and support independent artist groups?” said Nathan Salugsugan, co-founder of GIGBox.

The jubilant GIGBox team from L-R:  Jeb Saldariega, Victoriano Eco, and Nathan Salugsugan

Thus, GIGBox was formed. It is a scheduling system where venues can easily find a band, a DJ, a solo artist, or even a dance group and also help them figure out which artist is trending. It also supports those who need a place to perform as well as provides information to fans who are interested in the schedule of their favorite artists.

GIGBox bested 16 other participants in this year’s Startup Weekend Cebu organized by TechTalks.ph and the Department of Science and Technology – Information and Communications Technology Office.  And since its first run in May 2012, Startup Weekend Cebu was supported by Kickstart Ventures, a wholly-owned incubation and investment firm of leading telecommunications company Globe Telecom together with Globe Labs.

“This was the fourth Startup Weekend in Cebu and we saw how the participants: developers, non-tech entrepreneurs, students, and local startup founders have, to some extent, benefited from the previous runs. The 17 ideas that survived the 34 first pitched last Friday night certainly showed more thought and not just because they’re fun to do,” said Pia Angeli Bernal, Social Enterprise Investments Manager of Kickstart.

She added:  “Kickstart supports activities like Startup Weekend Cebu because participants discover that it is entirely possible to transform any idea into a business in just 54 hours – “who knows, a future Kickstart startup investment might attribute their birth to one Startup Weekend Cebu.”

                The judges were fairly impressed with the original concept since the idea was born out of need rather than patterned against successful business models in other countries.

“It was a close fight among the top three teams but ultimately, we chose GIGBox because they started their pitch with a problem statement, which guided the team well in the next 54 hours from ideation to presentation of a prototype. Second, we haven’t seen anything like this.  We don’t think there’s much competition out there,” said Dave Overton, one of the judges and the one responsible for bringing Startup Weekend to Cebu. Overton is also founder of Symph, a design and development studio in Cebu.

Neck-to-neck with GIGBox is Likha, a shirt-printing web-based platform wherein anyone can create, browse, and share their design and have it printed on a T-shirt.  Third place went to JustBecause, an SMS-based event notifier for people who are not online 24/7 to ensure that they will not miss any important activity despite the absence of Internet.

Startup Weekend is a Seattle-based global grassroots movement where developers, designers, marketers, technopreneurs, and venture capitalists come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startup businesses. It is an intense 54-hour event which focuses on building a web or mobile application which could form the basis of a credible business over the course of a weekend.

Startup Weekends are specifically designed for entrepreneurs interested in receiving feedback for an idea, looking for a co-founder, or who want to learn a new skill, especially in the field of mobile and internet applications. The concept quickly became a global movement to generate breakthrough ideas in communities all over the world, taking digital start-ups businesses from ideas to investment readiness through intensive mentoring from industry experts and access to mobile markets and investors.

GT Cosmetics goes global at 20

GT Cosmetics aims to go global as the Cebu-based manufacturer of handmade soaps from natural extracts and other skin care products celebrates its 20^th anniversary June 28 of this year.

“GT Cosmetics products are beginning to have a global presence with our entry to the US and Canada. We plan to firm up our strategic position in the emerging markets of Asia,” said GT Cosmetics CEO and founder Engr. Leonora B. Salvane.

GT Cosmetics will kick off its 20^th year anniversary with today's launching of the GT Essential Facial Scrub, a multi-crystal exfoliating complex with collagen and witch hazel extract that cleanses and moisturizes the skin.

“We believe that Filipino entrepreneurs and manufacturers can be globally competitive. GT Cosmetics is preparing seriously for the Asean integration. Come 2015 we will be ready,” she added.

From humble beginnings

GT Cosmetics has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1994 when Engr. Salvane started producing beauty products with little more than P500 as capital.

Engr. Salvane began producing GT Cosmetics papaya then carrot soaps using her baking pans as moulds in her home kitchen with the help of only 4 workers. Production was then limited to only 50 soap bars per day with the engineer’s children doing the packing.

Today GT Cosmetics has over 300 employees manufacturing 25,000 products daily in all lines from its main plant in Liloan, Cebu and another in Marilao, Bulacan.

“Our first customers were close friends who found our soaps effective. They recommended the soaps to friends and today 20 years later I am proud to say that GT has become a part of daily beauty routine for many Filipinos,” said Engr. Salvane.

Starting with papaya and carrot soaps, GT Cosmetics later on developed other skin care products like moisturizing and bleaching creams, sunblock, clarifying toner, and recently the carrot lotion.

Giving back to the community

The GT Cosmetics anniversary commemoration will include a series of fun yet helpful activities aiming to give back to the community.

There will be a free soap-making training workshop in partnership with the Liloan Local Government Unit on June 16 for representatives from all 14 barangays of Liloan.

A Facial Care Day will be launched on June 22. This is a treat for moms that include free demos on the proper way to care for the face, free skin care product sampling, and picture taking with GT endorsers.

Finally, there will be a team building for GT Cosmetics employees on the morning of June 28.

A thanksgiving fellowship party for employees, family, suppliers, and friends will be held on the night of the same day. Awards will be given to the 20 longest-staying GT Cosmetics employees.

Out of the 2013 Zamboanga seige, a Globe “heroine” rises

The siege of Zamboanga City in September 2013 claimed the lives of hundreds and made hundreds of many thousands others homeless as battling in between Muslim rebels and government soldiers levelled seaside communities of the beleaguered city.

Rather than looking for the safety and comforts of her home for the whole period of the dilemma, Glenda Atilano, retail manager of Globe shop in Zamboanga, rose over her stress and anxieties and supplied a lot greater than exactly what was expected of her-- saving the lives of fellow Zamboanguenos.

For her worthy and selfless and generous efforts and initiatives throughout the crisis, Glenda was just recently selected as Globe Employee of the Year at the recent Globe Excellence Awards held at Shangri la Hotel in Mandaluyong. “It was totally unexpected. I was just doing things that I thought would best help our customers,” said Atilano. 

Globe Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (left) and Globe President & CEO Ernest Cu (right) congratulate Glenda Atilano, retail manager of Globe store in Zamboanga, who was adjudged Globe Employee of the Year. Her 10-year old daughter Tara joined her on stage.

The siege, which paralyzed business operations and activities in the city, didn’t stop Atilano from sharing what she could despite the dangers involved. She personally organized and facilitated food assistance for communities adversely affected by the conflict, enabling her and her team to distribute relief food packages to Red Cross and to the Armed Forces, benefitting 4,000 individuals. Atilano further organized Brigada Eskwela program, involving distribution of school supplies to schoolchildren in war-torn areas, as well as a clean-up drive program for the benefit of those who were displaced by the conflict.

 “Glenda has done something outstanding beyond the call of duty during the siege of Zamboanga. Her example will surely inspire many into going the extra mile to serve our customers in the best way possible,” Globe President & CEO Ernest Cu said.  He noted that Atilano’s commitment to service by reaching out to Globe customers in a personal way enabled her to be relevant to them even in moments of dire need.

Atilano 43, has consistently steered her team to excellence, surpassing her team’s sales target last year despite the siege’s adverse impact on the local economy. She joined Globe in 1995, after she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Communications degree from the Ateneo de Zamboanga University. 

Aside from Atilano, the following were recognized as group employees of the year: Cindy Toh, Core Business Group; Jose Carlos Valenzuela, Office of the Chief of Operating Advisor;  Shiela May Sumilhig-Juco, International Business Group; Cyril Parrenas, Enterprise Group; Ricardo Lopez, Small and Medium Business Group; Jeffrey Echaluse, Network Technical Group; Restituto Garcia, Network Technical Group;  Michelle Rodriguez, Information Security Group; Lorie Ambagan, Human Resource; Jonathan Villeta, Finance; Connie Yu, Officer of Strategic Management; and Fernando Esguerra, Corporate Communications.

Other awardees include Albert Tinio (Consumer Sales, Core Business Group), Excellence in Leadership Award; Karla Inigo Yuipco (Stores Operations, Core Business Group), Excellence in Leadership Award, Cyril Parrenas, (Enterprise Group), Outstanding Achievement in Innovation, individual; Mark Anthony Latoja,( Core Business Group), Outstanding Achievement in Wonderful Customer Service, individual; Team Cappucino (Globe Prepaid), Outstanding Achievement in Innovation, team category; and Network Operations Division Mindanao, Outstanding Achievement in Wonderful Customer Service, team Category.  Other finalists for Excellence in Leadership category were Ma. Corazon Martin, Jerome Jacobo Datu and Winsley Bangit.

Held annually, the Globe Excellence Awards recognize top achievers across ranks, positions, functions in the organization nominated by colleagues who recognize and celebrate the success of others. Awardees were selected by a panel of leaders. The annual Awards honor employees who consistently demonstrate excellence in performance and service commitment.