IN A bid to serve their customers and stakeholders better, the Maer Summit Group (MSG) of Companies is set to build its MSG Corporate Center in Matina Aplaya, Davao City, signifying a new and exciting chapter for the homegrown-company.
MSG president and founder Dino Mae D. Suelto envisions the corporate center as the meeting point of MSG's values wherein inter-generational collaboration works together to pioneer innovative ideas in various industries and at the same time, address social and environmental concerns.
"The creation of the corporate center epitomizes our belief that in order to serve better our stakeholders, partners, and members of our work family, we need to level up and integrate quality management and best practices in all of our work activities," Suelto said during the groundbreaking ceremony on February 14, 2022.
During the ceremony, Suelto and Chief Operations Officer of Maer Summit Properties Gene Arcena echoed the same sentiment -- inter-generational collaboration as a core value for MSG.
The group believes that meaningful change can be done by the younger generation or millennials and the older generation working together.
"Almost all would say we're having difficulty connecting with the new generation. With MSG, the collaboration is like magic, so there was a free flow of ideas," Suelto said. "We instituted a common agenda that would work for several different generations and that is balancing profit and purpose."
The MSG Corporate Center will be a sustainably-built structure using eco-cast blocks, an eco-friendly alternative construction block mixed with recycled plastic wastes.
Suelto shared that the corporate center is a step towards the group's vision to be an environmentally-conscious company.
"We did a lot of study before we did the actual design. We made a major pivot towards being more sensitive to the community and the environment where we exist. That is basically the concept of the building," Suelto said.
New technologies, particularly Building Information Modelling, will be used in constructing the said Corporate Center, according to Engr. Paul Deño, project manager of the construction.
MSG will also implement a “circular economy” approach that will benefit the business, society, and the environment. The company plans to avoid producing waste as much as possible during the construction in order to further help the environment.
"Itong center, hindi lang siya just an ordinary building (The corporate center is not just an ordinary building), it will be constructed using new technologies. It's sustainable and innovative," Deño said.
According to Suelto, the purpose of the building is to consolidate all the operating units of MSG, including Maer Summit Konstrukt, Maer Summit Properties, Maer Summit Supply and Logistics, and Maer Summit Technologies.
"During the pandemic, we were 'decentralized.' That's how we believe we could survive in the pandemic and since we're nearing the end or the endemic stage, we intended to consolidate," he said.
Moving forward, MSG has continued to flourish despite the ongoing pandemic. The group has projects throughout the Davao Region, particularly in Davao Oriental, Davao del Norte, and Davao City.
The Maer Summit Properties under the MSG group recently began the development of a 29,010-square-meter socialized housing project in Mati City called Mati Ridge Homes. They are also set to develop a 1-hectare townhouse project in the same city.
In Davao City, MSP is working on a four-hectare mixed-use real estate project in Puan which will be composed of medium-rise buildings. Other projects in the city are the 10-hectare development in Barangay Eden in Toril and a one-hectare development in Ma-a.
Sustainability
Aside from their corporate center, the company will also be utilizing eco-cast blocks for its other real estate projects, especially for the residential projects.
These eco-cast blocks are construction blocks mixed with recycled plastic wastes gathered by residents from partner communities in exchange for a half kilogram (kg) of rice per 1 kg of plastic waste gathered, Suelto said.
The company has partnered with Green Antz in Luzon for the manufacturing of eco-cast blocks.
"That's the social component that we do. You can just imagine the amount of waste that you gather and take out from the environment," said the MSG president.
As a relatively young company founded 20 years ago, the future is bright for MSG. Diego Luis B. Suelto, chief executive officer and president of Maer Summit Supply and Logistics Inc. and Maer Summit Properties' chief finance officer, said the company will continue to be diversified to ensure sustainability.
He said MS Konstrukt (MSK) will be into the construction and development of public and private infrastructure projects, the MS Properties (MSP) to be the main developer with a niche in environment sustainability, while the MS Supply and Logistics (MSL) will bring eco-cast blocks as a primary material in construction.
"When MSP needs a contractor, MSK is there, when MSK needs logistics and raw materials, MSL is there," he told SunStar Davao.
As the second-generation leader, the younger Suelto said he wants to see MSG become an industry-defining group in the future.
"That's not just consumer-focused but also employee-focused. Fostering talent and maybe challenge the industry standards for wages and compensation," he said.