L-R: The Stamp Studio’s Calvin Chan, The Seasalt Brownie’s Jairus Rosello, Earthy Kit’s Mia Pascua, Wick It Candles’ Bea Diaz, SM City Fairview Regional Operations Manager Lea Sta. Ana, SM Supermalls Leasing Manager Jehan Yucot, SM Supermalls Regional Leasing Manager Sev Mendoza, Cacaomistry’s Mel Medrano, Ambi’s Seaweed Chips’ Ricky Ambi, Crave Box Patisserie’s Kimberley Go, and Gab’s Happy Plant Macrame’s Edward Faldas

Today, many people are engaged in business to earn additional income. There are instances where the husband works while the wife starts a business to contribute financially to the family's needs.

Eight Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) were launched at the second batch of the SM Fairview StartUp Market at the mall’s Lower Ground Level, Central Walk last July 17, 2023. The SM StartUp Market features businesses such as Crave Box Patisserie, Earthy Kit, The Stamp Studio, Ambi’s Seaweed Chips, Cacaomistry, The Seasalt Brownie, Wick It Candles, and Gab’s Happy Plant Macrame until January 31, 2024.

The SM Start-Up Market provides Small, Micro, and Medium Enterprises a chance to expand their businesses within the physical malls. SM Supermalls actively supports newly established and small businesses, enabling them to access a broader market and foster growth. Notably, start-up business are granted the opportunity to showcase their products in the mall through the SM Start-Up Market.

Recently, SM City Fairview unveiled its second batch of SM Start-Up Market. There are 8 SMMEs included namely, Ambi's Seaweed Chips, Cacaomistry, Cravebox Cakes and Pastries, Earthy Kit, Gab's Happy Plant Macrame, Stamp Studio, The Seasalt Brownie, Wick It Scented Candles. This exposure provides a great opportunity for the featured businesses. Many people visit SM City Fairview, especially on weekends. If ever I have a business, I would also consider placing it in SM Supermalls to attract more customers.

Below are the 8 SMMEs included in SM City Fairview's Start-Up Market:

AMBI'S SEAWEED CHIPS

Ambi’s Seaweed Chips specializes in homemade crispy seaweed chips

 

 

CACAOMISTRY

Cacaomistry focuses on handcrafted plant-based cacao mix sourced from local farmers in Batangas and Davao

 

CRAVEBOX CAKES AND PASTRIES

Crave Box Patisserie offers freshly baked custom-made pastries for every occasion

 

  

EARTHY KIT

Earthy Kit offers diverse eco-friendly personal and home care products

 

 

GAB'S HAPPY PLANT MACRAME

Gab’s Happy Plant Macrame sells Macramé (a form of textile produced using knotting techniques) plant hangers to support the livelihood in the Payatas community

 

 THE STAMP STUDIO

The Stamp Studio specializes in a wide array of custom-made stamps and stickers, perfect for school and office use

 

 THE SEASALT BROWNIE

The Seasalt Brownie sells handcrafted artisanal brownies and dolce desserts made from high-quality natural ingredients

 

 

WICK IT SCENTED CANDLE

Wick It Candles focuses on candles in retro enamel cups filled with 100% natural vegan soy wax and premium fragrance oils

 

Though it may seems too good to be true to sell products in a mall, SM Supermalls genuinely supports SMMEs through the SM Start-Up Market. If you visit SM Malls, be sure to look for the location of the SM Start-Up Market and support these businesses by purchasing their products. In SM City Fairview, you can find them at the Lower Ground Floor, Central Walk.

The goal of SM is to help online businesses flourish with the SM StartUp Package. “It is part of SM’s MSME program supporting start-ups who started with an online store and want to transition to a physical shop, and SM is the best place to do this with its high foot traffic and diverse customer base,” said SM Supermalls Regional Operations Manager Lea Sta. Ana.

SM StartUp Package

Through the SM StartUp Market, online MSMEs are offered the valuable support they need to set up shops at SM malls. By joining the SM StartUp Package, MSMEs are given the assistance in opening their first brick-and-mortar shops.

Launched last October 2021, the SM StartUp Market tenant package features start-up-friendly rental rates and use of kiosks or carts free of charge; marketing assistance to give the brand free exposure in SM online assets and ad spaces inside malls; financial assistance with BDO Network Bank; and mentorship from SM experts on operations and marketing.

SM StartUp Market’s first batch was launched last December 2021 in SM Megamall. Overall, there are malls that have StartUp Markets from Clark and Pampanga in North Luzon to Cagayan De Oro and Davao in the South with new concepts and fresh products under various categories such as Health and Wellness, Home Hobbies and At-Home Experiences, Smart Gadgets for Productivity, Functional Fashion, and Comfort Food.

To know more about the SM Startup Market and MSMEs, make sure to log on to www.smsupermalls.com, email startup@smsupermalls.com, or follow @smsupermalls on all social media platforms.

#SMCFStartUpMarket

With the new normal we are living now, people and businesses tend to evolve and adapt in this situation in order to move forward. More and more businesses have shifted to remote working arrangements for employees and teams. Working from home has gradually become the new normal - an adaptive measure allowing businesses to continue operations, with reduced risk to the health and safety of their workforce. Thus, creating a growing need for tools and apps that enable efficient virtual collaboration, in the absence of face-to-face interaction.

Lark is the next generation collaborative suite that integrates multiple essential functions into a single platform, eliminating the need to juggle between apps while working. Signing up for a free account on Lark equips your team with the necessary tools to boost their productivity from anywhere.

With Lark Messenger, team members can instantly exchange information with one another. Emojis make messaging fun and interactive, and allow for quick reactions within the team chat, reducing noise by eliminating multiple replies to the same message. The team calendar may be viewed within the chat window, making it easy to check everyone’s schedules and reduce unnecessary notifications for team members in the group chat, all in one place. And more one-click translations are also available in Lark Messenger, eliminating the language issue for cross-country collaboration, if any.

Pulling up a group chat or accessing a video call from a Lark Calendar event is easy to do as well. This smart calendar also features a multi time zone view, to avoid scheduling confusion among team members around the world.

A free Lark account gives users UNLIMITED Video Conferencing with advanced screen sharing capabilities. You can share editable content within the video call window, allowing real time revisions and additions to documents during virtual meetings. Its new live streaming feature opens up even more possibilities for online collaboration, allowing larger audiences to join in and view broadcasts.

Lark also offers a wide range of advanced video conferencing features optimized for remote working environments, including blurring your background, touching up your appearance and reducing background noise and the sound of keyboard typing.

Lark Docs enables multi-user collaboration on online spreadsheets and documents. For easy reference, you can simply tag other Lark docs, team members, and even chat groups within a document. No more time wasted searching through folders for what you need. Lark's powerful universal search feature allows you to locate information from within your organization's unlimited chat history, documents and calendar events instantly. With 200GB cloud storage included in a free Lark account, there is more than enough room to store your work files, images, and videos.

Finally, access other productivity and monitoring tools by connecting external apps through Lark Workplace. Some add-on features provide customizable attendance and approval workflow.

Lark Workplace also supports a wide range of third-party integrations, including project management tools such as Asana and Jira, analytics monitoring through Google Analytics, and CRM solutions such as Salesforce and Zendesk.

Available on Mac, PC, iOS and Android, teams can continue working together flexibly and effectively inside and outside the office with Lark.

Watch this video to see how you can use Lark for your business.


To learn more about Lark, visit www.larksuite.com.

TikTok here and TikTok everywhere. This is probably one of the many apps that has been the tool used in this time of pandemic.  TikTok, the short-form video app with a mission to inspire creativity and bring joy, has launched new advertising solutions to empower small and mid-size businesses in the Philippines to tap into the power of TikTok For Business to grow their brand. The global availability of TikTok's self-serve advertising solutions gives marketers the tools to tap into the creativity of the TikTok community, reach new audiences and optimize their marketing campaigns with an easy-to-use platform. At a time when small businesses have been severely impacted around the world, TikTok is also introducing its Back-to-Business ad credit program, including $100 million in ad credits for small businesses worldwide to use on their journey to rebuilding.

Today marks a significant milestone in the evolution of TikTok For Business with the introduction of self-serve tools designed to support advertisers at each step of the campaign creation process. TikTok, a platform that celebrates creativity and storytelling from its users, aims to give marketers innovative tools with which to create authentic, creative content unique to the app. More and more brands are realizing TikTok's unique ability to reach and engage with a broader audience, and today's launch of new advertising solutions for SMBs makes it seamless, easy, and efficient for all brands to now meaningfully connect with the TikTok community.

“TikTok's immersive, short-form videos give businesses a platform to participate and engage with a community known for its creativity, ingenuity, and joy," said John Castro, Community Operations Manager, TikTok Philippines. “As our marketing solutions scale and evolve, we're continuously building for the future and aiming to meet the growing needs of our partners. We're excited to continue supporting our community by providing the tools and resources for SMB owners to navigate these challenging times."

TikTok Self-Serve Advertising Tools
The TikTok For Business Ads Manager empowers businesses of all sizes to reach their ideal customers on TikTok through a simple interface. With new creative tools and performance features designed with small businesses in mind, it's now easier than ever to start activating at scale on the platform.

Product highlights include:
● Creative tools: TikTok has a suite of creative tools that enable every marketer to embrace the creativity and authenticity of the TikTok community. Everyone has the opportunity to tell their story, and resources such as TikTok AdStudio help brands represent the most authentic version of their brand.
● Flexible budgets: TikTok Ads Manager was designed for fast set up for every level of expertise. Flexible budgets allow businesses to adjust their spending at any time.
● Performance targeting: Intelligent targeting enables businesses to get discovered by new engaged audiences.
● Business accounts: TikTok is also introducing business accounts that will provide additional tools customized to businesses' needs for performance analysis and engagement with audiences.

"We see endless potential on TikTok and wanted to get in early to start building our presence this summer in preparation for peak holiday season," said Isaac Gad, CEO of Slate and Tell, an independent jewelry brand offering creative ways to personalize your jewelry. "We've met our return on advertising spend goals within days whereas on other platforms it's taken months. We're excited about experimenting with creatives and growing on the platform.”


TikTok Back-to-Business Program
Small businesses are uniquely at risk as local economies ceased activity in efforts to protect public health. SMBs around the world are weathering this crisis, and TikTok is committed to supporting them as they get back on their feet and start rebuilding by providing $100M in advertising credits.

“Small businesses are the lifeblood of our local communities, and we want to be there with them and to provide support as they navigate these challenging times”, added Castro.

TikTok's Back-to-Business is available globally, and small businesses can apply for the credit and get started by visiting the website.

For more information on getting started, visit https://www.tiktok.com/business

The Filipino economic market is in for a spin as a new player in the crypto-currency business has been formally launched.

During the grand event held February 24 at Cities Events Place at Sgt. Esguerra St., Q.C., You Won Il, President of ALL BY ALL (ABA) Philippines, introduced to members of the press, stakeholders and potential investors his cryptocurrency company, which is basically a monetary exchange platform.
You Won Il enthused: “ABA is the perfect solution for people who are looking for a seamless approach in using cryptocurrencies for their numerous online transactions”.
To start enjoying the convenience provided by ABA, one has to simply visit their website or app, then sign up. Once the form is completed, the user will receive an electronic wallet or account which they can ‘load’ with Philippine pesos. The electronic wallet can, then, be used for cryptocurrency transactions like online trading and commercial purchases, in lieu of credit cards and traditional currencies.
Some of the advantages of using ABA is that it is faster, ensures more secure transactions globally, and has lower fees. ABA is also now preparing for its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and is also eyeing brisk expansion in other Asian hubs like Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan.

Aside from cryptocurrency, ABA will be getting into other businesses like travel and online gaming.

In honor of its commitment to ensuring the digital capabilities of today’s small to medium entrepreneurs (SMEs), PLDT SME Nation has declared the entire month of July as Small Business Month.

Small Business Month is a first of its kind revolution which aims to empower and enable small businesses to dominate the digital space by educating them on useful business practices, providing them with financial tools and equipping them with digital business solutions to better serve the evolving customer.

PLDT Executive Vice President and ePLDT President and CEO Eric Alberto said, “The way to do business today cuts across brick and mortar establishments and mobile and online platforms. Because of this our customers are more empowered in their respective markets. It’s an exciting albeit challenging world out there, and as the country’s leading enterprise technology services provider, we have take it upon us to ensure that the country’s small businesses are ready for this new age”.

PLDT SME Nation’s Small Business Month will feature activities including the Empowering the Small Business! Caravan – a forum to bring small businesses to the digital era by providing them with the right solutions. This is in partnership with the Philippine Retailers Association, Go Negosyo, PNB and Google.

Also in the pipeline is the launch of digital tools specifically for small businesses so they are mobile-and web-ready to capture the new breed of digital customers.

To recognize the role of creative, hardworking and inspiring Filipino Entrepreneurs, PLDT SME Nation is set to unveil the digital counterpart of its long running MVP Bossing Awards-The Bozz Awards.

The Bozz Awards will honor the achievements and potential of new generation bossings (aged 40 and below) who have been nurtured and bred by the culture of the digital age. This campaign calls for the nation’s participation as nominations and voting are crowd-sourced online. Ultimately, it hopes to encourage more Filipinos to become their own boss by becoming entrepreneurs themselves.

“There’s now way to go but digital”, PLDT First Vice President and Head of SME Business Kat Luna-Abelarde said. “Customers are mobile and they go online to do just about everything-buy, read reviews, air their concerns, advocate a brand. The real and virtual worlds are more converged, now more than ever. With the launch of Small Business Month, we want to be enablers by providing them with the relevant tools and services to thrive as they embrace the digital revolution.”

Log on to pldtsme-nation.com.ph for more information on the activities for Small Business Month.

Experiencing VIP treatment is what we always wanted and for entrepreneurs this is an event to hail for themselves as Procter & Gamble Distributing Philippines and Puregold provided one big event in celebrating entrepreneurship.  It was the first-ever VIPuring Convention which was held at one of the branches of Puregold at Paseo De Blas in Valenzuela City.  An exclusive event given by P&G and Puregold as their way of thanking retailers and entrepreneurs for their loyalty and support.

The occasion allowed Puregold GOLD members to enjoy exclusive privileges like on-the-day amazing deals and discounts on P&G products. The event also featured talks on how to level up one's business and provided inside information on local and global business trends. Training was also conducted by both P&G and Puregold on how to best grow their businesses.




No less than renowned business speaker Francisco J. Colayco, a bestselling author, entrepreneur and financial adviser, headlined the event to share helpful business tips and insightful anecdotes about his business experience and expertise to highly appreciative Puregold GOLD members. He also emphasized the importance of choosing superior products that would sell at competitive margins. Colayco is the chairman and president of the One Wealthy Nation (OWN) bank and hosts the TV show Pisobilities on GMA News TV and Light TV 33.

A major highlight of the event was the first-class, VIP broadway-themed entertainment that delighted the audience. Joy Antibac's The Kitchen Musical medley featured superb performances from thespians Christian Bautista and Karylle. The Downy Mystique presentation dazzled the audience with Regine Tolentino's masquerade production number. Olay Total Effect's The Little Mermaid medley featured the angelic and mesmerizing voice of Nikki Gil, while the Head & Shoulders for Men's Broadway segment had the audience singing along to Gian Magdangal and Ciara Sotto's performances.



"The first-ever VIPuring Convention is P&G and Puregold's way of making top store owners and entrepreneurs know how important they are not just to their immediate communities but also to the country's economy. We will always be supportive of our partners and we will continue to equip them with the right tools and the right products that will help them grow their businesses," Raffy Fajardo, Marketing Director of P&G Distributing, Inc., stated. The P&G and Puregold VIPuring Convention also presented opportunities for GOLD members to win exciting prizes and score great deals and markdowns on select P&G products.

"We plan to have this event as an integral Puregold and P&G tradition so that we can encourage them to do well and excel in their endeavors," Fajardo said.



P&G serves approximately 4.8 billion people around the world with its brands. The Company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Ace®, Always®, Ambi Pur®. Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Duracell®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Fusion®, Gain®. Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, lams®, Lenor®, Mach3®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®. Prestobarba®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, Wella®, and Whisper®. 

The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pq.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

For more details, visit: https://www.facebook.com/aling.puring.961