SM Supermalls will color you happy this summer!

Bursting with color starting April, SM Supermalls is giving its shoppers of all ages a spectrum of hope, happiness, and fun with delightful and safe activities that everyone in the family can look forward to when they visit their favorite SM mall.

Snap-worthy rainbow play areas! Multifunctional play pods in all colors of the rainbow await you at the indoor and outdoor play pods that kids and kids-at-heart will love. From rainbow staircases to larger than life displays, you’ll have no trouble getting the best and most colorful #POTD entry!

Sizzling hot summer deals! What’s summer without a mall-wide sale? Go on a shopping spree and get all your summer essentials, including must-have toys, at the nearest SM mall. Delight your kids with sporty knick knacks, inflatables, and bikes to amp up their summer activities even while at home. Visit the pop-up stores in select SM malls for great finds and exclusive deals!

Sweet treats and Summer Eats! Sip, eat, repeat, and satisfy those cravings with a wide array of food and drink choices at SM Summer Eats!  A weekend al fresco market awaits you with delicious meals and refreshing drinks all in IG-worthy colorful dining spaces! Watch out for Summer Teas happening on April 16 to 30 where there will be lots of discounts on the best milk teas to quench your thirst too! 

Summer fun under the sun! Time to flex that Tiktok talent! Be witty and wacky, colorful and bright, at the SM Summer Tiktok challenge which you can shoot at any of the the malls’ colorful outdoor and indoor displays. For pawrents, you can have a furry fun time with your pets when you join the pet olympics, go on a picnic with them, or treat them with a pampering session. For the fitness buff, there’s going to be a 7-day fitness blitz for adults and kids at select SM malls where you can blow off steam and sweat it out. Whatever your passion is, we have lots of summer fun activities lined up for you!

From safe dining to shopping and everything in between, make it a fun and colorful summer to remember at SM Supermalls! Make sure to visit www.smsupermalls.com or like and follow @smsupermalls on all social media platforms for the latest news, promos, and activities.

SM Turns to Rain Water Harvesting a key to Living Flood Free

Climate change is real and Filipinos are among those who can attest to the devastating effects it brings to everyday life. Faced with about 20 typhoons a year, the Asian Development Bank reported that the total impact from storms have reached about US$20 billion from 1990 to 2020. It causes a temporary disruption due to mass evacuations which bring about an average of 2-8% reduction in gross domestic product annually. 

Despite the reoccurring devastation felt during calamities, Filipinos still manage to see the humorous side of life and are often reported as one of the happiest people in the world. However, this may soon be tested as, according to the latest report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, things are about to get worse as the planet heats up, accelerating the effects of climate change and making the Philippines more vulnerable to drastic changes in weather patterns. 

On average, the Philippines receives about 2,400 millimeters of rainfall each year, one of the highest in the world. While this poses a problem for the country, there is a silver lining, as it can also be the solution for water scarcity. However, currently the Philippines only harvests around 6% of its rainwater compared to India which harvests around 60% of the 700-millimeter average rainfall it receives each year. 

Rain Water – a friend or a foe?

Water is a scarce resource. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 6 identifies access to clean water as one of the global priorities to be achieved by 2030. Aligned to its environmental responsibility programs, SM takes a closer look at the use of water and how it can be turned from a foe to a friend.

SM builds its malls and integrated lifestyle cities with resilience and sustainability in mind. Understanding the value of water, SM builds rain water catchments in its malls to harvest large volumes of rain water particularly in flood prone areas.

“We approach it two ways: resilience – to help communities be flood free; and sustainability – to optimize water which is a scarce resource so we can use it for other purposes rather than just waste it. Wherever SM is, we try to help our communities become resilient to changing weather patterns. Nationwide, we have 20 malls equipped with rainwater catchment facilities that help rain water management to avoid flash floods for surrounding communities.” ~Architect Fides Garcia-Hsu, Vice President at SM Engineering Design and Development

Vermont Park and Vermont Royale are two communities that once saw rain as a foe. Every time it rained, their neighborhoods ended up under water, damaging their homes. Today, home owners welcome the rain as water that can be harvested and stored for future use. The reason? SM City Masinag’s rain water catchment facility!   It has a 17,681 cubic meter water capacity. The two communities connected their drainage systems to the mall which is equipped with three 30HP submersible pumps which are used to pump out accumulated rain water. 

As a company SM invests 10% of its capital expenditure to integrate disaster resilient and sustainability features in its malls and integrated lifestyle city designs. “We take a long-term view on resilience and when we talk about sustainability, we look at how we can address perennial problems like flooding and address systemic change,” Arch. Garcia-Hsu expounds.

Serving as pioneers in the installation of rain water catchment facilities, SM was instrumental in the passing ordinances and inclusion of the installation of water catchment facilities for developments by regulatory bodies. In recent years, Senator Manny Pacquiao passed the ‘Rain Water Harvesting Act – Senate Bill 1309’ mandating the establishment, maintenance and management of rain water harvesting systems in the country. 

“Aside from building resilient infrastructure, we also build the resilience of our stakeholders by providing disaster preparedness training through our SM Cares programs. We have programs targeted to senior citizens and those with special needs as they are the ones left most vulnerable during times of calamities.” ~Chito Bauzon, SM Cares Marketing Asst. Vice President

With the threat of climate change looming, typhoons are only expected to get stronger with intensified rainfall. With more Filipinos moving to urban centers, the Philippines will need to retrofit its cities for resiliency or build new sustainability cities to finally live flood free.

At Gruenheim you will never stop learning

“After two challenging years of being unable to meet our goals, we felt that this would be a good time to undergo these learning sessions. It’s like refresher courses that will help you jumpstart your path to selling success.” ~Mike Gamez, President and Corporate Secretary of Gruenheim Philippines

Even if you have been in the business of selling since you graduated from college, there will always be something new for you to learn. You may have to learn new selling strategies or a new product to sell or how to improve your sales presentation. 

  

With this in mind, Gruenheim Philippines conducted a training seminar for its sales personnel with the objective of not only enhancing their sales skills and leadership. The goal was also to make sure that the team would be able to effectively communicate Gruenheim’s advocacies with regard to their products. 

 

Gruenheim GmbH & Co. KG was founded in 2014 and is based in Stuttgart, Germany and is a subsidiary of Luckner & Lahusen Group GmbH & Co. KG. It is a young and fresh trademark of high-end ecological, innovative and premium home appliances. It stands for products that combine functional, timeless and puristic design with impressive technical innovations. Gruenheim products are sold worldwide exclusively by authorized Gruenheim wholesalers.

 

Titled “Breakthrough in 2022 -- Culture. Nurture. Future: Doing Breakthrough Business the Gruenheim Way,” Andreas Luckner, CEO (Marketing and Sales), flew in all the way from Germany to share his learnings and to support the efforts of Mike and Andrea Gamez, President and Corporate Secretary of Gruenheim Philippines.

 

Facilitated by Al Ian Barcelona and Ruben Lanot, participants underwent high-impact learning sessions on personal mastery, sales leadership, NLP communication skills, effective habits of sales champions, business strategic planning and team building.

Gruenheim Philippines also donated to Caritas Manila the home appliances from their clients that they trade in for Gruenheim machines. This is one of their little ways to give back to the community.

 

For more information about Gruenheim Vacuum Cleaner and other products, call 0917 5984968 or email gruenheimph@gmail.com.

 

 

Gruenheim Philippines Inc. is a direct importer and distributor of GRUENHEIM HOME APPLIANCES from Germany, a line of high-end, ecological, innovative and premium home appliances. It is a direct sales marketing company aimed at promoting and distributing GRUENHEIM products in the Philippines.

Save Ukraine — #StopWar: the participants of the international charity telethon in support of Ukraine are now announced

“Now is the time for everyone to unite. The weapon of artists is our word, our music, our influence and the opportunity to speak on behalf of our people to the whole world. And the worst thing to let happen now is that Europe will get used to what is happening here. That is why we ask every day to stop this war, to close the sky over Ukraine. Save Ukraine marathon brought together many artists, musicians, actors, athletes, volunteers, there will be more than 50 participants. In addition to our request for financial help, we ask you to step out to the squares to urge European governments to do everything possible to stop this war." ~Julia Sanina, frontwoman of The HARDKISS

An international charity concert-marathon in support of Ukraine Save Ukraine — #StopWar takes place on Sunday, March 27, in Warsaw at 5:30 p.m. CET (6:30 p.m. Kyiv). It will be conducted on the basis of the Polish TV channel TVP. The project will be screened by all Ukrainian TV channels and their international versions that broadcast “United News” and online TV platforms including Kyivstar TV and others. The broadcast will be available on 1+1 and Atlas YouTube channels for users around the world.  Furthermore, 20 countries will join the marathon and locally show a joint broadcast on TV channels GPB1, RTSH2, RTCG2, ETV, Pulse4, RAI 3, Milano Etno TV, RTP and others.

A fundraiser will be available before, during and after the broadcast. Funds will be used to sort the biggest humanitarian problems caused by the russian military invasion of Ukraine.

Such international stars as Fatboy Slim, Within Temptation, Bastille, Submotion Orchestra, BrainStorm, Beissoul & Einius, Salvador Sobral, Netta, Idina Menzel, IAMX, Gus Gus, Nino Katamadze and others Ukraine will be presented by more than 20 artists, such as Monatik, Tina Karol, The HARDKISS, Okean Elzy, Jamala, Go_A, DakhaBrakha, Odyn v kanoe, alyona alyona, Melovin, Artem Pivovarov, Alina Pash, Antytila, Pianoбой, Kadnay, Latexfauna, Dakh Daughters, TVORCHI, NK and others.

Also, a well-known and respected around the world volunteers, civic activists, athletes and artists will appeal to the multimillion audience to support Ukraine.

The organizers say that the messages from participants will come both from different parts of the world and from those Ukrainian cities where shelling continues.

Telethon Save Ukraine — #StopWar is created by 1+1 media, Atlas festival, Suspilne and supported by the national mobile operator Kyivstar, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Social Policy. The project is inspired by the Atlas festival and Kyivstar. 

Ukrainian hosts of the event are Timur Miroshnychenko and Masha Yefrosinina.

Graphic materials for the article: https://cutt.ly/VSWbPSh. 

Detailed info about the project: https://saveukraine.1plus1.ua/.

Bank details for financial support aimed to solve humanitarian problems in Ukraine:

UA

Bank: National Bank of Ukraine

MFO code 300001

Account № UA823000010000032302338301027

USREOU code 37567866

Receiver: Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine

EUR

BENEFICIARY:  Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine

IBAN DE85500000000050002137

PURPOSE OF PAYMENT: for ac 32302338301027

BENEFICIARY BANK NAME: DEUTSCHE  BUNDESBANK, Frankfurt

BENEFICIARY BANK BIC: MARKDEFF

BENEFICIARY BANK ADDRESS: Wilhelm-Epstein-Strasse 14, 60431 Frankfurt Am Main, Germany

 

USD

BENEFICIARY: Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine

BENEFICIARY BIC: NBUA UA UX

BENEFICIARY ADDRESS: 9 Instytutska St, Kyiv, 01601, Ukraine

ACCOUNT NUMBER: 400807238

BENEFICIARY BANK NAME: JP MORGAN CHASE BANK, New York

BENEFICIARY BANK BIC: CHASUS33

ABA 0210 0002 1

BENEFICIARY BANK ADDRESS: 383 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

PURPOSE OF PAYMENT: for ac 32302338301027

GBP

BENEFICIARY/RECIPIENT NAME: Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine

ACCOUNT NUMBER: 80033041

IBAN GB52CHAS60924280033041

BENEFICIARY ADDRESS: 9 Instytutska St, Kyiv, 01601, Ukraine

BENEFICIARY BANK NAME: JP MORGAN CHASE BANK NA, London

BENEFICIARY BANK BIC: CHASGB2L

SORT CODE: 60-92-42 

BENEFICIARY BANK ADDRESS: 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AJ, UK

REFERENCE FOR CREDITING ACCOUNT: 32302338301027

JPY

BENEFICIARY: Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine

BENEFICIARY BIC: NBUA UA UX

BENEFICIARY ADDRESS: 9 Instytutska St, Kyiv, 01601, Ukraine

ACCOUNT NUMBER: 653-0430048

BENEFICIARY BANK NAME: MUFG BANK LTD, Tokyo

BENEFICIARY BANK BIC: BOTK JP JT

BENEFICIARY BANK ADDRESS: 1-2-3, Nihombashi HONGOKU-CHO, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 1003 -0021 Japan

PURPOSE OF PAYMENT: for ac 32302338301027

SM joins Earth Hour 2022; Lights switch-off, Virtual Run part of activity line-up

As part of the company's sustainability efforts, SM Supermalls, through its corporate social responsibility arm SM Cares, is once again joining the world in observing Earth Hour, with this year’s theme "Shape Our Future," focusing on how we can work together in halting and reversing climate change and nature

loss by 2030.

Earth Hour is an annual campaign launched in 2007 by the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that encourages the turning off of non-essential lights as part of energy conservation efforts for the planet. Since its first observance in the Philippines in 2008, SM has been joining the campaign every year, being one of the first in the private sector to support it.

This year, SM will continue to promote the campaign by being one of the official partners of WWF for the Earth Hour Virtual Run, to be held from March 26 to April 22. Aside from this, all SM malls will be joining the light switch-off on March 26 from 8:30 PM to 9:00 PM.

"SM is proud to have been supporting Earth Hour throughout the last 14 years. Every year, we partake in

this very important movement because we want to inspire people to action and tell them that no matter

how small their contribution is, it will go a long way if we work together." ~Engr. Liza Silerio, SM’s Vice

President for Corporate Compliance and Head of Sustainability.

“Through Earth Hour, we want to engage over a billion people worldwide and engage decision-makers

whether in business, institutions, and governments, to move the agenda of nature up the priority list in the global sphere and in the national agenda. We want people to lend their voices as we're shaping our future, and hopefully, we'll be changing the ending for the positive – for both people and the planet,” said Atty. Angela Ibay, Climate and Energy Program Head of WWF-Philippines.

Aside from joining the campaign every year, SM has been active in environmental protection in many ways. For instance, all SM malls are equipped with energy and water conservation facilities. The company also regularly joins tree planting activities, and has waste management initiatives such as

Trash-to-Cash, e-waste and used acid lead batteries collection programs, and the plastic waste collection program with the Plastic Credit Exchange.

SM has also been investing more in renewable energy. Eight malls in the country and three in China are now equipped with solar panels, with more to follow in the coming months. SM also pledged to increase its use of renewable energy to 50 percent of its overall energy usage by year-end.

SM'ss other sustainability initiatives include the annual Green Film Festival, promoting environmental awareness among students and the youth through films; the AweSMSeas project, promoting awareness on the negative impact of plastic waste on seas and oceans; and the International Coastal Cleanup joined

by thousands of volunteers every year, to name a few.

SM Cares is the corporate social responsibility arm of SM Prime Holdings, supporting initiatives that focus on communities and the environment. In addition to its programs on the environment, SM Cares’ advocacies include programs on women and breastfeeding mothers, persons with disabilities, senior citizens, children and youth, and the Bike-Friendly SM Program.

Visit www.smsupermalls.com/smcares to learn more.

Empowering communities through #SocialGood

Aside from free medical consultations and medicines, SM also provides free diagnostics and laboratory services to stakeholders specially in grassroot communities.

The private sector plays a significant role when it comes to economic growth in the Philippines by generating more jobs and contributing to our gross domestic product (GDP). Beyond that, it is also considered to be a driving force for inclusive and sustainable development in the country as more and more businesses employ corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to address social and environmental concerns within the communities where they operate.

Aside from free medical consultations and medicines, SM also provides free diagnostics and laboratory services to stakeholders specially in grassroot communities.

By helping improve the quality of life of the people in these host communities, business is able to flourish. As such, CSR has become a key pillar of successful business management through the years. SM’s visionary founder, Henry “Tatang” Sy, Sr., put it best in his principle that social development and investment go hand in hand with business growth to achieve a better future.

The SM group has embraced the responsibility to contribute to nation building through its social good arm, the SM Foundation, Inc. (SMFI). For nearly four decades, we have focused our resources, time, and reach to ensure that we are able to create opportunities wherever SM is present through social good

programs that are geared towards quality education, sustainable agriculture, healthcare, and disaster response.

SM Scholars General Assembly

Anchored on Tatang’s belief that education is the greatest equalizer, SMFI established the SM Scholarship Program in 1993 to provide the youth access to quality tertiary and vocational education. We believe that through our scholarship grants, SM will be able to contribute to eradicating the intergenerational poverty cycle by granting scholarships to economically challenged but deserving students. And to complement this and more importantly, to address the challenges being faced by our public school system, SMFI, together with social good partners such as SM Prime, we have provided school buildings equipped with key facilities and equipment to underserved communities.

Staying true to its commitment, SMFI is one of the first responders after the onslaught of Typhoon Odette

Another social good pillar of SMFI is sustainable agriculture that aims to address the dilemma of the aging farmer population in the country as well as the growing gap between supply and demand for local food sources. In 2007, the foundation launched the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan (KSK) program to bring modern and sustainable farming skills and linkages in both rural and urban communities, empowering farmers to have food on their table and creating market linkage to provide them with economic opportunities.

Accessible healthcare and timely disaster response are also at the heart of the foundation’s advocacy. Through its Health and Wellness program, SMFI helps address the shortage of quality healthcare facilities in the country by constructing and upgrading health centers in host communities supplemented by medical mission activities nationwide. The Operation Tulong Express (OPTE), on the other hand, gives immediate assistance in the form of relief goods and medical services in collaboration with SM Supermalls and SM Markets to communities affected by calamities and disasters that frequently occur in the country.

SM Employees show their spirit of volunteerism as they help repaint an SM school building

During the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, SMFI was one of the first organizations to assume an active role in assisting in the pandemic response by expanding the reach and impact of the Health and Wellness program and utilizing its partnerships to extend a helping hand to frontliners and Filipinos nationwide, especially those in SM host communities.

Through these social good programs, we continuously aspire to be a development partner for our host communities and serve as model for other organizations in terms of bringing social development specially in areas where they operate. Implementing CSR involves a dynamic learning process given that social and environmental good are moving targets – and these cannot be fully achieved through one-time activities and decisions. Instead, companies should view and approach CSR as a process of continuous improvement that involves being constantly alert to new issues and considerations, which can be achieved through consistent community consultation and engagement.

SMFI donated PPEs and much-needed medical equipment to various hospitals nationwide to help fight the spread of COVID-19

And contrary to the notion that CSR is only an approach for large corporations and multi-national businesses, small and medium-scale enterprises can also have the means to benefit their respective communities in their own ways. In fact, they are more likely to effectively facilitate local-level CSR programs as they are more deeply embedded in their communities. Examples of these include sourcing of raw materials from community-based suppliers, matching and encouraging charitable work by employees, and even as simple as going paperless in their daily business operations.

CSR programs, no matter the size or scale, are valuable to the communities they are serving because of their pivotal role in promoting sustainable, just, and balanced development, and contribution in addressing social and environmental challenges.

Open finance to accelerate financial inclusion goal — UBX

“Inclusion has always been a critical mission for us at UBX, and we believe that the accelerated adoption of the open finance framework will allow us and the industry to hasten our shared goal of including everyone in the financial system. Open finance will enable our partners to acquire customers at scale, develop solutions specific to the unbanked, underbanked, and growing businesses, and provide consumers with greater choice and control over their data. Since we were formed in 2018, we at UBX have been consistent with our drive to include everyone into the financial ecosystem. We have invested heavily in open finance technologies and tools that complement the BSP’s regulations and initiatives towards financial inclusion. As the leader in open finance and as a strong government ally, we vow to develop more products and services to help the country accelerate our shared goal of including the majority of Filipinos in the financial systems.” ~John Januszczak, UBX President

Open finance has the power to accelerate the country’s financial inclusion goal, as it democratizes access to a spectrum of financial products and services particularly for the unbanked and underbanked as well as growing business, according to a ranking official of UBX, the leading open finance platform in the Philippines. 

Driving access and interoperability among financial ecosystem participants, open finance allows financial institutions to reach the unbanked and underbanked, while empowering them to tailor solutions that meet the needs of consumers and businesses.

The Bangko Sentral ng Plilipinas (BSP) recently rolled out the Open Finance Framework, which allows “consent-driven data portability, interoperability, and collaborative partnerships among financial institutions and third-party providers (TPPs).”

Last month, the BSP also unveiled the refreshed 2022-2028 National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI), which aims to reduce disparities in financial inclusion; improving health and resilience; empowering consumers; and increasing access to finance of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) including startups and the agriculture sector.

Through its banking-as-as-service venture i2i, UBX enables ordinary merchants to become banking agents, who can offer a range of banking solutions from performing know-your-customer (KYC) processes, disbursing funds, processing bills payments, accepting deposits, accepting and forwarding loan applications, to selling insurance, among many others. 

A cloud-based platform, i2i is built on blockchain and open finance technologies, enabling fast, reliable, and secure financial transactions, including but not limited to wallet transfers, domestic transfers, bills payment, mobile scoring, mobile ATM, and offline and online loan processing, among others. To date, UBX has over 200,000 B2B customers on its open finance platform. 

UBX’s open finance platform also gave birth to SeekCap, an online lending marketplace, that enables lenders to reach MSMEs and offer them with affordable loans to help them jump start or expand their businesses. Last year, SeekCap processed over P7 billion in loans from the more than 50,000 MSMEs registered on the platform. 

To complement these ventures, UBX also developed BUx, an all-in-one payment solutions platform that allows merchants of all sizes to accept all forms of payment, unifying payment channels from card payments, bank transfers, over-the-counter payments, to e-wallets into one solution.

To learn more about UBX, please visit www.ubx.ph. 

About UBX

UBX is the financial technology venture studio and fund of UnionBank of the Philippines. UBX is predicated on a future where financial services are invisible: seamlessly embedded into the experiences and activities that truly matter to businesses and people. For partnerships, email us at hello@ubx.ph. 

For more information about the company and this article, please visit www.ubx.ph.