PH on Spotlight in 2019 Global Access Program at California State University
The Philippine delegation, headed by Consul General Adelio Angelito Cruz (second row, leftmost), with the organizers, speakers from other Asian countries, and participants for the 2019 Global Access Program arranged by the California State University in San Bernardino. (Los Angeles PCG photo)
SAN BERNARDINO 13 June 2019 – In its first collaborative project with the California State University San Bernardino’s (CSUSB) Jack H. Brown College of Public and Business Administration, the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles participated in the 2019 Global Access Program Conference entitled “Global Opportunities in a Sustainable Digital Economy: Focus on Asia” held at the Yasuda Center for Extended Learning located in the CSUSB campus on 05 June 2019.
The Conference was attended by some 130 guests including local businessmen, Filipino-American business groups, students and members of the academe, and government officials with economic portfolios including representatives from the United States Department of Commerce and U.S. Small Business Administration. Also present during the event was Deputy Consul General Ambrosio Brian F. Enciso III, and Beaumont Mayor Pro Tempore Rey Santos, who is a Filipino-American.
The Conference featured four countries in Asia, namely India, China, South Korea and the Philippines. This year’s conference put the Philippines on spotlight and gave an opportunity for the Philippine delegation to highlight the sectors of digital economy, infrastructure, agriculture and trade.
In his remarks, Consul General to Los Angeles Adelio Angelito S. Cruz provided updates on the growth of the digital economy in the Philippines as it impacts on the country’s economic dvelopment.
He said, “the Philippines enjoys a combination of two mutually-reinforcing demographic factors: high mobile phone usage and a population with increasing digital natives, the latter beginning to dominate the country’s young workforce, radically changing the entrepreneurial landscape.”
The first panel on the Philippines focused on investment opportunities at the macro level and was moderated by the Consulate General’s Political/Economic Officer Consul Rea G. Oreta. The panelists were Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) director Cesar B. Chavez and Philippines’ Agriculture Attache to the United States and Americas Dr. Josyline Javelosa, who gave presentations on infrastructure developments in the Philippines focusing on Clark, and presented investment opportunities in agro-business highlighting high-value chain agriculture products, respectively.
The second panel highlighted opportunities from the American perspective and was moderated by Kusum Kavia, an CSUSB alumna and co-founder of Combustion Associates, Inc., a company involved in engineering and manufacturing of gas turbine power-generation packages based in Corona, California.
Members of the second panel were Filipino-Americans who have established themselves in the local business community.
Cristina Espiritu, a Filipino-American multi-entrepreneur and a seasoned finance professional who co-founded of My Jeepney Stop, an online directory of Filipino entrepreneurs, events and businesses in Orange County, shared her insights on doing business in the Philippines and gave tips on cultivating business relationships with Filipinos. Ferdinand Soriano, a Filipino-American product procurement and logistics management specialist and founder of Planet 63, an online trade platform for Philippine products, gave a talk on potential trade links between the Philippines and the United States, the tools of the trade and e-commerce as a trend in the two-way trade between the two countries.
Majority of the businessmen present in the Conference expressed keen interest in the importation of coconut products as it was announced during the panel discussion that the U.S. market is now open for young coconuts from the Philippines.
GAP is a collaborative program between CSUSB’s Jack H. Brown College and the U.S. Small Business Administration, and facilitated by Dr. Sarita Jackson who is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Research Institute of International Trade, a Los Angeles-based think tank and consultancy firm which focuses on the Philippines, as well as countries in Latin America and Sub Saharan Africa.
CSUSB is one of the 23 campuses under the California State University System, which is known as the largest senior system of higher education in the United States and for its strong business administration program. END
Consul General Adelio Angelito Cruz addresses the business community in San Bernardino and provides an update on the evolving digital economy in the Philippines. (Los Angeles PCG photo)
Top photo: Consul Rea Oreta moderates the Philippine panel discussion. Bottom photos: Philippine Agricultural Attaché to the United States of America Josyline Javelosa discusses agro-business investment opportunities in the Philippines. Director of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) Cesar B. Chavez shares the ongoing infrastructure projects in Clark City, Tarlac. (Los Angeles PCG photo)
Left photo: Ferdinand Soriano, Founder of Planet 63, promotes business opportunities in the Philippines by sharing his own entrepreneurial experience. Right photo: Cristina Espiritu, Director of the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County, shares her entrepreneurial strategies that have brought success to her businesses in the Philippines. (Los Angeles PCG photo)
For more information, visit www.philippineconsulatela.org or https://www.facebook.com/PHLinLA/.