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Thursday, November 11, 2004
Singapore investors check out Cebu’s IT facilities
AS part of Singapore’s 2004 business mission in the Philippines, a total of 19 Singaporean firms visited Cebu to explore investment and business opportunities in the city.
The delegation was sponsored by the agency International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore) with its goal of internationalizing Singapore’s homegrown businesses and developing its economic interests abroad.
Led by Hum Wei Mei, IE Singapore senior officer for international operations, the group attended a forum at City Sports Club Cebu.
Cebu Holdings Inc. chief executive officer Rene Almendras welcomed the Singaporean delegation with a brief overview of the Ayala Group of Companies in the city, namely Cebu Holdings Inc., Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corp. and Ayala Land Inc.–Vismin.
The Singaporean firms were then divided into two groups—retail and information technology (IT).
The IT group was composed of the following Singaporean firms: Crim-sonlogic Inc., Icus Pte Ltd., I-Merge Pte Ltd., Jadelite Technologies Pte Ltd. and Sandz Solutions Singapore.
Francis Monera of Cebu Holdings gave a presentation about Asiatown IT Park’s amenities as well as the incentives for IT locators and investors.
Bonifacio Belen, executive director for the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology, talked about his organization’s thrust of improving IT human resources and making Cebu a center for IT education.
For his part, Mike Jurado, president of the Cebu Software Development Industry Association Inc. (Cebusoft), introduced the visitors to a number of Cebusoft companies that serve as their local counterparts in the IT industry.
The IT firms then toured Asiatown IT Park and the e-offices located in the property. The group visited the offices of NEC Philippines, NCR, PeopleSup-port and Globe Telecom.
NEC president Masa-haru Kawasumi recounted his experiences of relocating his business and remarked on the good transportation, less pollution and safe environment in Cebu as well as the people’s hospitality and good English-speaking skills. “I can even ride a taxicab to go to the office, no problem,” according to NEC’s top honcho.
The NCR visit gave the firms an opportunity to see high-tech automated payment machines not yet distributed in Asia but used in supermarkets across the United States and Europe.
In People Support, they were acquainted with Cebu’s thriving customer service industry.
“Now we know who’s on the other end of the line when we book travel tickets at Expedia (a People-Support client),” said Edward Musiak of Jadelite Technologies.
The Singaporean firms were hopeful that the tour could bring Singaporean and Filipino firms closer and encourage them to form productive alliances.(Rapunzel Lim)
(November 11, 2004 issue)
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