billions of pesos in assets. “You walk the talk, my friend,” Fluss told Ynion. “You are exactly what this country needs for the Philippines to become progressive, and if only Filipino have the same mindset. You are an inspiration.” Walking the talk
Solidifying Israeli-Philippine connections through in innovation
When Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss visited the business process outsourcing (BPO) partnership between Yngen Datacom Corp. and Alliance Technology Solutions LTD (ATS) in San Pedro, Laguna, he was not expecting something spectacular but ‘managed his expectations to the usual ‘run of the mill’ operations.
Instead, Fluss, accompanied by Economic Counselor Tomer Heyvi, was surprised when they saw an ultra-modern, efficient, and well-organized operation. What surprised them was that the polished building used to be a “garbage dump” into a fulcrum of innovation and “a center of hope for the downtrodden.”
“This is beyond magnificent,” Fluss told Eugenio Ynion Jr., the president and CEO of Yngen Holdings. “What you did here is incomparable. Imagine transforming what used to be mountains of illegally dumped waste, and where illegal activities, including drugs and abortion, were committed, is not only a tropical garden with 300 Narra trees but employing thousands of poor Filipinos who could have been deprived of opportunities.”
The Ambassador went on to say, “This should be a model for the Philippines on how to reconstruct what used to be a center of decay into a treasure that changes people’s lives as well.”
Ynion, a resident of Barangay San Antonio in San Pedro, bought the property 10 years ago with the vision of remodeling the village so it could play a critical role in harnessing the varying effects of digitization. It aims to bring the Philippines closer to becoming the next innovation hub in the Asian region.
Soon, the village will host the UnionBank Innovation Campus in partnership with Yngen Holdings. The campus would be home to data science and blockchain institutes and an accelerator. Developments done on the campus are expected to benefit banking, fintech, and other industries.
“If they have a sandbox where businesses are allowed to move more freely and experiment (with new products and services), we have a sand hub in San Antonio,” Ynion said.
“It will be a playground for all innovators all over the Philippines. Here they can meet experts like Julio Ortiz (chairman of UnionBank and a certified expert in blockchain application in the fintech space). We will have regular town hall meetings to be attended by the best and the brightest in the fields of blockchain, data science, artificial intelligence, and fintech,” he boasted.
Fluss was also impressed by how Ynion, a former taxi driver and baker, was able to metamorphize and alter his stars. Ynion is now a tech developer, tech hub developer, real estate developer, and software platform developer with
According to Fluss, the typical reaction when a person looks at garbage is to go somewhere else. “But you have only one country and nowhere else to go. Either you improve your community, or you die,” he added.
Ambassador Fluss cited Israel’s motivation to constantly innovate and improve themselves as a nation to be the best in the world “because it’s the only country they have.”
The Israeli contingent was also impressed to learn that Ynion is backed by Union Bank of the Philippines, one of the largest and most innovative banks in the Philippines.
In the end, Fluss said the digital transformation he saw at the BPO operations by Yngen and ATS is just a byproduct of the total change of the place, where former nurses and caregivers learned coding skills and are now working as software developers.
“Digital transformation is not just transforming analog, but transforming the land from a garbage site to a beautiful landscape. It is about transforming poor people into decent high-paying professionals,” Fluss said.
Indeed, Fluss noted the clear Israeli connection in the BPO operation as more than 90 percent of the employees would eventually work for Israeli startups and unicorns.