Ateneo Graduate School Holds Cebu Business Forum

The Ateneo Graduate School of Business, headed by the Cebu Campus  Student Council, held a business forum last July 26 on the topic,  “Cebu: Keeping Up With the Trend for Globalization”.

The guest speakers were Enrique “Eric” Soriano III, the chief  executive operating officer and president of Oceanic Realty Group  International Inc., and the current chairman of the Marketing Cluster  of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, and Justin Uy of Profood  International Corporation.

Soriano, who was a consultant and group head of Business Development  and Institutional Marketing of Greenfield Development Corporation,  talked on how brands in the Philippines can compete globally. He made  mention of the Cebuano brand Julie’s who is expanding to Indonesia as  its latest–an example of a product competent for globalization.

Julie’s has been seen by patronizers evolving from different kinds of  products to various ventures over this span of years. It has been  innovative and creative in its offers maintaining that brand of  simplicity and goodness.

Soriano taught specific principles in bringing a product towards  global competitiveness namely tools and measurements to make it  global, execution, focus (and not a one-size-fits-all product), and  anticipating culture. He emphasized differentiation or branding is  vital with its equivalent, great service it renders to customers. He  also shared establishing a relationship-based atmosphere between the  sales team of a company and their customers will also aid in gaining  an international market. With this, a brand is birthed. “Sales will  follow as soon as you have a powerful brand. Lack of differentiation  signifies “poor” health. Brand is what they say it is,” Soriano  presented. He also singled out on passion, vision and purpose in  achieving a global product.

Sharing his own success story on the other hand was Cebuano  entrepreneur Justin Uy. He is not new to everybody in the business  circle since he is the mind behind one of the successful businesses in  Cebu, Profood International Corporation, a maker of dried mangoes,  mango puree and mango juices to name a few. A chemical engineer by  profession, Uy has been running his company for the past 33 years  engaging in the processing and exporting of tropical fruits. His  company has contributed a lot in introducing the Philippine products  to the international market. He set up 12 manufacturing factories in  four locations in the country with the aim to enable the country’s  farmers to have easy access for the marketing of their produce. Uy was  named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and  Industry in 2009 among other recognitions in his locale, Cebu.

The Ateneo Graduate School of Business Cebu Campus Student Council  organizes the forum event annually to create awareness in the Cebu  business community about certain issues and topics in the corporate  world. This years is their fourth where in the previous years they  tackled Blue Ocean Strategy, Family Business, Entrepreneurship and  this year on Globalization. The recent forum was held at Castle Peak  Hotel.