Posted: July 26
Leading alternative ecommerce payment gateway, Dragonpay joined ‘Digital Pilipinas: a Closer Look at the Philippine Sandbox’, a nationwide movement that aims to influence change, through technology and innovation, across the local, regional, national, and international spheres.
Sharing the stage with Dragonpay Founder and CEO Robertson “Dick” Chiang during the launch last July 22 were Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Chief FinTech Officer Sopnendu Mohanty; Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez; Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Carlos Dominguez, and Digital Pilipinas Convenor and GeiserMaclang Marketing Communications, Inc. Co-Founder Amor Maclang. All of them expressed their support for a more technologically capable and innovation-driven digital landscape across the ASEAN region.
Chiang who heads Dragonpay, which has close to 100 million transactions, expressed his forecast of the needs of the market and the industry: “We do see a need for a regional reach, especially in the payment space wherein we are seeing borders coming down. There will be a start of the opening of corridors between countries. There is going to be a lot of exciting things happening, and foreign investors will give us a ramp into that space.”
The Digital Pilipinas movement will culminate on November 11-12, 2021, at the World FinTech Festival Philippines, which will gather the top tech leaders in the country to share their insights on trends and how organizations can become stronger in the new normal. To support the movement and materialize the vision for a digitally free Philippines, a series of online conferences spread across six months will take place.
Sec. Lopez highlighted the country’s growing e-commerce saying, “Before the pandemic, the government has already been utilizing digitalization to push the ease of doing business. The adoption of e-commerce facilitated the digital transformation of business. The government remains committed to its role in enabling different stakeholders in our country to ensure our people benefits in e-commerce.”
Meanwhile, Sec. Dominguez cited the country’s breakthrough in electronic tax collection. “Our economies will need to adjust to modern technologies if they want to remain viable. Even before the pandemic, the Philippine government encouraged the rapid rise of FinTech in our country, and our revenue agencies have fully embraced digitalization.” He also added another factor that will make the digital transformation of the country successful: “A strong partnership between the private sector and the government will help the Philippines breach the digital divide.”
In his keynote speech, Mohanty said, “You must ensure that the sandbox will benefit all the citizens for public good. We are promoting technology for people to progress, so the public good is important to make the sandbox successful.” He added, “If there’s one market in Asia which has the biggest potential to completely transform, it’s the Philippines.”
Maclang emphasized technology can help solve the country’s age-old problems as outlined in the Digital Pilipinas 12-point agenda. “Innovations are being spearheaded in the sandbox of Asia. We need to do more than just raise our innovation quotient as a country to remain competitive—-we need to demand a technology and innovation quotient from our future leaders,” she said.
With the theme, ‘A Whole of Nation, Whole of Society Approach for Technology and Innovation’, the panel discussion was led by Mohanty, who emphasized, “If there’s one market in Asia which has the biggest potential to completely transform, it’s the Philippines. We are promoting technology for people to progress, so the public good is important to make the sandbox successful.”
Digital Pilipinas, the movement, has a 12-point agenda to address the barriers to the future of the Philippines. It provides solutions to overcome hurdles within the Philippine industry and economic ecosystem and introduces a method to leverage on ICT-driven opportunities. The 12-point agenda covers FINTECH, GOVTECH, and REGTECH; PROPTECH; DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION; OVERSEAS FILIPINO BANKING; FUTURE OF MOBILITY; INSURETECH; ECOMMERCE; CYBER SECURITY; INTERNET OF ENERGY; FUTURE OF EDUCATION; DIGITAL CITIES; and GAMING.
The first segment of the fireside chat led by Maclang and FinTech Philippines Trustee Ida Tiongson gathered innovation market leaders in an engaging discussion about how they are dealing with industry issues and challenges and how they are pushing boundaries through tech. Chiang shared how he applied what his company learned from the transformation of their companies to the tech development of their industries to make it even more competitive. He was joined by Insular Life First Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Gwendolyn Kelley; MYNT Chief Customer Officer Winsley Bangit; KPMG in the Philippines (R.G. Manabat & Co) Head of IT Advisory Jallain Manrique; Union Bank of the Philippines Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technology & Operations Officer and Chief Transformation Officer Henry Aguda; and Tier One Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Tryke Gutierrez.
Digital Pilipinas’ multi-month activities lead to the World FinTech Festival on November 11-12, 2021 where the country’s top tech leaders and pioneers will share their insights on trends and organizational agility in the new normal.
To join the movement, click on www.digitalpilipinas.ph or email [email protected].