The woman who sold the first personal computers in the Philippines in the mid-1980s is now the country head of a multinational company illuminating most Filipino homes and buildings.
“This one is really something new and exciting for me. I am excited for the new challenges ahead,” Chestnut Andaya says in an interview in Makati City, referring to her new job as the country head of Philips Electronics and Lighting Inc., a Dutch technology company considered as a leader in lighting, consumer electronics and healthcare.
Andaya, a 54-year-old sales and marketing expert in the IT sector, is concurrently the general manager for lighting of Philips Philippines. She replaced Brazilian executive Fabia Tetteroo-Bueno, who was reassigned to a different role within Philips.
Andaya is now in charge of overseeing the growth of the lighting sector, particularly the new, innovative LED products that redefine the color, mood and temperature of lights. LED or light emitting diode is a semi-conductor or chip that produces light when an electrical current is applied.
Andaya, who holds a degree in Economics from the De La Salle University, worked for IBM for 30 years and is married to an IBM executive. They have four children and live in Paranaque City.
She saw the transformation of information technology and started with IBM selling electric typewriters, before computers changed the way businesses ran.
“I have seen the transformation of IT. Given that I have learned a lot, with experience in different roles,” she says.
Andaya says the fact that she stayed with IBM for three decades means that joining Philips as the country head is “my real second job ever.”
“I sold the first PCs to the Asian Development Bank in 1985. Before that, I sold electric typewriters,” she says. IBM then became a leader in computer hardware, mainframe, servers and network technologies, which required Andaya to deal with the biggest companies in the country.
She handled various senior leadership roles with IBM such as country manager for marketing and country manager for general business sales. “My last role was country leader for integrated channels,” she says.
She retired from IBM in July this year, but an opportunity to head Philips Philippines quickly came. A headhunter or professional recruitment agency asked her if she was interested in a country leadership role for lighting. Excited for new challenges, she said yes.
“It was my first time to go to the consumer world. I was with IBM for 30 years. I retired in July and started this new job in July,” she says.
Andaya says while it was a totally different industry, from IT to consumer lighting, actual discussions for the job got her really interested in the lighting sector.
“It got me pretty interested in terms of the challenges that lie ahead, plus dealing with a new set of clients. The reason I also joined the company is that it is a big global brand, ranking high globally. For lighting, it is the leader. Globally as a brand, it is among the top 50. When you say quality lights, Philips comes top of the mind,” she says.
Andaya says over the past three months, she has learned a lot about lighting technologies and changed the way she now looks at buildings, in terms of how they are lit up.
Philips has lighting products for both households and establishments or the professional sector. The growth of the economy, especially the real estate sector with the emergence of business process outsourcing companies as employers of a more than a million people, translated into a growing demand for lighting in the country.
Philips products, for example, light up the stretch of North Luzon Expressway, the People Power Monument along Edsa, the facade of Manila Hotel and Cebu Capitol Building.
The lighting industry, Andaya says, covers residential, commercial and industrial sectors and has different categories, ranging from household fixtures to decorative lightings that can be found indoor and outdoor, including gardens, facade of buildings, parks, open spaces and streets.
The big switch from traditional bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs to LED bulbs is also driving the growth of the lighting industry, she says. Andaya is particularly interested in the growth of the LED market.
Philips, she says, still sells CFLs. “We have a growing market for LEDs but there is still demand for CFLs,” she says. Andaya says LEDs now account for about half of the lighting market.
“LEDs can last up to 10 to 15 years. They are environment-friendly because they have no mercury content. LEDs can do a lot more. They can change color. You can dim it. You can do motion detection. That’s a big transformation happening in the lighting industry,” she says.
Andaya says LEDs are energy efficient and safe to use. “In terms of electric consumption, you gain up to 85 percent in energy savings. In terms of functions, our new products can change color with a press of a button, from warm white to daylight for example,” she says.
LEDs can change to different hues or color temperature such as warm white, soft white, bright white, day light, yellowish white or bluish white.
She says LEDs have also become more affordable for ordinary consumers. “For the same light output, you probably consume less than half of electricity, compared to traditional bulbs,” she says.
The problem, she says, is the proliferation of substandard LED lights in the market. Andaya says Philips is in discussion with the Department of Trade and Industry to set the standards for the lighting products, amid the proliferation of LED lightings in the local market today.
“There are now many substandard LED lighting products. We have been working closely with DTI to make sure that standards are followed. If not used properly and consumers use the wrong type, there is a risk of electrocution. That is our biggest concern right now,” she says.
Andaya says while DTI has released standards on product safety, the industry is still waiting for the implementing rules and regulations.
Philips is celebrating its 60th year in the Philippines this year and 126th year in the Netherlands, its home country.
Andaya says she is optimistic about the growth of the lighting industry, as Philips comes up with innovative products and clients shift to LED. “Most especially, as the economy grows, so is the need for more lights, for more innovative products. Now, consumers want more from lighting products. They now have more demands. There are a lot of exciting things ahead,” she says.