Last Saturday, Karla Maquiling of Pinoy Centric assisted in arranging a lunch for us at the Shangri-La Hotel to present Aryty to a number of pro bloggers in Manila. It turned out to be nothing less than the perfect venue to exchange ideas and share more about Aryty with top Filipino bloggers “in the know” about the latest trends, technology and cultural issues taking place in the Philippines.
The influential blogging crew (a.k.a. BoB) included Jayvee Fernandez, Sasha Manuel, Gail dela Cruz Villanueva, Annalyn Jusay, Markku Seguerra, Ederic Eder, Mike Villar, Aileen Apolo and J. Angelo Racoma. I was also happy to see my friend Veronica Bartolome who just happened to be in Manila and made time to join us.
While it was nice to demonstrate how easy it is to buy Globe, Smart or Sun eload and discuss some of our future plans for Aryty the part I enjoyed the most was getting feedback and suggestions from the group. What a great opportunity to avail insight from some of the brightest in blogsphere! Conversation included subjects parang G-Cash, Smart Money, online loading, sari sari’s, OFW’s, remittances, new Aryty features and plenty about Globe, Smart and Sun loading habits.
The Roundtable
No Name Cafe Next Time?
Gail and Jayvee
Peace!
Salamat po!
You can check out these All Star’s blogs below. And if we missed you on this trip to Manila drop us a line so we can make sure to invite you to our next gathering! Hope to see you~
I am on the way to the Philippines and have stopped over in Tokyo for a few days of rest and Nike Love. One of the first things I was reminded of upon arrival in Japan is the global reach of OFW’s.
It is estimated that over 200,000 Filipina OFW’s work in Japan as entertainers sending home more that a half billion dollars to their families in the Philippines. As the economy in Japan continues to improve there will probably be an increasing demand for even more labor from the Philippines. Not just entertainers but caregivers as well due to the aging population in Japan.
With so many Filipina’s sending money back from Japan I am sure they would love an easy way to buy load or send load to family in the Philippines. Maybe it’s time for Aryty accept Yen!
Today I was in Washington D.C. and stopped by the World Resources Institute (WRI) offices to catch up with Rob Katz. Rob is a researcher at WRI and actively covers BOP markets and emerging technologies that promote change within those markets.
The majority of the world or approximately 4 billion people are low income with limited means or resources. This market segment is known as the base of the economic pyramid. Recently WRI published a book called The Next 4 Billion which includes BOP household expenditures, standardized purchasing power, market insights and strategies that work for commercial companies serving the BOP. Considering aggregate purchasing power of the BOP exceeds $5 trillion dollars it’s no wonder people are starting to pay attention. That’s a lot of cheddar!
The Philippines has been an innovator in delivering BOP commercial services. The book has a case study on Smart Telecom as just such an example. Not only did Smart pioneer airtime distribution allowing SMS airtime transfers of units as small as $0.03 but they also launched mobile money remittance. These services have increased telecom access for low income Filipinos nationwide with carriers in other emerging markets following Smart’s lead and providing similar services to their customers.
There was a great article 2 weeks ago in the New York Times all about the lives of Overseas Filipino Workers also known as OFW’s. The story called A Good Provider is One Who Leaves discussed the benefits and challenges faced by over 3 million Filipino workers that live abroad to send support back home to their loved one’s.
The Philippines is the 4th largest remittance market in the world making up about 14% of the country’s GDP! This story did a good job at presenting the mixed blessing of remittances while giving an interesting look into the lives of the OFW’s that send them.
There’s lot of talk lately about mobile banking and remittance services. The Philippines is one of the countries leading innovation in this area. Globe Telecom’s G-Cash and Smart’s Smart Padala are two great examples.
Millions of OFW’s around the world send money and load back home. These new mobile remittance services promise to make it cheaper and easier than ever for Filipino’s to help their loved one’s all at the speed of text. Take a look at this video about Globe’s award winning G-Cash and microfinance.
A strong peso is nice for Filipino’s who send their kids to school overseas or want to take a vacation in the states but it’s not great for those who want to send money to the Philippines or buy Philippine goods because you get fewer pesos for the dollar.
WOW! Tingnan mo ito!
We always try to keep the cost of sending load to the Philippines as low as possible for Aryty customers. Unfortunately we cannot control currency fluctuation. When the Peso goes up the price of load will increase and when the Peso goes down load prices will decline as well. And rest assured, while the dollar might be worth a little less for the time being, the gift of load is not!
“BSP credited the strong remittance inflow in part to improved platforms of banks and nonbank remittance companies that have adopted advanced systems and new technologies like the Internet, on-line banking, phone banking and remittance through short messaging.”
Innovations parang the ones mentioned by BSP not only increase the ease people can send remittances but reduce the high fees that companies likeWestern Union can charge for sending money to the Philippines.
Our goal atArytyis to keep you connected to your loved one’s by providing new ways to send load to the Philippines. With no extra fees or hidden charges it may be one of the fastest and easiest ways to help your family back home.
