Israeli investors attested to increasingly vibrant Philippine business climate during a recent webinar entitled “Business Opportunities for Israel in the Philippines.”
Treating the Philippines as his second home, Itamar Gero, chief executive of Truelogic and Axandra, noted the untapped potential of the Philippines.
Having a background in IT and software engineering and for the past 13 years, Gero invested in six companies amassing an estimated total revenue of $10 million annually. He described the Filipino workforce as “young and very passionate” and “family oriented,” which makes the work easy for his companies.
Gero invited his fellow investors to start exploring business opportunities in the Philippines, as improvements are evident through infrastructure program such as “Build, Build, Build.” He also cited progress in the playing field of telecommunication industry.
He assured Israeli businessmen that the country has a lot more to offer with its “untapped opportunities.”
“Start sooner than later. The Philippines is one of the best-untapped opportunities in the region countries, and soon you’ll say I should have been there sooner,” he said.
Liron Gross, chief executive and co-founder of Payo Asia, also shared her insights on the thriving e-commerce sector in the Philippines as every transaction is almost, if not always, done online.
“This is the best place now,” she said on the flourishing e-commerce businesses that the pandemic pushed to adapt faster.
Gross noted the proficiency of the Filipino workers in English, making communication in the workplace “easy.” “We solve problems by eating together,” she said, as she noted that the workplace environment and culture in the Philippines is similar to Israel’s.
Israeli Ambassador Ilan Fluss guaranteed a bevy of business opportunities in the Philippines. “The environment here is friendly environment—the government, people, business sector,” he said.
The top of the agenda is to promote the economic relations between Israel and the Philippines, according to the ambassador, as he is optimistic that the economic slowdown will eventually subside due to some promising indicators such as rising imports and exports paired with the downward trend of COVID-19 cases in the country.
“It is important to note that the Philippine government is putting efforts in attracting foreign investors, Israeli investors and businessmen, to come and to take benefit of these efforts,” he said.
The ambassador extended his gratitude to the Board of Investments for working “very closely” and taking a key role in the partnership with both the Israeli trade mission and the embassy.
Angelica Cayas, governor of the BOI, said a Philippine team is heading to Israel at the end of November to realize the forging towards the investment promotion and protection agreement of bilateral investment treaty between both countries.
