The 47th Philippine Business Conference & Expo (PBC&E), the country’s biggest annual business gathering, opens Wednesday, Nov. 17, with a strong push for industries to pursue innovation because it is the key to rebuild the economy from the devastation brought about by the pandemic.
The two-day PBC&E with a theme “Innovation@ph: Economic Recovery For All” and organized annually by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) highlights the proactive and shared vision to reset and rebuild the economy by tapping on innovative ideas and pioneering technologies and leveraging existing platforms for innovation and partnerships.
PCCI President Benedicto V. Yujuico said that the role of innovation and technology has proven to be imperative to hasten the country’s economic development and in building a resilient and inclusive economy.
“As a business chamber, we have a major role to play in creating the ecosystem where the culture of innovation can flourish among our people, especially the youth and business enterprises, particularly MSMEs,” Yujuico said.
This year’s conference is chaired by Cathay Land President Jeffrey T. Ng. He was unanimously selected by the PCCI Board given his impressive personal and professional background in pioneering business ventures spanning over three decades.
The PBC&E is an annual summit of the country's business and industry captains from all over the country. It provides the platform for business leaders, policymakers, and development partners to share and exchange ideas on potentials and challenges facing business and its ecosystem.
Also highlighting this year’s PBC is the “2020 Presidentiables Forum” where candidates for the country’s top post in next year’s elections will be gathered in one event to present t An equally interesting and highly anticipated segment of the conference is the 2022 Presidentiables Forum where candidates will present their economic agenda towards recovery. The conference will conclude with the presentation of the business sector's wish-list to the government.
“The business community is extremely looking forward to hearing and listening from our presidential aspirants their economic agenda and how they plan to rebuild our economy. I am happy that we have almost all of them confirmed. We really hope we could have all of them in this forum,” Ng said.
As a tradition, the PBC will open with Vice-President Ma. Leonor V. Robredo as guest speaker. The list of confirmed speakers from the government include Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, National Economic Development Authority Karl Kendrick Chua, Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato dela Pena and Information and Technology Undersecretary Jose Arturo de Castro.
Also confirmed are Arch. Felino A. Palafox, Jr., Principal Architect-Urban Planner and Founder, Palafox Associates; Ernesto Tanmantiong, President and CEO, Jollibee Foods Corp; Michael Gonzales Tan, President/COO LT Group; Edwin, President, and CEO, Union Bank of the Philippines; Ernesto R. Alberto, President, DITO CME Holdings Corp.; Alfredo S. Panlilio, President and CEO, PLDT and Alfredo Panlilio, president/CEO, PLDT and Isabelle Gotianon-Yap, chair, FilinvestDevelopmenr Corp.
A session with global leaders in innovation and technology is one of the interesting discussions to look forward to with speakers, Sh. Abishek Singh, CEOC, MyGov India; Mr. LiorSethon, Vice President and Deputy General Manager, Mobileye; China Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian, Japan Ambassador to the Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhiko and Korea Ambassador to Kim In-Chul, have all been confirmed.