by Penny Angeles-Tan | Dec 28, 2022 | Business
For playing a central role in financially empowering its nearly 70 million users, GCash, the Philippines’ leading finance app, again makes a mark on the global financial technology industry as its president and CEO, Martha Sazon was included in The Financial Technology Report’s list of top 25 women leaders in fintech.
“I’m honored to join other amazing women leaders in the Financial Technology Report’s annual list. This recognition is a testament to GCash’s positive impact on the lives of our millions of customers. It also shows that women, if given the opportunity and platform to shine, can be great leaders for various organizations, especially in this increasingly more digital world,” said Sazon. “This achievement will spur us to further push the envelope in introducing more meaningful digital financial solutions and making sure nobody gets left behind in the digital economy.”
The Financial Technology Report is a New York City-based news agency covering business, investment activity, and corporate actions related to the financial technology industry. It describes itself as, “run by a seasoned team of editors, writers, and media professionals highly knowledgeable on financial technology and the various companies, executives, and investors that make up the sector.”
In an article on its website, the Financial Technology Report said, “thousands of new fintechs are launched each year, but only a small percentage demonstrates the staying power to last in such a competitive market. While many begin with truly great ideas, it takes much more to build a successful company. To make it in the long run, fintechs need to acquire financial support, get the word out through marketing, and constantly be innovating—not to mention ensuring that their operations run efficiently and that they remain in compliance with regulations. And for all of these necessities, great leaders are essential.”
Sazon was appointed as CEO of GCash at the height of the pandemic in 2020. Her focus on customer centricity resulted in GCash becoming a lifeline to millions of Filipinos during a time when many lost their jobs. Under Sazon’s leadership, GCash has become the Philippines’ first and only “duacorn,” or a company with a valuation of $2 billion. It’s also become the country’s biggest e-wallet with a registered user base of nearly 70 million.
Sazon has also doubled down on making sure GCash is able to make Filipinos’ everyday lives better enabling the fintech firm to provide meaningful digital finance solutions that empower people and organizations – helping 63% of Filipinos who are unbanked.
Prior to leading GCash, Sazon had 20 years of experience in various fast-moving consumer goods industries like food, pharmaceuticals, personal care, and telecommunications. She spent 12 years at Globe Telecom, the largest mobile network in the Philippines, where she headed the Broadband business and pioneered many breakthroughs and achievements for a wide array of products.
Previously, Sazon was also named “Philippines: CEO of the Year” at the IDC Future Enterprise Awards 2021. Earlier in 2022, she was recognized as a “Master Innovator for Digital Transformation Innovation” during the 2nd Annual Mansmith Innovation Awards and Summit.
About GCash
GCash (G-Xchange, Inc.) is the #1 Finance App in the Philippines. Through the GCash App, 69M registered users can easily purchase prepaid airtime; pay bills at over 1,600 partner billers nationwide; send and receive money anywhere in the Philippines, even to other bank accounts; purchase from over 5.2M partner merchants and social sellers; and get access to savings, credit, loans, insurance and invest money, and so much more, all at the convenience of their smartphones. GCash is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mynt (Globe Fintech Innovations, Inc.), the first and only duacorn in the Philippines.
GCash was recognized by The Asian Banker (TAB) and by the IDC in 2021 for its outstanding digital financial inclusion programs.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Dec 28, 2022 | Book Reviews
I was going through Goodnovel for something new to read when I stumbled upon Taming My Sexy Personal Assistant by HDallywrites. The title intrigued me … was this going to be a male or female POV? Who is the personal assistant? While it is common for the PA to be female, it isn’t always the case.
Before I knew it I got sucked into the story because of how different the approach was. First of all, our lead female character, Skylar, is sexy as hell and loves sex. She shuns relationships and favors one-night stands once a week and never repeats. Our lead male, Luca, is a billionaire and Skylar’s boss. In contrast, he is a one-woman-man. He has not been involved with anyone casually or otherwise in months.
Circumstances lead to Skylar and Luca becoming more than PA and boss and the sexual tension is high as the story progresses. Getting involved is not as simple as it seems as Luca insists that if they start something, it will not just be a one-night stand and Skylar is wary of that.
Storywise, this is developing wonderfully, and it isn’t even completed yet! However, I must call out the author for being careless. Not only can he/she/they not keep track of character names (Skylar is sometimes called Luca) he/she/they also often lose track of who is talking and use the wrong pronouns a lot. He/she/they also tend to use BIG words that would make a reader call up a dictionary or Google just to figure out what it means. Sometimes we could figure it out based on context, but not all the time.
If you can get passed all of that, you should be able to enjoy this book. I admit that I find it annoying but I just keep a notebook handy where I keep track of all the stuff that makes my teeth ache referencing the chapter so I could revisit it later. Hopefully, later I can find the author on social media and we could converse online about this story.
Taming My Sexy Personal Assistant by HDallywrites is really steamy and the story development is pretty good! You can find this story on Goodnovel where it is categorized as a billionaire romance. This is a story worth printing on paper (after it has been proofread).
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Dec 27, 2022 | Business
Sterling Bank of Asia President and CEO, Mr. Cecilio San Pedro during the 2022 Outstanding BSP Stakeholders Appreciation Ceremonies
Sterling Bank of Asia (SBA), one of the country’s leading thrift banks, was recognized by the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) during the “2022 Outstanding BSP Stakeholders Appreciation Ceremonies” held last November 29 at the BSP Assembly Hall.
BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla, in his message, recognized both the public and private sectors for their contribution to the implementation of appropriate, responsive, and well-calibrated policy actions.
SBA is the only savings bank among the nine award recipients from BSP’s head office for its outstanding participation in BSP’s Cash Service Alliance (CSA).
“We are honored to be recognized by the BSP for our strong commitment to the development and protection of the financial services industry,” said Cecilio Paul San Pedro, President & CEO of Sterling Bank of Asia. “This award is an affirmation of hard work and dedication in improving the financial well-being of our clients and every Filipino,” San Pedro added.
For more information, visit https://www.sterlingbankasia.com/.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Dec 27, 2022 | Discounts, Sales, and Giveaways
Get ready to greet the new year with a bang as GCash is giving buy load users a chance to win up to P300,000 in the last draw of its Lucky Load promo, which gives customers a chance to win a portion of a weekly pot prize by purchasing load and playing their earned tickets.
In the past weeks from November 21, 2022, thirteen buy load users have already won thousands of pesos, making their Christmas holidays a merrier experience, indeed!
GCash customers just need to keep on using the Buy Load feature until December 28, 2022, so that they get one ticket entry for every P50. Participants should bear in mind that the number of tickets will be rounded down. For example, if the load amount is P70 or P99, this will only earn you one ticket entry. So, why not spend some more and save that load for when you need it?
Once a GCash user gets the ticket, they can select 6 icons from a roster of 30 icons. After picking the six icons, the user can submit the ticket entry. To win, a player must have six matched icons, in no particular order, to the winning draw.
For the past weeks, the prize of P150,000 has been divided equally among all users with the corresponding number of matched icons. And since there were no winners during the 4th weekly draw, the prize was added to the pot of the final draw.
If there are still no winners during the last draw, the remaining pot prize will be raffled off to 500 lucky winners on December 29, 2022. Winners will be posted on the GCash official Facebook page on or before January 10, 2023.
Thanks to GCash, anyone can get a chance to enjoy even better holidays with more money to spend on shopping, travel, or some self-care, that’s why it’s important to buy more load to earn more tickets and have more chances to win up to P300,000.
The GCash app is available for free on the Google Play Store, App Store, and HuaweiApp Gallery. For more information, visit www.gcash.com.
About GCash
GCash (G-Xchange, Inc.) is the #1 Finance App in the Philippines. Through the GCash App, 71M registered users can easily purchase prepaid airtime; pay bills at over 1,600 partner billers nationwide; send and receive money anywhere in the Philippines, even to other bank accounts; purchase from over 5.2M partner merchants and social sellers; and get access to savings, credit, loans, insurance and invest money, and so much more, all at the convenience of their smartphones. GCash is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mynt (Globe Fintech Innovations, Inc.), the first and only duacorn in the Philippines.
GCash was recognized by The Asian Banker (TAB) and by the IDC in 2021 for its outstanding digital financial inclusion programs.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Dec 23, 2022 | Business
The holidays are always such a big eating season for everyone. It’s that one time of the year when we feel extra carefree about what we eat because, seriously, have you really enjoyed
But what if we tell you that you do not need to sacrifice healthy eating to enjoy the season? Even more, what if you find out that you can whip up your flavorful recipe in minutes in your own kitchen?
Breville’s Smart Oven Air Fryer should be on every Christmas wishlist of all home cooks out there. Versatile, easy to use, and very durable, this oven from the premium home brand can give you the best of both worlds in terms of flavor and ease of cooking as you cruise through the holidays.
One of the beauties of the Smart Oven Air Fryer is its ten cooking functions that can let you make to-die-for crispy treats and scrumptious slow-cooked meals. Toast, bake, roast, grill, and, of course, air fry without any fuss while shortening your cooking time. Equipped with dual-speed convection, this kitchen partner speeds up the cooking process by raising hotter air while sinking colder ones. The result: 30 percent reduced cooking time as compared to regular ovens and air fryers!
Richie Zamora, the vlogger behind The Pickiest Eater in the World makes a perfect case for this when he prepared a full spread of TV chow snacks for his family to enjoy in minutes. He shares, “All these amazing snacks were cooked in the air fryer with absolutely no oil. Everything was cooked to a beautiful crisp, but you don’t even realize that they aren’t deep fried.”
Let’s Eat Pare also showed how fast and easy it is to make restaurant-level fried crispy wings with the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer. In just 20 minutes, they were able to make a big batch of chicken wings in sour cream flavor! You can check out their recipe here if you want to try their version.
Of course, preparing healthier versions of dishes is another thing that makes this kitchen must-have from Breville essential. Air frying significantly reduces — if not totally removes — the use of oil in cooking, which means that you consume fewer calories and prevent weight gain and obesity when you air-fried food. Fortunately, for the Smart Oven Air Fryer, you don’t need to worry about sacrificing flavors to go the healthier route. Chef Beng proved this when she made a Pinoy-style whole-fried chicken using it.
“Normally, I would have this deep-fried, but using an air fryer is apparently so much better as the chicken is amazingly crispy, juicy, and full of flavor. Not to mention, this is a way healthier process than deep frying.”
She also shares that she loves the precision with time and temperature that this Air Fryer provides. “Just press a function, and it automatically shows how long and high the cooking process will be.” This is made possible by Breville’s patented Element IQ System, which is a smart algorithm that decides the ideal cooking environment for a range of different cooking techniques.
The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer is definitely the kitchen partner to have this holiday season if you want to enjoy healthy, delicious meals minus the fuss. As Richie, Chef Beng, and Let’s Eat Pare say, respectively:
“The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer proves that cooking doesn’t need to be greasy to be delicious, and preparing food with less guilt doesn’t mean less flavors either.”
“It has ten cooking functions, which make it a value-for-money purchase. I totally love it, and I highly recommend this smart kitchen appliance.”
“It’s the ultimate kitchen tool you need to put on your Christmas shopping list, pare!”
What are you waiting for? Add the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer to your holiday wishlist now. To learn more about the product, visit the Breville website and follow its Facebook and Instagram pages.
GCash (G-Xchange, Inc.) is the #1 Finance App in the Philippines. Through the GCash App, 69M registered users can easily purchase prepaid airtime; pay bills at over 1,600 partner billers nationwide; send and receive money anywhere in the Philippines, even to other bank accounts; purchase from over 5.2M partner merchants and social sellers; and get access to savings, credit, loans, insurance and invest money, and so much more, all at the convenience of their smartphones. GCash is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mynt (Globe Fintech Innovations, Inc.), the first and only duacorn in the Philippines.
I was going through Goodnovel for something new to read when I stumbled upon Taming My Sexy Personal Assistant by HDallywrites. The title intrigued me … was this going to be a male or female POV? Who is the personal assistant? While it is common for the PA to be female, it isn’t always the case.
Get ready to greet the new year with a bang as GCash is giving buy load users a chance to win up to P300,000 in the last draw of its Lucky Load promo, which gives customers a chance to win a portion of a weekly pot prize by purchasing load and playing their earned tickets.
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