Jakie and the Beadstalk

GoBalik is making digital customer loyalty more accessible to Filipino small businesses, driven by the belief that these tools should not be reserved for big brands. For many small businesses, attracting a customer is only the beginning. Giving that customer a reason to return can be just as important. Yet while established brands can invest in sophisticated loyalty programs, smaller merchants often have to find practical ways to build lasting customer relationships with more limited resources. GoBalik, a Filipino-built digital loyalty platform, was founded around a simple belief: local businesses should have access to digital tools that help them encourage repeat visits, regardless of their size or budget. “ Local and small businesses should have access to digital tools like these, not just big brands ,” said Ariel Josh Cariño, founder of GoBalik. “ We want to make it easier for local businesses to give their customers a reason to come back. ” The platform helps merchants introduce di...

Home Security Starts With a Risk Assessment, Not a Shopping List, Says Resilience Expert Ace Esmeralda On The Commanders, Esmeralda explained that families should look at their own vulnerabilities before buying cameras and locks. “If you don’t do risk assessment, all your remedial measures are baseless,” security and risk management executive Augustus Caesar “Ace” Esmeralda said on the September 24 episode of The Commanders, a public service program on Bilyonaryo News Channel hosted by retired Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo and retired Rear Adm. Armand Balilo. Esmeralda compares a home risk assessment to a medical checkup. Just as a doctor diagnoses a patient before giving medicine, homeowners should find their property's weak spots before buying security products. Your location determines your risk. The assessment looks at both the house and its surroundings. The types of threats depend on whether your home stands alone in an open village, is inside a gated subdivision, or is a condo uni...

   Cebuana Lhuillier has long recognized that its people drive its mission of financial inclusion every day. To further strengthen this culture of recognition, the company introduced the ORO Regional Awards 2026, its first regional recognition platform covering all nine regions and bringing the Gold Standard of Excellence closer to the Ka-Cebuanas who embody it. Jean Henri Lhuillier, President and CEO of Cebuana Lhuillier, highlighted the importance of recognizing employees across the organization: “ORO marks an important step in our longstanding recognition tradition, bringing recognition closer to our nine regions and honoring the Ka-Cebuanas whose dedication and hard work contribute to our success every day.” Named after the Spanish word for gold, ORO represents excellence built over time through dedication, hard work, perseverance, loyalty, and meaningful contributions. The program brings recognition closer to Ka-Cebuanas across all nine regions, celebrating the people who...

    BRAND CON 2026 has named BNI Taguig Region as its Co-Presenter, bringing together a network of more than 600 member companies across 10 chapters and a shared mission to help Filipino businesses grow through stronger brands. The partnership connects BNI’s strength in business relationships and referrals with BRAND CON’s advocacy for strategic brand building, helping entrepreneurs and SMEs move beyond referrals to become recognizable, trusted, and preferred by customers. Beyond the five-day congress, the collaboration envisions year-round learning, mentoring, and knowledge-sharing opportunities that make brand-building expertise more accessible to business owners. Carrying the theme “Empowering Brand Builders,” BRAND CON 2026 runs November 24–28 at Newport World Resorts in Pasay City, featuring internationally recognized branding strategist Laura Ries, the RIES Positioning Masterclass, and the Brand Festival. Learn more at www.brand-con.com. Strategic partnership combines BN...

Less hassle, more Korea. Join Enjoy Korea's new Korea data eSIM means no physical SIM to swap and no pocket WiFi to pick up or return. Filipino travelers just scan a QR code sent by email or Messenger and connect on arrival. Choose Premium (10GB) or Value (300MB), and both keep going at [5 Mbps / 3 Mbps] after the high-speed allowance runs out. Join Enjoy Korea Launches Unlimited Data eSIM for Trips to South Korea Join Enjoy Korea, the Korea travel arm of Island Resort Club Tour Services, Inc. (IRC), is rolling out a Korea data eSIM lineup for Filipino travelers, developed in partnership with FreeT, a Korean telecommunications provider. Both plans maintain a guaranteed minimum speed even after the daily high-speed allowance runs out, on premium Korean networks (SKT, KT, and LGU+). What Makes the “No Speed-Trap Throttle” Guarantee Different? While many standard eSIMs found on online marketplaces promise unlimited data, they severely drop speeds to a crawl (128–384 kbps) once a daily...

  To mark IDDRR 2026, ASSIST is bringing the UN theme, "Resilience Starts at Home," straight to communities. By gamifying disaster prep with its Master of Disaster board game, ASSIST helps parents and kids build actionable safety routines together. To mark the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) 2026, Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (ASSIST) is bringing the United Nations’ theme, "Resilience Starts at Home" straight to local communities. Moving beyond top-down emergency response, ASSIST brings parents and children together to build practical home safety plans. While the Philippines ranks #1 on the WorldRiskIndex 2025 , Harvard Humanitarian Initiative studies show that while 58% of households discuss emergency planning, only 20% maintain an actionable disaster plan. Without a practiced routine, families are prone to act out of panic and make poor decisions in times of emergencies. To help build those crit...