The Future Of Business Is Collaboration

Philippe: I know there’s a lot of foreigners here. A lot of them are mainly expats, but you’re one of the few that decided that you want to stay because of our people and our character and everything.

George: Philippines is more familiar to me and my family than Taiwan. I become the longest tenured country manager of all the foreign brand IT brand in the Philippines.
My connection, my friends, even my life is in the Philippines. I’m the founder and the CEO of Sustainable Prosperity Corporation.

We provide those IT services and the systems to help small and medium businesses. I hired the Filipino technician to set up a service center one after another. I still remember the first one Filipino I hired holding the tourist visa and getting the legit working visa and climbed all the way to become a regional service director.

Philippe: What are the best parts of the Philippines that you love?

George: Laoag, Tuguegarao, Baguio, Mountain Provinces, Urdaneta, Dagupan, Tarlac, and Clark. Every time you ask me, I might have different answers, but for now, I more appreciate the.

Philippe: And what made you decide to stay here?

George: Yeah, actually is is all the track record of what happened in my life, in my family that I was assigned here by my previous company I worked for 20 years, that is ASUS computer. It’s a global company, 2012 January. And I was thinking at the time I might be assigned for 3 5 years and then relocate to another one.

But the story unraveled in the totally different way. My kids growing up here, my family, my wife enjoyed the life and I become the longest tenure country manager of all the foreign brand IT brand in the Philippines with a 14 years.

Philippe: Wow.

George: And that ends my 20 years of overseas business management. First seven years in Middle East and 14 years in the Philippines. So, you know, my connection, my friends, even my life is in the Philippines. So, to me and my family, there’s no brainer that if you want to risk to start a business, start a new life, Philippine is more familiar to me and my family than Taiwan.

Philippe: That’s amazing. But you still go back to Taiwan from time to time?

George: Yeah, actually twice in a year. Whenever the kids has a s mer vacation and Christmas vacation. That’s the time that we don’t interrupt their school life and then bring them back.

Philippe: I see. I see. And what about your family and your wife’s family? They Do they come and visit? Have you invited them?

George: Yeah they come. We went Oh, yeah, that was the Santa Rosa. We when we used to live in Makati, we used to travel, drive, drive the car and go all the way to Santa Rosa, to Tagaytay and let them see the surrounding. They are so surprised to see because in news media, the coverage usually is more about negative, a lot about calamity.

But when they come here, they say, “Wow, this is very very nice life here.”

Philippe: And it’s different from what we they see on the in the news because

George: They cannot see in the news.

Philippe: Yeah.

George: No news will cover those kind of positive part. They will cover the crime, the disaster, the typhoon, the earthquake, and those mostly the negative things get eyeballs in news.

Philippe: What are the best parts of the Philippines that you love during your stay here?

George: Every time you ask me, I might have different answers, but for now, , I more appreciate the people. That how they enjoy the life, and how they really, , care about the families, the people they love. Yeah, we I think every country, the people will say similar thing, but when I observe the Filipino, I really see the totally different level, of enjoy the life.

So, I I actually, when I went to Taiwan, sometimes I would share my observation with my co-parents, my colleagues, my, , classmate in Taiwan. I said, “We Taiwanese really too stiff, very rush in the work to finish something, finish mortgage, finish kids’ education, finish the job, but we seldom stop to think about what is it for us in the life”.

George: And only until when we retire, we get sick, suddenly we realize, “Oh, we look back, we waste 20 years, 30 years of work, we forget about family, we forget about health, we have forget about the more valuable things in our life.” And I learned a lot of this from the Filipinos.

Philippe: That’s such a. That’s amazing, actually, because it’s to my surprise, I know there’s a lot of foreigners here. , a lot of them are mainly expats, but you’re one of the few that decided that you want to stay because of our people and our character and everything. Do you see yourself staying here forever?

George: I can say so. Technically, I have a retirement visa, so I stay here legally, and there’s no problem for me to stay here long. And you also know my story that I in my mid-life, I take the biggest risk of the life of myself and my family is to start a business and with my family in the Philippines.

So, definitely, I wanted this risk can be a good adventure to myself. my second half of the life and to my family. so, so far, so good. Still a bright future in front of me.

Philippe: What about your kids? Are they fluent now in Tagalog?

George: They are much fluent in Tagalog than myself. One of my I have two boys. One is 2 years old here when he was here, and another one is 6 months old. Then now, two boys are 16 and 14 years old, and they have friends here, much more friends than they have in Taiwan.

Philippe: Really?

George: They have, we have a lot of co-parents, become friends, become business partners. so, that’s what I said to you earlier that we really enjoy the life here, not just myself, but my wife, my kids. So, remember pandemic 2020 March before our former president lockdown, we already flew back to Taiwan beforehand.

And we got stuck in Taiwan for 2 and 1/2 year. So, when I came back for work, my kids waiting in Taiwan because the school here at that time still hybrid and online learning. And in Taiwan, you get to send them to school daily without quarantine during the pandemic.

George: So, the kids keep asking, “Dad, how come can go back to to the Philippines and work we cannot go back there to to school?” I said, “If you come here, you will stay in the house with me at quarantine because at that time.” So, finally, after 1 year, I’m able to bring them back. So, the first day and the second day, I reconfirm with my boys.

They said, “How do you feel now? Do you Do you really like to come back again after pandemic?” Both of them affirm this again and again. They like it here. They enjoy. Maybe they are already half Filipino in the heart.

Philippe: In the heart. But, that’s amazing because your kids are they were asking you when could they come back.

George: Yes, several times. Yeah.

Philippe: Wow. Wow. And your wife is okay with that, too?

George: Yeah. My wife, yeah, is very supportive to me. And when I was in Middle East, she was there with me. She support me, let me get rid of all the burdens and hassles in the family. She took most of the responsibility. Be a driver, be a yaya, be a helper, be a caregiver to my kids.

So, what is better than a mother to take care of her own our own kids. And then, she also makes friends here. And the education at school we send to our kids, the community of the parents is very, very close. So, we will, they will hang out and we will hang out to weekend outing. We will have coffee.

George: They will learn the crochet, learn the hand works, they will learn the arts. A lot of things happening. Yeah. So, my my wife’s life is also quite full here.

Philippe: That’s very glad to know that.

George: Yeah.

Philippe: Let’s rewind back the time that you were in the Middle East. Where were you situated?

George: Okay. that was the beginning of my IT career, 2004. I was new in IT and my first assignment was to Dubai, UAE. and that was my first encounter with Filipino.

Philippe: Really?

George: Because Filipino, I still remember at the time is still not the biggest group ethnic group there. Indian, Pakistan, but Filipino begin to fly more and more to Dubai. And I hire many many quality Filipino technician to help my IT business at the time. We are running the IT business for the company.

So, I hired a Filipino technician to set up a service center one after another. And that I still remember the first one Filipino I hired. Later on being promoted to ASUS Middle East regional service director.

Philippe: Wow.

George: From a h ble technician. Yeah, holding the tourist visa and getting the legit working visa and climb all the way to become a regional service director.

Philippe: Wow.

George: Yeah. So, that was my first experience in Middle East in work, in life. And I base in Dubai, UAE and manage all the Middle East markets including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, South Africa, and all the neighboring country. I even experienced the Arab Spring. Back in 2010 and 2011.

I see the market I manage one after another from west to the east having the riot, the revolution, changing the government, and all the unrest.

Philippe: You have quite an interesting backstory there.

George: Yes, yes, yeah. So, at that time you don’t feel that it just happening in front of you, but when you look back, actually it’s a very unique experience. Not everyone has the chance to experience that in the first hand, and I’m not just watching in the news. I’m seeing the people.

I talked to my customer, my colleagues at that time who were affected by those news we see in the TV long time ago. So, it helps me to maybe to cherish what is more important in our life.

Philippe: During that time in Dubai, so you used to manage. How does it work? So, what’s your role there? You’re more of a regional director?

George: Yes, I was a regional director ASUS Middle East and we set up the branch office and the local team one by one. So, I’m one of the pioneers with other colleagues from Taiwan to build up. So, I remember I’m the one finding the sponsor in those Arab countries to register the company, find the offices like these, and hire the first marketing,

train them, hire the first service technician, set up the first service center one after another along the way in those 7 years. Also, the main job is to help my previous company to manage the computer distribution and reseller business.

Philippe: And this is not only in the UAE, but in different in neighboring countries?

George: Yes.

Philippe: And you were the that one person who would

George: Yes.

Philippe: manage all of this.

George: Yes.

Philippe: Wow. You had, you had such a big role.

George: In the prime time, I managed about 200 employees in six to seven branch offices.

Philippe: Wow. It’s just amazing that right now you came from corporate.

George: Yes.

Philippe: And then you landed, after your 7 years tenure there. Same company, so ASUS.

George: Yes.

Philippe: They brought you here to the Philippines. So, I’m ass ing you are now the regional director for Asia Pacific.

George: I become the country manager of the Philippines

Philippe: Okay.

George: Since 2012 to 2024 July when I resigned from the company. because in the Middle East at that time, there was the initial stage to develop those markets. But at that time, Philippine and the Southeast Asia market to ASUS and my previous employer is already better established.

Philippe: Okay.

George: So, I’m here to further grow the business here. So, I recall when I was assigned here, our main product was the one in front of you, the ASUS cons er laptops. Our market share was 7% in 2012. By the time I left, the highest market share we reached was 27%.

Philippe: Wow.

George: Yeah. And also during these 14 years, with the help of those head office and the customer partners here, we set up the after-sales service center from three service center I was assigned 2012 to become 115 service center nationwide across 60 different cities with many a hundred plus of service providers.

So, it also gives me an opportunity to visit many many cities more than most of Filipinos.

Philippe: Where have you been?

George: Yeah.

Philippe: It does.

George: Yeah, are you sure you want to hear this?

Philippe: Yes, of course.

George: Laoag, Tuguegarao, Baguio, Mountain Provinces, and then we have San Fernando, and then Urdaneta, Dagupan, Tarlac, Clark, Subic, and then we go to San Fernando in Pampanga, Bulacan, Metro Manila, not to mention, and then Cavite, Laguna, and then going south, Lipa, Batangas, Lucena, San Pablo, and then we also go to Daet,

Philippe: Okay.

George: Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, and Naga, Legazpi, Sorsogon, and going south to Ormoc, Tacloban, Cebu, Bohol, Taclaban? Tacloban, Tacloban

Philippe: Tacloban, yeah.

George: And now we are in Visayas now, and Puerto Princesa, and Mindoro, Iloilo, Roxas City, and Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Davao, General Santos,

Philippe: Yeah.

George: Zamboanga. Some cities I forgot. Bacolod, my favorite city, city of smile.

Philippe: Really?

George: That’s the last one. Yes. Sorry.

Philippe: I’ve never been to Bacolod yet. You are. So, you visited each and every city just .

George: Several times.

Philippe: Several times?

George: Yes. I enjoy my visit. Of course, it’s for work mostly.

Philippe: Yeah. Yeah.

George: But because I mentioned earlier the people, the partner. So, we not just a business transaction customer. We become partners, friends. Then we I consult with them about the things about family, about school, about education. They ask me about something else other than the work. So, it’s a it’s like friends. So, you you cannot have this kind of relationship easily in other places.

Philippe: True. I 100% agree with you. And what I mean, seven in the Middle East, okay, understood. You came here to the Philippines as a country manager. And 13 years?

George: Yeah, 14.

Philippe: Oh, 14 years.

George: Yes.

Philippe: So, what made you say, “Okay, it’s time.” After 14 years, why didn’t you just go on?

George: I think yeah, maybe there’s something we call midlife crisis that I’m not sure this only me or many people has been through. So, that is the time that you really feel that you are stuck in some something. But you expect to change the situation. You want to do something different. So, that is a big risk.

And then and I took the chance to leave the company and start a the business. Until today I feel that’s a very very big risk and very big adventure until today, but so far so good. I enjoyed the journey so far.

Philippe: That’s good. So, how long was it?

George: 2024 August 1. It’s 1 year and 9 months.

Philippe: So, you’re almost at the 2-year mark.

George: Yeah, we are going to 2 years and we are still here.

Philippe: Good to know. Tell me more about it. Your business.

George: Okay. So, my new business at the moment I’m the founder and the CEO of Sustainable Prosperity Corporation. It’s a IT managed service provider and the system integration companies. So, we provide those IT services and the systems to help small and medium businesses to improve their productivity, profitability, and eventually we want to help the owners to gain the peace of mind.

Philippe: I see. And your target market is?

George: small and medium establishments, but to be more specific, we are helping mostly attorney legal law firms, accounting CPA firms, and also those factories that all needs these type of managed services. So, surprisingly even I just started a business less than 2 years.

We already helped those type of customers and clients in Metro Manila as north as Bulacan, as south as Batangas Lipa.

Philippe: And are you considered a software company or is it a SaaS company?

George: No, we actually is a IT service company. So, to be exact that we do not have our in-house software development. We usually based on what client needs, what is the situation and the requirement and finding the right tools and services for them.

So, if they are well established, every system intact, so they just need endpoint maintenance service. That’s what we offer

Philippe: Right.

George: But imagine if they using a lot of printers, copy machine, scanners like those accounting firms, legal firms, and then we will provide them with those printer print manage service if they need.

Philippe: So, it’s more hardware based and more, yeah

George: Yeah, hardware with the services.

Philippe: Windows services.

George: Yeah, and then the fast forward to some of the small medium business in the Philippines, you are aware they are very cost-effective. So, they are usually in the manual way and very scattered, fragmented system, devices left and right. So, definitely they will encounter a lot of operational challenges.

Or the you know, the general generation transition challenges. So, they will ask our help that oh, we don’t have a a clear or specific accounting financial system. We don’t have a payroll system. We may not have inventory, we are counting manually or we may not have our data doc entation system.

George: So, different requirement in different client then we begin to come out what is the best solution for them. And usually they need the solution ASAP. So, that’s why we turn into system integration role that we find those proven in the market SaaS software as a services for their immediate need.

Yeah, and because we are helping mostly small medi business, so their requirement is usually can be found in other alike companies. Then the the market proven SaaS software or systems is 90 or 80% fit to what they need. And they get to deploy and implement fast enough.

Philippe: Are you the developer of this SaaS interface or this software or are you connected with

George: Yes, we are the authorized partners of the SaaS systems we select for our clients. As I mentioned, we come from a IT service provider. That is our our core and our main service. But along the way when the client needs more than that, we also become their partners in technology to find out those system for them.

But as a startup that I don’t equip with those in-house software development capability and the talents, so we usually turn to those ready and proven solutions. So we become the system integrator to help them to implement in the short time span. Let’s say 3 to 6 months, even sometimes 1 month.

Philippe: I see. And then when it comes to these softwares do you are you you said you’re you have a partner with that with the software. Is there a specific brand?

George: Yes, right now we are focusing on two major SaaS software. One is Odoo from Belgium and widely used in Europe and rest of the world. Another one is contractor foreman. It’s a construction project management system coming from United States. So both of these systems has been tested and used by more than 70 plus countries in the world for many years.

So this is what I meant of market proven solution and system that we just need to help our client to learn how to implement in their scenario. We don’t need to work on the in-house software development, debugging, quality assurance and those challenges.

George: If today our company SBC is focused on a bigger scale, , big corporation, conglomerate, multinational, perhaps the customization is n ber one requirement to those kind of client. But since we start to serve micro, small, medium client has 5, 10 computer and employee in the team.

So they don’t need creativity in the system. They just need stability and the easy to execute. The most important is ease of use. We have too many complication in business, in operation already. The last thing they want is something very techy, very difficult to learn.

George: And they have to how do I say, distract from their daily challenging business and learn something very complicated. So ease of use is our first priority to find a solution for our clients.

Philippe: And when it comes to the hardware, is there a specific brand you’re partnered up with it?

George: Definitely I’m from ASUS for 20 years. I’m very familiar with the entire ecosystem, the series, the all the phone factors. And , so when my clients require different type of hardware, endpoint, or server, we usually base on their requirement, their budget, and then we will find a more suitable for them.

So, it’s not just ASUS, it can be any other brands that if the customer finds fit. Yeah, even for some micro or startup company, they want to go for clone or white box desktop, we can also come up something for them.

Philippe: Wow.

George: Yeah, very flexible.

Philippe: Very, very flexible, that’s right. And how is it dealing with the local market as of now? Because I know I know I have a lot of other foreigner friends who’s doing business here, and they find it really, really challenging.

But because of your experience with ASUS here, and of course with all of your connections right now, I’m sure that sort of smooth and things out with your business. Or was there still challenges?

George: Yeah, challenges, definitely. But let me put you in my shoes. , when I start the business as a foreigner here, and what is my strengths and my weakness at that time when I start a business? 20 years in the IT industry, and 14 years in the Philippine. And I told you I visit so many cities. I have a lot of connection.

So, when I started IT service business, my strengths is I have a very strong supply chain and the network, vendor, supplier connection. But my biggest weakness is I’m alone. I have to build my own team. So, this is the first challenge. Second is I don’t have customers.

George: All the customers I managed in the past, that was under the previous employee employers or the channel partner I assisted in the last 14 years. So, the first ethical decision I have is I don’t want to compete with the former customers of my former partners.

Philippe: Right.

George: So, I don’t want to burn the bridge when I start the business even in the future. So, I have to create my own market segment, my own things. And so, I remember I always remind my channel partners when I was in ASUS Philippines is that you are tapping a big accounts, let’s say Philippine Airlines, Jollibee, government, the banks.

How about those small medium businesses? So, I was thinking that instead of suggesting them, why don’t I do it by myself? So, I begin to target those that I’m not competing with my previous channel partners. At the same time, I can develop the new segment for my new companies. And my approach is also different.

George: So, maybe the conventional way is social media to increase your visibility or let’s say cold calling, door-to-door knocking,

Philippe: Traditional.

George: or asking someone to introduce those target customer for you, let it be Metro Manila or anywhere you want. But I select a marketing platform that I will build a group of business friends and associates who are not competing with me, but through the efforts and relationship, we are able to help each other, especially helping me.

Very helpful to a startup and a foreigner like me. And when I look back these 2 years, until today, I still enjoy the benefit of these platform and this system. And the clients and the business the leads I received 90% from those kind of friends I build up and I build a relationship with them in the last 20 months.

Philippe: Wow. You’re fast.

George: Can be faster. Can be faster.

Philippe: Can be faster, but I’m sure you’ll fine-tune it and you’ll just grow. But, explain further when you said these certain groups. What kind of groups are these? Educate us.

George: Okay. No secret that is BNI Philippines. So, it stands for Business Networking International from United States about 43 years ago. And and it is in BNI Philippines BNI introduced this referral marketing system about 12 years ago. So, it’s still in the infant steps.

But to me this is already good enough and effective enough to a startup company or other small medium business like me or like Filipinos to start a business in the Philippines. And I myself is a testament of this referral marketing system. As a foreigner build a relationship in less than 2 years.

George: And I I’m able to develop my business and having a lot of relationship with the clients, with suppliers, with the partners. And every day I receive different referrals, different leads asking, “George, can you come to help us? Let’s check how can you help these friends, these neighbors, these clients?”

So, I’m actually expanding my team every 2 months. So, I have need to hire more engineers for those increasing demand, and need to hire. Yesterday I was just asking a head hunting service friend in this BNI group to help me to find another purchaser because our current purchaser is already overloaded.

Philippe: That’s a good problem.

George: Good problem. This is first pain of expansion. And I believe I’m not alone. So, many more experienced entrepreneur and business owner, they have experienced what I’m about to experience. And those the first pain of expansion, the chaos of growing your business.

And then usually they kind of struggle to find the right people to help them, right resources. The worst thing is they might be scammed or be fooled or misdirect to the wrong direction wasting their time, their money. Those challenge. But for me, I feel even I have the first pain.

George: But I’m in the good hand of this referral marketing system that people in the my left and right and my back will help me to be cautious about what I do, watch out, what I have to do, and help me to do a well decision.

Philippe: I’ve heard from a friend of mine that you also became the president of your chapter in BNI. Tell us more about that. It’s

George: Yeah. So, in BNI Filipino any country, the smallest organization in the group we call a chapter. So, it’s usually consists of 30 and more business professionals in different classifications. So, I’m one of classification working with other industry professionals in the same chapters.

So, in this kind of group of peoples and the business owners, then we have this kind of leadership organization to help to lead and mobilize this group of business person moving to the better direction to grow the business together. So, last 6 months, I was the chapter president of BNI Progress Chapter in Manila South Region.

George: This is a one of the chapter similar size of other stuff, particularly bigger, but throughout these 6 months of joint effort as a president and other business professionals in the different leadership role and the entire chapter members. Now, every time we meet, I can feel that our chapter is striving. It’s moving to a more positive direction.

And then, it’s not just me, then the leadership after me who held the baton and carry on this marathon or this journey. And I’m very happy to run together with them to help this one. While the chapter and everyone’s business is growing, my own business also grows.

George: So yesterday I just happy to share with you that I with the several other members in BNI Philippines, we launched a BNI Philippine ICT Alliance. Information Communication Technology Alliance. And we want to group those ICT IT professionals inside BNI Philippines to collaborate with each other and to help each other to serve their customers better.

So you know similar to construction or any other industry, IT and ICT is a very broad ecosystem. I think you are the expert in this one, you know. So very difficult for one company and one consultant can cover all the services and know how of the customer’s requirement. And not to mention there are many many industries, different verticals. They are very diversified domain knowledge.

George: We are very difficult to optimize our knowledge for to meeting all the customers’ requests. So the best way is to collaborate with those like-minded professionals. And I do my part of the IT services, you do your part of AI consultant, software development, cloud integration, cybersecurity, CCTV, or data link, whatever it is needed.

All and our group of friends believe in this alliance that ICT is the backbone of any business. We are very difficult to see any business nowadays running purely manually, paper and pencil. Oh, so they need to have some sort of digital tools. Let it be phone, a laptop, a desktop, a tablet, a cloud, or a server, or data center.

George: So, it’s just a different level of digitalization. So, we are here to help those businesses to be more smooth, to modernize their operation, their, their to help them to grow their business with less spend, with more productivity.

Philippe: Have you heard of the news of the new partnership the US and the Philippines, the Pack Silicon?

George: Yeah.

Philippe: Yeah, so just like in Taiwan, you guys are known for manufacturing of

George: Semiconductor

Philippe: Semiconductor chips. So, the US is partnering with the Philippines with the Pack Silicon deal that will be, I believe, held in the south as well. Probably south or north, one of those two in Luzon. And since that’s going to be the development and the partnership of semiconductors here, that will focus on the US market.

I know there’s a wide need for data centers. Because of course using manufacturing those semiconductors will require a lot of n ber one processing power AI of course to speed up things and we all know with AI it needs a lot of computing

George: And electricity

Philippe: Electricity and a lot of cooling systems and all that. So I believe that you’re in the right track when it comes to your company services because you know that the BPO industry is one of the main contributor to our GDP n ber one is the OFWs but the BPO is one of the fastest that contributes

George: True true

Philippe: And a lot of them a lot of the BPO companies are sort of scaling back especially the small ones but the bigger ones surprisingly are scaling bigger because they’re sort of converting their infrastructure into data centers with your insights because right now they’re in need I know they’re in need of a lot of hardware servers blade servers racks everything related.

And I know this is a we are almost two-year tenure with your business is just the beginning and I’m sure you’re on the right I’m very 100% sure you’re on the right track because the need for these hardwares are going to come along and the demand’s going to be high.

George: True

Philippe: Lucky are those who are in business with you right now because you are you are the one resource person that could provide these IT services what are your thoughts and insights about this do you think my vision or my thoughts about this is aligned to what you’re doing?

George: Very true very true. I can add a little bit more content there.

Philippe: Please.

Georgee: Start from myself, even startup company less than 2 years. One of the scope of the service we provide already sending the field engineers to the big data centers in Metro Manila as far as Clark, Santa Rosa, and Batangas. So, we are already in this part of the business that you are mentioning. And that is just a status quo.

And with the new investment and new demanding AI computing powers, I believe in the Philippines and the rest of the world will build more and more AI data centers. One of my friend in Supermicro, they are the one of the major data center player. I met him in Manila just 2 weeks ago.

George: That means something. Right? And they are not the only one. They are also others in the country or in the Southeast Asia. So, I believe Philip- Philippine is not exclusive in this mega trend of data center or the development of AI. For myself, of course, I see this trend.

Definitely , I will find my way and my strategy to ride on this big wave. But come back to what I mentioned earlier, the two topic is the the BNI Philippines referral marketing team. And within it is the BNI Philippine ICT Alliance. So, I’m not looking at my own growth of my company. I’m looking at the people like me.

George: We can all be beneficial together with this mega trend. As we mentioned earlier, the the demand and the growth of data center of any digitalization in big and small companies is no question at all. The question is who and how can we acquire that opportunity and deliver the good value to our clients.

So, partnering with the right partner, reliable professionals to serve the client. That is my end goal to have this ICT alliance with our co-fellows and the other professionals who are serving the ICT industry. So definitely this mega trend you mentioned, it will not just be served by IT professionals and companies. It has to be served by all the other sectors like attorney, HR, accountant,

Philippe: Construction

George: Accounting,, manpower, construction, health care, so many. Coaches, training, digital service, you name it. So the faster we can collaborate as a effective organic group professionals, we are able to to help those demands and help those customers faster.

Philippe: BNI Philippines the ICT What do you call it? The ICT group?

Georger: Alliance.

Philippe: The alliance. Is this does this unite all of the chapters?

George: Yes.Iit’s it’s we call a community in the BNI Philippines. We have similar communities. One of the the well-known community is BNI construction community. consists of more than 700 members of the BNI Philippines.

So, I’m one of the members and I witness myself that how construction, architects, interior designers, structural engineers, geodetic engineers, general contractors, construction supplies work together as a team to fulfill any requirement of big and small project in commercial, residential.

George: And that’s where I got the inspiration that in IT, we should also learn the similar manners and work together, collaborate together to serve the customer. So, this is a totally paradigm shift that competition is behind our back. Collaboration is in front of us. We will have competition in somewhere.

But that’s not everything and that should not be everything. Collaboration will make the market and the business bigger and smoother to do it together. Then we learn from construction.

Philippe: Is this So, construction, the construction alliance, let’s say, is already existing. So, with the ICT So, this unifies everyone in the IT sector in all chapters and then if opportunities come in everyone works together like you said.

Georger: Yes, yes.

Philippe: And is this exclusive only for BNI?

Georger: At the moment, since we are in the early stage, so our policy is only BNI members.

Philippe: Okay.

George: Valid members. For other IT professionals or who are outsiders, actually they are welcome to become our guest and supporters.

Philippe: I see.

George: Yeah. So, we will have some activities like the online and also face-to-face. Online gathering is monthly and face-to-face gathering is once a quarter. We can invite those supporters and guests to join us. We will also invite some resource speaker like vendors, like technology vendors, like ASUS, HP, Dell, Cisco, Microsoft that I I have partnered with them in the past to come here to help and update us.

What is the latest technology trend or the services and tools that they can offer to us. And so that those members inside ICT Alliance will be guided and have a different business alliance with different suppliers. And at the same time, when there is a requirement that one or multiple members can collaborate together to serve a client’s requirement in IT. Similar way that construction industry has done it for more than 10 decades.

Philippe: Wow.

George: Yeah.

Philippe: Wow, I’m looking forward to that because that was that was really my main concern is what if you’re not a BNI member?

George: Yes.

Philippe: But that’s that’s a great answer because now there’s an opportunity even for non-members. But eventually they become members because if they see the opportunity works, then they automatically become members.

George: That is also another reason we want to form this ICT Alliance because we want to make,, the BNI membership more worthy. That rather than you fight by yourself or with your surrounding chapter members, they definitely they will help you.

But why not get the help of those similar industry IT players? They know your language, they know your index of pain, they also know your need. So, let’s collaborate together and helping you along the way when you develop your business.

Philippe: So, this is ICT generally covers everything from hardware, software, like you mentioned earlier. That’s so great because now, there’s there’s a gap between people who are in software and and businesses in hardware.

George: True.

Philippe: There’s so many programmers, there’s so many freelancers out there, but they’re like you said, they’re alone.

George: Yes.

Philippe: And now if we can come up with a with an alliance with this, it’s it’s game-changing.

Georger: Yes.

Philippe: Is this happening only here in the Philippines or is it also happening in the US?

George: I think it happens to many other BNI , countries organization.

Philippe: Okay.

George: So, we are ready to connect with different countries similar ICT community like Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, and Europe. So, make a little bit announcement in the coming June 17-18 BNI Philippines, is holding their national , annual conference. We call IBMC 2026. So, it will be held, in front of, Terminal 3 Newport , Art Theater.

So we expect, there are more than 10 or dozens of countries delegates will fly in and meet together and then I’m excited for this connection and collaboration. And ICT is never alone in one location. In the cloud, in the internet, it can cross the border and it can really widen the connections. So, imagine the requirement in US or Australia.

George: They may need some talents, agents, developers in the Philippines and it’s already happening happening happening now. So, why don’t we structure it and make it more feasible to everyone? So, those talents of Filipinos in the Philippines, they might get some part of the business and demand somewhere they never know.

Philippe: And also what’s important is that within the BNI network, everything everyone’s verified. I have a lot of Well, there’s a lot of communities here or software developers, programmers, designers. They find a lot of work offshore in in other countries. But many of them as well get scammed because I the the client or the opportunity itself was not verified at all.

George: At least with BNI, within the BNI network, everyone’s verified and they know that this business exists and it’s not a fly-by-night business because me myself I’ve experienced that as well and it’s so hard, especially if you don’t go to that to the offshore, to whatever country you’re trying to service, and not verify them, things happen, bad things happen.

Very true. I’m glad you mentioned this one. Put in statistics, as of now, there are 360,000 BNI members globally across 76 or seven countries. And all of them, connect in, a BNI proprietary app we call BNI Connect. So, I can search your name, you can search my name, look at my profile, my testimonial, my track records.

George: So, first of all, it’s it’s, a better way to validate who are you working with. Once again, this is a little society. It’s never 100% guaranteed. So, the the discretion, the due , research is needed. But, compared to someone you know in Facebook or in the chat, this is way, way more, filtered and certified. But all the business persons still need to do your, due diligence.

Philippe: Yes.

George: Make a clear terms and condition of any transaction, any collaboration, any project you want to do within the country or across the borders. That is also I share with other, BNI members that we are in business, so don’t be shy to make it clear, make the terms clear, so there will be no vague or confusion afterwards.

Philippe: That’s a correct way of looking at it. And when becoming, because you were a former president of your chapter, what are the process to join BNI? If someone’s interested, what are what’s the process? Is it Is there a certain vetting process or

George: The the process is you are invited by any BNI members and that’s not difficult to find and to attend to their chapter meeting. We call weekly meeting usually held in the morning 6:30 to 8:30. In these 120 minutes once in a day. It can be online through Zoom. It can be a face-to-face depends on which chapter you attend to.

And each none member is eligible to visit twice as a visitor. And you can visit the same chapter twice or you can visit different chapter to see the sentiment to see the vibe and decide what is the best fit for for that member. And then once you decided that is something you you are after then in each chapter there will be membership committee to guide you through the way to help you to become a very member in a very simple and short process.

Philippe: Okay, that makes sense. So there’s no and I know there’s a joining fee.

George: Yes.

Philippe: And to me that joining fee is really most people see it as an expense but it’s an investment. It’s a total investment because you’re in a member with like-minded people. And what’s the joining fee as of 2026?

George: Sorry, I I think we have to get this one. I think is over 40,000. Yeah, but I I don’t remember the exact n bers.

Philippe: Yeah.

George: You may need to check. So it’s about 40,000 then then I will mention the you mentioned correctly that most people take it as expenses. But for me and other business professionals we take it as a investment. So you can invest the money and the time in many, many places and venues.

But to me up to now, investing in BNI membership is the most worthy, most effective investment I’ve ever done. So, my nubers first year is the membership fee I put in the year, the first year revenue I got from BNI is 72 times more.

Philippe: Wow.

George: And now I haven’t finished my second year. My second year is 382 times and counting.

Philippe: Wow.

George: So, it’s not everyone the same. If you are in construction, you get the mega project that’s very, very big. But it doesn’t mean you have to be in those big transaction industry. Like me, I’m in the IT services. We serve right efforts and the help from the BNI systems, very easily you will gain your ROI much, much better than you put the money and efforts in somewhere else.

Philippe: 100% agree with you. And is there a difference between the chapters or is this just because of its location?

George: Definitely, the chapter is actually the group of people.

Philippe: Okay.

George: So, similar to other group of people that even the same region, same idea, but because the combination of people is different and people is very dynamic. So, each chapter is you can say different characters. And it’s not always the same. There will be a younger character, there will be a middle age or up and down. So, it’s dynamic and very interesting.

It’s like you are joining a group and then you are trying to enjoy the vibe of this chapter, but at the same time you are also influencing it because you are one of the member. So, I always think that no matter in big and smaller group or chapters, be a quality professional.

George: Be a positive influencer to make the groups going to a right and better direction. And then you will attract like-minded professionals to join you or help you and your business definitely will go to one direction, that is growth.

Philippe: And members from let’s say your chapter, are they allowed to visit Is there a rules like you’re not allowed to go to another chapter or how does it work?

George: Oh, in BNI, actually the policy is very clear and has been developed in the last 43 years that one member can exist in one chapter only.

Philippe: Okay.

George: So, there is some detail policy that in a rare case you need to transfer or you need to post, there’s always a policy to guide you how to do that. But, basically is one member, one chapter. And the reason behind this is so simple is that this is not a group or the membership that you just pay and you get the benefit. It require your efforts and commitments to the other fellow members.

It’s not they are giving you referral only. You also have commitment to help them to grow their business, connect them with the right contacts, opportunities, and so. So, it’s a dynamic situation. Then, in case you represent more than one chapter, so where is the loyalty? Where is your focus?

George: So, I think the simple way is to be loyal to one chapter, helping the people surrounding you in the same chapter to grow, and they will also, without any hesitation, to help you to grow business, as well.

Philippe: If If the chapter was. For example, if a member was join like your group, and then they wish to transfer to a different group. Is that a possibility?

George: Yes, there is a possibility. As I mentioned earlier, there is a BNI policy to deal with this kind of request and the situation. So, there is many different reason. Maybe you change the employer from one location.

Philippe: Yeah.

George: To another location that is not viable for you to attend because of geographic limit, or maybe a marriage, or a relocation to another country, but you wish to continue your your journey, you have to change or transfer to another chapter. It happens in different situation.

So, as I mentioned that BNI it has been there for more than 43 years, and there’s almost policy and process for every situation you ever think. I cannot exhaust because I’m just a junior member. Yeah.

Philippe: You were president. You were for a while.

George: Yeah, but because of the time spent, I can only see few occasions, incidents, but definitely it’s more more than what I know right now.

Philippe: I’m very happy with this conversation because I’m amazed that you yourself as a foreigner, to me, you’re already making it. You’re already thriving, especially in BNI. The first time I met you, I was like this I felt that because it was my first time visiting your chapter.

George: Yeah.

Philippe: Actually, it was my first time visiting any BNI gathering.

George: Yeah.

Philippe: And you were the first person I I talked to. And I felt a really good positive energy out of you. And I said, this guy George is just, you know, like I I felt like you’re my brother from another

George: That’s true

Philippe: Another mother. We have the same

George: Look

Philippe: Haircut. And then I felt I was like, for someone who’s a foreigner, I felt that you were more Filipino than Taiwanese.

George: I tried to be. You know. And good thing you mentioned this in BNI, we mentioned continuously there is one important thing we call positive and supportive community. So life is and work can be a challenge, but it depends on what attitude you deal with it, that challenge. So being positive and supportive to yourself and to your fellow members, I feel that we can really overcome different challenges of our own business and our members’ business.

I think someone told me the African saying that if you want to walk far, you walk together. But if you want to walk fast, you walk alone. Right? So I still believe that one and it’s very true that if especially in business, if we can find the right partners working together, then it’s like the habit happened to our brain, right? I I saw you one of your episode talking about neuroscience.

George: Perhaps this is too basic that why our brain has these mechanics of habit because we want to save energy of decision making. So, if you have a right habit, then you don’t need to cons e your brain energy. You just follow the same habit and we hope that is the positive and healthy habit. So, same as a business.

If I have a habit to work with you as a quality business person, I don’t need to choose every time when there’s an inquiry. I have to filter, I have to interview, I have to test. Right? That is a lot of efforts, transaction cost, time wasted. But, I know we are working together, we trust each other. Whenever I have requirement, no brainer, I’ll ask you to to come on board and let’s work together. Is it wonderful?

Philippe: It’s amazing, actually. And you’ve been wonderful with with this conversation and there’s a lot that I’ve learned from you from a different perspective because you know, many of my guests on this podcast is Filipino. But, this is my first time that having a foreigner, especially especially you, to my surprise getting your own perspective about the Philippines and your work and everything is breath you such breath of fresh air.

George: Thank you. Thank you.

Philippe: And you showed me from your foreign eyes how the Philippines is great and how you’re in BNI and how you you work with people. So, it’s so nice to hear from a foreigner their perspective of how working with Filipinos are because that’s important for us. We only know how how the world sees us from from the outside.

But, we we never found like it’s my first time hearing from a foreign foreigner like you share their experience living it, you know, and it’s it’s wonderful to hear that you love our country. And of course you know, there are so many bad things happening right now, so many things that is not that people are mad about, but I hope that doesn’t change your perspective of what the people are.

Philippe: George You’ve been amazing. Thank you for making the the time and driving all the way from Paranaque or no, San

George: Santa Rosa, Laguna.

Philippe: Santa Rosa, wow. Oh, my previous guest was from Paranaque, but you’re further, yeah. Regards to the family safe trip going back and I have to get you again next time, you know, for another session.

George: Anytime, happy to talk to you. I enjoy this and if you allow me to say one more thing.

Philippe: Sure!

George: My 14 years of country manager of ASUS Philippines, I have been interviewed in different of medias friends in medias and of course I was the head of the corporation, so I have a agenda, I have a product, I have a message I have to deliver, so it’s unlike this time that I start my own business and you allow me to open myself to share a lot of things in the bottom of my heart. That may not be suitable to share in other occasion. Thank you very much.

Philippe: You’re welcome, you’re welcome. And I’d love to have you back again and I want you to share more because it is amazing just hearing from you.