What you need to know about diabetes
DIABETES is one of the most common illnesses in the Philippines yet many people do not know that they have it.
Bb. Pilipinas candidates who manage their own businesses
The beauty contest that traditionally ranks women by physical attributes doesn’t necessarily require a minimum IQ, but intellect (or the seeming lack thereof) is so often used to criticize Binibining Pilipinas candidates. Business acumen doesn’t necessarily mean intelligence—as much as beauty or brains isn’t a measure of a person’s value—but it’s fascinating to find beauty queens who have also heard the call of entrepreneurship.
A business student‑turned‑fashion designer, a certified public accountant, and a restaurateur—three of the 40 candidates of this year’s Binibining Pilipinas have more than just a pretty face in the country’s biggest beauty derby. Check them out:
DANE FELISSE MARASIGAN
Armed with an entrepreneurship degree from De La Salle University, she moved to the US to study fashion design at Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising where she finished magna cum laude. According to her profile on the Bb. Pilipinas official website, she’s been involved in the family’s clothing business since she came back home last year. Her LinkedIn profile says she worked as Assistant Designer at THML clothing, a brand that can be seen on the shelves of big name North American stores like Nordstrom and Dillards.
LEITZ CAMYLL ANG
Business runs in the blood of this Filipino‑Chinese candidate. Her profile video says that as a certified public accountant, Ms. Ang, 24, worked for almost two years at SGV & Co. Philippines as an assurance associate. In an interview, she told SparkUp that she now manages her family’s own auditing firm, Topskill Consultancy Services. Topskill currently provides accounting, tax compliance and consultancy services to industries such as real estate, merchandising, and services. Ms. Ang also revealed that being able to sashay on the runway while practicing her accounting profession is her greatest achievement so far.
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ANNA PATRICIA ASTURIAS
Aside from being a licensed interior designer, Ms. Asturias, 24, discloses through her official binibini profile that she is a restaurateur. She confirmed to SparkUp that she is behind Jose Karlo’s Coffee, a café located in Tacloban City, Leyte. It serves desserts that complement the caffeinated beverages. How she manages to be surrounded by sweets—including testing the products, and rechecking quality regularly—while maintaining a pageant‑worthy waist is another story.
HEALTH Cases of hepatitis B and C hit 325 million: WHO
GENEVA — An estimated 325 million people are living with hepatitis B or C and few are aware of their condition, with death tolls from the viruses rising, the UN said last week.
The World Health Organization’s latest hepatitis report identifies the condition as a grave public health threat that needs an “urgent response.”
Hepatitis killed 1.34 million people in 2015, a toll roughly in-line with HIV and tuberculosis.
But in contrast to HIV and TB, hepatitis deaths are increasing, the World Health Organization (WHO) said, recording a 22% mortality rise from 2000 to 2014.
Hepatitis is often symptom free, but types B and C can trigger liver cirrhosis and cancer if untreated.
Lack of awareness among those infected is driving the virus’ spread.
For hepatitis B — which is spread through bodily fluids like blood and semen — only 9% of those infected know their status.
And for hepatitis C, primarily spread through blood, just 20% of those infected are aware of their condition.
Lack of access to testing and treatment leaves “millions of people at risk of a slow progression to chronic liver disease, cancer and death,” WHO said in a statement.
The hepatitis B problem is most acute in the WHO’s Western Pacific Region, which includes China, Malaysia, and southeast Asia. An estimated 115 million people in the region have the virus.
Second worst is Africa, with 60 million hepatitis B cases.
An effective vaccine exists for hepatitis B.
WHO’s latest data shows that hepatitis C — for which there is no vaccine — is most commonly spread through unsafe injections, notably among drug users.
Europe and the eastern Mediterranean region are afflicted with the most hepatitis C cases at 14 million and 15 million respectively.
WHO is trying to ramp up the global hepatitis response, aiming to treat some 80% of sufferers worldwide by 2030. — AFP
National government fiscal performance (in billion pesos)
THE GOVERNMENT posted a fiscal deficit in March that was smaller than the year-ago gap, as spending picked up with revenues despite the past year’s high expenditure base as the May elections then neared, according to data the Treasury bureau released yesterday. Read the full story.
How the world’s largest food company fosters a Gen Z‑friendly environment
As time goes by, the lines separating generational cohorts become clearer and more distinct. Now, a new tribe is emerging: the Gen Z or centennials, who were born between 1995 and 2010.
The “oldest” centennials, now aged 22, are starting to trickle into the workforce.
“They are very different from the millennials,” asserted Hannah de Lumen, corporate talent acquisition and development head of Nestlé Philippines. The representative of one of the largest food companies in the world was speaking at a forum organized by JobStreet to celebrate “HR (Human Resources) Day” at New World Makati Hotel in Makati City on March 31. “They were not brought up the same way,” she added.
She claims that centennials are the “first digital natives.” While they do have similarities with millennials, the latter spent the early nineties using the landline (and never daring to call “long distance”), acquainting themselves with floppy disks, waiting for the timeslots of their favorite TV shows and listening to the entire side A of a cassette tape before getting to the other half of the album. Centennials, on the other hand, were born into the age of the internet, and had their first taste of technology thanks to Nokia, Windows XP, YouTube and Limewire.
Among all the generations, centennials, she said, treat mobile technology as “oxygen.” Centennials upload life’s minutiae and send disappearing messages by the minute—all that while scrolling through infinite newsfeeds and various messaging apps.
That has an upside: centennials are the best multitaskers. Exposure to the world via the internet has also made them more global, more appreciative of individuality, and earlier starters than their older counterparts.
But to unlock their full potential, Ms. de Lumen advised employers to prepare as early as the recruitment stage.
She shared the following tips on how to effectively entice this generation to join a company:
With centennials yearning for new discoveries, Ms. de Lumen said companies should establish a recruitment process that is different from the traditional ones—one that “they will never forget.” She cited the Nestlé Management Immersion for Leadership Excellence (MILE) program, which includes a simulation in the plants in different provinces. Conducting such a program, she said, will enable a company to give centennials a glimpse of how it is like working for them.
“The Gen Z is [more] open to different cultures and backgrounds than any other generations. They are really very inclusive about gender rights, religions, because they live in a global world rather than a very local one,” Ms. de Lumen said.
With this, she said a company’s recruitment program should allow centennials to engage with colleagues from different schools and different fields.
The process should also provide centennials with guidance from their leaders. At the MILE program, she said, the young ones are paired with the company’s executives as to who can serve as their mentors.
“The Gen Z struggles in establishing meaningful relationships, so you have to make sure that you are able to give them a coach or someone they can go to if they have questions about the organization,” she said.
The whole company should participate in the recruitment program. Ms. de Lumen said everyone in the company—even the CEO—should understand the next generation of employees to make them feel like they are in one community.
“If you don’t understand them now, you won’t really be able to motivate them later on,” she said. “The sooner you bring them on board and make them part of the program, they will be able to show their potential.”
Leadership is important to centennials, as it is to other generations. Hence, Ms. de Lumen said a company should allow centennials to learn lessons from successful leaders for their future endeavors.
“Gen Z will always seek for inspiration, so you must showcase inspiring leadership,” she said.
A company should not only saddle their young applicants with the duties and responsibilities of the job, but also the value that it contributes to get the company closer to its goals.
“It’s not only about your needs as a company,” she said. Employers should also be able to guide them to realizing “what they can offer to the company.”
While these are all tips specifically for recruitment, it won’t hurt to extend compassion even beyond the job offer—and not only to centennials but to the rest of the organization.
