Putting the spotlight on the sustainable approach to value creation, Jaime Z. Urquijo, Ayala Corporation's chief sustainability and risk officer, highlighted the conglomerate’s journey to long-term sustainability at the recently concluded Manila Bulletin Sustainability Forum on November 19, 2024.
“Our purpose is to build businesses that enable people to thrive. This means building businesses that are sustainable, equitable, and inclusive. Ultimately, we try to build businesses that enable people to thrive, that is the common thread we have throughout all of our businesses that we try to create or potentially acquire. When it comes to sustainability, this is the framework we use when we think about sustainability in the companies we build,” said Urquijo as he opened his presentation.
Sustainable value chain
For Ayala Corporation, the most compelling way to create value is to solve societal challenges and harness innovation to scale the venture. He cited Manila Water for creating social benefits in water and sewerage services, GCash for the financial inclusion of 90 million users, and Acen for building its renewable energy capacity. In addition, AC Health improved access to affordable quality care by providing the ecosystem enabling more patients in the formal health care system, while ACMobility empowered the riding public with new mobility options, lowering gas emissions and costs of transportation.
Addressing negative externalities
In his talk, Urquijo touched on negative externalities, where businesses unintentionally create harmful environmental impacts that are not factored into their business models. To address negative externalities, Ayala companies implement projects across the fields of environment, social impact, and equity action in value accretive ways.
Acen’s transition of its energy mechanism to produce renewable energy, and Globe’s use of solar energy to power cell sites are good examples.
Ayala Corporation is also committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) across multiple initiatives. Internal policies related to DEI and inclusive benefits are in place such as support for working parents, redefining qualified dependents, and catering to different needs including mental health consultations to qualified dependents, educational loans, and house repair loans.
Valuable insights are gathered from employee engagement surveys and the incorporation of the mirror board. There are also programs for inclusive circles, patients of cancer patients and other diseases, and DEI learning programs for employees and HR teams.
Building thriving communities
Urquijo also discussed how the Ayala Foundation works towards shared prosperity in the country.
In community development, the foundation aims to lift families from poverty to middle class in their target communities (e.g. El Nido, Mindoro, Zambales, and Makati), empower Filipino artists through a portfolio of arts and culture platforms (e.g. Ayala Museum, Filipinas Heritage Library, Contempo) nurture young leaders in leadership development (e.g. Ayala Young Leaders, Atletang Ayala, scholarships), and enable their workforce to be active in purpose-driven and volunteer projects. In response to the learning crisis, its Big Bet program is focused on bridging the learning gap by developing competent and confident teachers through the Center of Excellence in Public Elementary Education (CENTEX) to support grade-level students.