STAR gives money talk to IT Park BPO workers

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine STAR has expanded its financial literacy campaign by conducting wealth management seminars in key cities of the country with well-known motivational speaker and business consultant Francis Kong.

STAR, the country’s leading newspaper, held yesterday the sixth leg of its wealth management caravan at the IT Park, Apas, Cebu City attended by workers of call center firm Accenture.

Kong discussed money matters and shared practical financial advices to the business process outsourcing employees who belong to the millennial generation.

Jay R. Sarmiento, STAR’s corporate communications manager, said the campaign’s objective is to teach millennials how they can better manage their finances and have a better perspective on financial wellness.

He said the same seminar was already conducted in some cities in Metro Manila and that they plan have it next in Davao City.  

The paper’s financial advocacy, Sarmiento said, started in 2013 with the weekly column Wealthness in STAR’s Sunday Lifestyle section, which gave useful and practice financial tips in partnership with Bank of the Philippine Islands. 

In 2014, STAR eventually introduced a series of YouTube “webisoqdes” called Futurecasting, where the newspaper’s resident financial adviser and columnist Francis Kong talked about financial management. The project was in partnership with Insular Life.

STAR later on partnered with Cinema One, a Filipino movie cable channel, to produce a mini-series production titled “Single/Single” starred by Shaina Magdayao and Matteo Guidicelli. The series discusses various financial and career issues, using characters the millennial generation can relate to.

In yesterday’s seminar, Accenture employee Daniel Quijano, who leads the company’s Young Entrepreneurs Club, said many BPO workers really need education to help them become responsible in their financial planning.

“We (BPO workers) have the luxury of high salary but we also need to learn how to manage our finances wisely,” he told The FREEMAN.

While forums are a good step to drive financial education, Quijano said the challenge lies on how people adopt the lessons they have learned and actually put them into practice.

The FREEMAN is a sister company of STAR.   (FREEMAN)