AYALA GROUP
PHILIPPINE STAR: What has your group contributed toward nation-building?
AYALA CORP. CHAIRMAN AND CEO JAIME AUGUSTO ZOBEL DE AYALA:
At Ayala, we believe that our growth as a group of companies should go together with the development of the communities where we operate in.
Throughout our 185-year history, we are proud that our businesses have touched the country and the lives of our countrymen in many meaningful ways. SUSTAINABILITY
In 2016, we decided to take sustainability to the next level when we committed as a group to deliberately align our strategies to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This commitment also includes ensuring that all our subsidiaries would make measurable and meaningful contributions to the 17 SDGs.
Since then, I believe we have made significant progress in these contributions, which encompass environmental protection, provision of affordable healthcare and education, water distribution, telecom connectivity, clean energy generation, and mobility and transport.
However, perhaps most significant in this holistic effort at sustainability is our continuing pledge to not only merely measure and report our impact but also to verify, benchmark, and continuously improve on our contributions. MILESTONES
Some significant milestones in 2018 include providing affordable primary care to 240,000 unique clients through our 54 community-based FamilyDOC clinics; supporting the education of 18,120 high school students through our network of APEC Schools; and providing microloans through mobile technology to 77,000 customers through Mynt, as well as microloans of up to P4 billion to 60,000 entrepreneurs through BPI BanKo’s 200 branches nationwide.
On the environmental protection side, among other achievements, we have made substantial progress in reducing our carbon emissions.
AC Energy’s wind and solar plants produced 602GWh of power, helping us avoid 342,071 tons of carbon. Similarly, through Ayala Land’s and Manila Water ’s shift to renewable energy in its malls, offices, and water treatment facilities, respectively, we were able to avoid a total of 226,000 tons of carbon by generating 454 million kWh of electricity from sustainable sources.
PHILIPPINE STAR: What does Ayala Corp. want to see or dream for this nation?
Earlier this year, we presented our group-wide sustainability blueprint, wherein we committed to meaningfully contribute to improving access and inclusivity, promote productivity and competitiveness, and foster responsible growth and innovation through our various subsidiaries.
This blueprint outlines our aspirations as a group and sets guidelines for our companies as they set concrete targets in building a dynamic Philippines by 2030.
We envision that 2030 will see a Filipino who is healthy, educated, has access to safe and affordable water, is economically secure, has access to financial services, information communication, and clean energy.
The Filipino will be able to move freely and efficiently and have peaceful dwellings in an environment where waste is also managed efficiently. At its core, we envision the Filipino as a global citizen with firm roots in a country that is safe, secure, sustainable, inclusive, and progressive. FUTURE-READY
In recent years, Ayala has made significant investments in industries that we believe will generate tremendous impact to the communities that we serve, particularly to the growing middle class and other emerging segments of the country.
This includes our strong participation in energy, manufacturing, infrastructure and logistics, healthcare, education, and inclusive financial services, among others. Moving forward, we see a world that will become increasingly digital, with more vocal and empowered consumers, but with stretched resources and persistent underserved needs.
Our plans for the foreseeable future greatly involve adapting to and even proactively participating in addressing these trends. We have recently rolled out our group-wide digital transformation roadmap, wherein, through investments in robust telco infrastructure, digitally capable business, targeted venture capital, data analytics, and empowered talent, we are building a future-ready Ayala that will be uniquely positioned to be a key player in this fast-approaching, dynamic world.
AYALA CORP. PRESIDENT AND COO FERNANDO ZOBEL DE AYALA:
Ensuring long-term prosperity for our people requires that we in the private sector adopt a long-term view, collaborate more closely and engage on a more concerted effort at generating sustainable social and economic impact
We need to establish the appropriate environment for progress. In my view, we need a deliberate and strong alignment with sustainability principles and adopt long-term thinking. This, of course, should also be complemented by effective execution and meaningful impact in critical sectors, especially finance, tourism, education and healthcare.
Ayala believes that these areas hold tremendous potential to boost the country’s economic development. It is actively contributing to these sectors as part of its commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The group formally aligned its business strategies to the SDGs in 2016 and is a founding member of the UN Global Compact Network Philippines. It continues to be guided by its newly launched Sustainability Blueprint, wherein all Ayala companies champion SDGs to achieve specific targets by 2030.
To illustrate this, Ayala is doing its part to promote inclusive finance, as two-thirds of Filipinos are unbanked and are vulnerable to the risks connected to unauthorized lenders. With the Bangko Sentral’s support, Ayala is able to provide alternative means to access the financial system through BPI’s BanKo, which to date has disbursed P4 billion of microloans to 60,000 entrepreneurs across its 200 branches nationwide.
In the tourism space, Ayala sees potential to have a high impact on job creation as well as poverty alleviation in rural areas through sustainable tourism. Ayala believes that companies must leverage on the boom in tourism that the Philippines has seen over the last decade, wherein the sector’s direct economic impact more than doubled and now accounts for 8.7 percent of GDP and 2.3 million jobs.
In the education space, AC Education is helping prepare the Filipino youth to enter the workforce and is training quality educators.
With its partnership with the Yuchengco Group, Ayala now reaches 60,000 students through Mapua University, Malayan Colleges Laguna and Mindanao, National Teachers College, University of Nueva Caceres, and APEC Schools.
In healthcare, AC Health is building an integrated healthcare system that aims to improve healthcare for all Filipinos. However, the overall physical wellbeing of Filipinos remains subpar with an alarming rate of childhood malnutrition and growth.