Top college students converge for summit

Eighty-eight top third year and fourth year college students from 36 colleges and universities in the Philippines participated in the 7th Aboitiz Future Leaders Business Summit (AFLBS) at the Radission Blu Hotel in Cebu City on Aug. 17 and 18.

The two-day event carried the theme, “Significantly Changing My Philippines,” which AFLBS organizers said is a call to action for future leaders of this generation.

This year’s summit is “basically the same from the previous years, except that “we are bringing more and more young people to apply” every year, said Jon Ramon Aboitiz, president of Aboitiz Foundation Inc.

“Our objective really is to share values with the young,” Aboitiz added.

The summit aims to prepare each student delegate to enter the corporate world, encouraging them to strive for excellence in all things.

“Striving for excellence, integrity, reputation, brand and building” is the corporate culture maintained by their company, said Aboitiz giving highlight on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) with P400 million budget this year.

The summit also gave the participants opportunity to network and create ties with the executives, team leaders and team members of the Aboitiz Group of Companies.

Aboitiz advised young delegates to “have passion to succeed” and should not be discouraged but instead remain enthusiastic.

“If you’re determined to do something, it gives you a tremendous energy. Sometimes we don’t realize that we have this kind of energy,” said Aboitiz.

The summit featured plenary discussions, games and team building exercises, simulating real work and business situations.

The main highlight of the event was the case study presentation by the student participants who were divided into 10 groups.

Each group was given three hours to present their case study.

Group 9 was declared as the champion during the awarding ceremony on Aug. 18.

The winning group is composed of Accountancy students Maxine Ann Taveros and Beauty Cartoneros from the University of San Carlos and the University of the Visayas, Political Science student Darren Ramon Avestruz from Ateneo de Naga, Business Administration student Bea Charlyn Laiño from University of St. La Salle, Communication Arts student Denice Sharina Lao from University of Santo Tomas, Accountancy student John Michael Lava from Far Eastern University, Civil engineering student Harf Miranda from Mapua Institute of Technology, Computer Science student Jonalive Ngaseo from University of Baguio and Accountancy student Shirley Romano from Technological Institute of the Philippines Quezon City.

The winning case study is about a pharmaceutical company facing negative reactions from the media and various environmentalist groups like Greenpeace and Earthwatch regarding their waste management process that produces harmful compounds.

Because of that, the company considered to downsize its workforce and invest for a million dollar new technology from the United States that would help eliminate harmful by-products. The affected residents are also demanding financial assistance for their medication.

The group was later required to solve some factors affecting the pharmaceutical industry, such as research and development, unemployment, government regulations, consumer demand, use of generic drugs pushed for all PhilHealth members and material prices.

The summit was participated by nine colleges and universities from the Visayas, of which seven from Cebu, 19 from Luzon and eight from Mindanao.

The Aboitiz Group gathers around 100 students each year from among the thousands of applicants all over the country for a two-day conference. Correspondent Tweeny M. Malinao