Four interns were proclaimed the Grand Champions at the first ever Ayala Group Interns’ Innovation League (AGI2LE), the culminating event at the 11th Ayala Group Summer Internship Program (AGSIP). The awarding ceremony, which took place at the Globe Auditorium, Maybank Performing Arts Theater in Bonifacio Global City, was attended by 120 Ayala interns and Ayala executives. The winning team named “Osena” was comprised of Maria Betina Ramos (ADMU), Alexander Go Tian (UP), Joe Diether Cabelin (UP), and Jose Karlo Pascual (UA&P). They pitched “Paglago”, a B2B platform that aims to deliver fresh produce efficiently and sustainably from Luzon farmers to Manila kitchens. Team Osena won P50,000, an immersion trip to the headquarters of an Ayala technology partner company, and job offers from the Ayala group.
In his opening address to the interns, Ayala’s Chief Human Resource Officer and Group Head of Corporate Resources John Philip S. Orbeta said, “We at the Ayala group promised to give you an internship experience unlike any other—immersive, engaging, and challenging. After all, this is the Ayala way. For 185 years, our company has aspired to be a partner in nation building. Today, we continue to align our business objectives towards these aspirations. I believe this is what makes our internship program unique. We had no doubt that as the best in your class, you would not only be able to handle the difficulties of performing real work during your internship, but that you would also be able to explore innovative ideas that could make a difference to society. We are certainly proud that all of you have stepped up and delivered.”
Over the course of their six-week AGSIP engagement, the interns, representing the top 15% of the academic achievers in some of the country’s best universities, developed and pitched ideas to answer the brief of providing a sustainable solution that would improve the quality of life of an underserved market. Six out of 27 teams moved on to the final judging by a panel of Ayala executives, namely Toti Bengzon (Ayala Land Chief Financial Officer), Gabby Blaza (AC Industrials Strategy and Business Development Group Head), Jose Rene D. Almendras (Ayala Group Head of Public Affairs and AC Infrastructure President & CEO), Rodell Garcia (Manila Water Chief Technology Adviser), Vince Tobias (Ayala Head of Innovation), and the aforementioned John Philip S. Orbeta.
“The Ayala of today is very different from the one that existed a decade or two ago,” said Ayala Chairman and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, who dropped by to congratulate the interns. “We need to reinvent ourselves to stay relevant among our customers and the communities we serve. And who better to look for reinvention than from people your age?”
