ARC opens second Young Leaders Camp

MANILA, Philippines - Asiawide Refreshments Corporation (ARC) is holding its second Young Leaders Camp at the First Pacific Leadership Academy in Antipolo City.

ARC is the Philippine bottler of RC Cola, the cola drink that Filipinos have come to savor for its distinct taste, quality and value for money. The company’s culture of value-laden work and leadership is further expressed through its banner CSR initiative The ARC Young Leaders Camp, now on its second year.

The camp is a three-day seminar and workshop given for free to college freshmen and sophomores who, despite being part of marginalized groups, have shown great leadership potential by having taken leadership roles in their own respective schools or communities during their high school years.  The 40 camp participants were handpicked by ARC from state colleges and government-funded universities in Metro Manila.

“We chose to train freshmen from state colleges because, first, we wanted to catch them early, while they are still full of youthful idealism,” explained Gerry T. Garcia, ARC executive vice president and COO. “We specifically targeted the state-funded universities because we knew that’s where we would find more students who have great talent for leadership but cannot afford the cost to attend leadership camps and trainings.”

The 2nd ARC Young Leaders Camp aims to inspire these Filipino youths to “Lead, Create, and Change.”

ARC has identified six resource speakers who are all highly respected individuals both within and outside of their fields, to share their knowledge, experiences, and passions with the young future leaders. These speakers include respected leaders from the local government and media, an environment activist, a social entrepreneur, a civic organization that works towards ethical leadership in the Philippines, and a mentor of youth leaders whose names have been making huge waves in the international community.

“The camp’s ultimate goal is to instill in the camp participants the leadership values of resourcefulness, excellence, teamwork, discipline, and most of all, integrity – the same values that ARC encourages and implements in its day-to-day company operations,” Garcia said. “We often hear that the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow. We at ARC don’t just believe that — we are investing in it. We know there are plenty of young people out there who would shine and do great things for the country if only given the opportunity. That is what we at ARC are trying to give them: an opportunity to shine and do great things.”