The Aboitiz Group was once again elected to the United Nations Global Compact Network Philippines or GCNP Board of Trustees to champion value-driven, corporate sustainability initiatives on the international stage.

The GCNP provides a platform for like-minded organizations to promote and incorporate the shared belief that sustainability begins with a principles-driven approach to doing business.

Through its Private Sector Champions Initiative, the GCNP pushes its 10-in-10 Agenda, or 10 focus areas to be undertaken in 10 years, from 2021 to 2031. The Agenda provides the blueprint for MSME recovery and resilience following the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. These focus areas are divided into three work streams: People, Prosperity, and Planet. The Aboitiz Group leads the Prosperity Pillar.

As the leader of the GCNP Prosperity Pillar, Aboitiz is rallying the private sector toward technology- and innovation-driven synergies that will help empower the country’s micro, small, and medium enterprises to become sustainable and resilient.

“Our continued support to the UN GCNP aims to inspire and promote collaboration, primarily among business corporations with support from the government, academe, and NGOs so that companies may practice the Ten Principles and a wider scope of programs to address the Philippines’ Sustainable Development Goals and better recover from the impacts of the pandemic,” said Aboitiz Group President and Chief Executive Officer  Sabin M. Aboitiz.

Aboitiz Equity Ventures First Vice President and Chief Reputation and Sustainability Officer Ginggay Hontiveros was reelected to the GCNP Board last 7 March.

Hontiveros is one of  three members elected during the 6th General Assembly to the GCNP Board, sitting alongside reelected International Care Ministries Foundation Director Dennis Montecillo and the newly elected Bayo Manila Chief Executive Officer Anna Lagon.

Vickie Tan of Ayala Group, meanwhile, serves as chairperson of the GCNP Board.

Overseeing the Aboitiz Group’s sustainability agenda, Hontiveros brings to the GCNP Board her experience leading the #OneNewAboitizSustainability framework, which unifies the Group’s strategic business units in addressing environmental, social, and governance issues, and the Aboitiz Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of the Aboitiz Group, which continuously redefines CSR with a view to scaling impactful programs for systemic change.

Hontiveros said that the main goal is to help MSMEs transform and become competitive, resilient, sustainable, and innovative through equitable and inclusive approaches for their long-term growth and development.

“To achieve this goal, we need to provide them with platforms, technologies, capability training, and access to markets and financial institutions to help them during this challenging time,” she said.

The Prosperity Pillar will conduct quarterly webinars focusing on four focus areas: financing, supply chain sustainability, business continuity management, and diversification and market access.

The series of webinars will address the top concerns of MSMEs, as well as link them to the UNGC Philippines’ network of organizations, particularly financial institutions that can assist them along the road of pandemic recovery.

Further, the Prosperity Pillar will adapt the Aboitiz Group’s “Biyaheng Digiskarte” mentoring program’s best practices to provide MSMEs the means and opportunities to grow through technology.

“‘Digiskarte’ was coined to highlight the disruptions in all industries that happened in the digital space. Therefore, adjusting the strategies and tactics to optimize the digital platforms and spaces is our way forward, our diskarte. Digiskarte is using digital tools, approaches, and innovations in doing business,” shared Hontiveros last November during the UNGC Philippines’ 4th Sustainability Summit.

“Through our strategic and collaborative synergies as ecosystem stakeholders working together, we will be able to scale up our tested business cases to create meaningful and impactful approaches to recovery and resiliency building for them,” she added.