The Globe Business Hat Party: Bringing 'joie de vivre' to Filipino entrepreneurs

MANILA, Philippines - The secret to true joy in living is in finding the right balance between one’s work and one’s personal passions — whether these are family moments, hobbies, creative pursuits or social advocacies.

Globe Business celebrated joyful living at the event “Joie de Vivre: The Globe Business Hat Party” held recently at Prive in The Fort Strip. It was also the occasion for Globe Business to honor a group of special Filipino entrepreneurs by choosing them as Globe Business Ambassadors.

Highlighting the program was the Hat Ceremony, which officially conferred the status of Globe Business Ambassador to each of the chosen Filipino entrepreneurs.

These entrepreneurs include fashion icon Amina Aranaz-Alunan, maker of the Aranaz brand of luxe bags; Informatics CEO Leo Riingen; Jaime Daez, owner of Fully Booked and other specialty bookshops; Lennie Dionisio, founder of the Tomato fashion store chain; Rex Puentespina, head honcho of Puentespina Orchids; internationally acclaimed industrial designer Kenneth Cobonpue; restaurateur Happy Ongpauco-Tiu; and Rose Ann Bautista of Fino Leatherwear, Inc.

All of them were chosen as Globe Business Ambassadors because of the inspiring manner in which they do business: they are successful in their work while at the same time being able to pursue the passions that give their life meaning and happiness.

Having a grand time: Puentespina, SME segment marketing head Mae del Rosario, Globe Business head of corporate and SME segments Manny Aligada, and Riingen.

Globe Business head Jesus Romero explained this during his welcome remarks.

“We cannot always be serious in this life, especially in business. We want the Filipino entrepreneur to be able to work hard and earn the fruits of his hard work — but he or she must also be able to enjoy the things in life that truly matter,” he said.

“We want Filipino entrepreneurs to be able to go on family vacations and family dinners. We want them to be able to play golf, to enjoy a sport or a hobby — whatever it is that gives their lives true joy and meaning,” he added.

Romero further explained that modern technology is an important tool to help entrepreneurs find the time and energy to achieve a work-life balance.

“Thanks to modern telecoms, for example, we are no longer stuck in an office all day in order to do our work. We have the cellular phone, e-mail and the Internet to help us do our jobs, or at least monitor what’s going on, even if we’re on a trip with our family,” he said.

“We can attend to other things while feeling more secure about our offices, our factories and our stores; we can monitor the location and schedule of our deliveries — all of these can be done without being actually present in the office, thanks to modern telecoms,” he added.

Work-life balance

All of the Globe Business Ambassadors are able to harmonize their work tasks with other meaningful pursuits. For example, Aranaz-Alunan is also a teacher, a devoted wife and a mother of three kids. Puentespina is a sailor who competes in yacht and hobie craft races. Riingen is an award-winning photographer and loves scholarly pursuits — he already has a Master’s degree. Dionisio loves to travel and is a badminton enthusiast.

Romero lauds the Globe Business Ambassadors for inspiring others to attain work-life balance and joyful living, saying such a balance is made possible through advanced telecommunications technology.

Daez is an architect and an audiophile who collects CDs and DVDs and is founder of the Philippine Graphic Fiction Awards together with his friend international author Neil Gaiman. Ongpauco-Tiu is a homemaker who is passionate about food and wellness. Cobonpue is a world-traveler and an advocate for the environment. Bautista always makes time to be a mom to her kids, to travel with her husband and to engage in water sports and gym training.

As such, they are all perfect ambassadors for the Globe Business brand.

“An ambassador is the highest-ranking representative of a nation or an organization. This is how much we value and honor our Globe Business Ambassadors. They represent and affirm the mission of Globe Business to help Filipino entrepreneurs find work-life balance and achieve the joyful life,” Gil Genio, Globe Business head of international and business market, said during the toast.

The final message of thanks was given by Manny Aligada, Globe Business head of corporate and SME segments, who noted that Globe Business and its mother company, Globe Telecom, put special focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

“Only just about a dozen years ago, Globe Telecom also started out as a small company. It only had about 200,000 subscribers for both wireline and mobile services. So Globe knows what it is like to struggle and start small. That’s why Globe feels a special connection with SMEs. That’s why we at Globe Business are committed to helping our small and medium entrepreneurs attain not only success in business but also joy in life,” Aligada said.

Magic, fun and whimsy

Romero pointed out that the Hat Party theme was meant to bring out the spirit of fun during the occasion. Indeed, the event combined elements of fun, fantasy, magic and whimsy as guests came in wearing hats that expressed their own styles and personalities — as the afternoon’s host, VJ Cliff Ho of Channel V, pointed out, he was reminded of the tea party in Alice in Wonderland.

Aligada shows off the special token given to guests: a miniature of the acclaimed Yoda chair by international industrial designer and Globe Business Ambassador Kenneth Cobonpue.

There were ballerinas dressed as fairies; harpist Holly Paraiso was similarly attired, looking like a forest enchantress as she plucked both her harp’s strings and the guests heartstrings to set the mood with some lovely music; magician Herman Aquino amazed guests with some really close-up magic: instead of performing illusions onstage, he went around the venue and did amazing sleights of hand that had people gasping in wonder.

Even the Hat Ceremony had the fairy ballerinas twirling their wands as they helped Globe president Ernest Cu put the ceremonial, official Globe Business Ambassador hats on the heads of the Globe Business Ambassadors.

The official Globe Business Ambassador hats were made especially for the occasion by fashion designer, corsetiere, milliner and London Fashion Week award-winner Mich Dulce.

Cobonpue, acclaimed as one of the top industrial designers in the world, was on business overseas but sent a video message to his fellow Globe Ambassadors. He also sent them tokens of appreciation — beautiful miniatures of the world-famous Yoda Easy Chair of woven rattan and steel.

After the official program ended, the partying continued with music from veteran OPM band True Faith, which sang classic New Wave 80s numbers. All the guests continued to enjoy the delicious food from BIZU, the fun atmosphere and wonderful company. It was truly an afternoon of “joie de vivre” that none of those present would forget.

Just like the new Globe Business ambassadors, you, too, can streamline your business operations and enjoy your other passions with the help of Globe Business’ products, services and packages. Call +632 730-1288 or log on to http://www.globe.com.ph/business to find out more.

Globe Business is the corporate arm of Globe Telecom. It provides wireless and wireline solutions for a diverse set of industries, businesses, and commercial enterprises.

It assures SMEs of affordable, reliable, and dependable services for all communication needs, both wireless and wireline solutions, to generate the highest possible profit at the lowest possible cost.