With the achievements of women being highlighted nationally and globally during the Women’s Month, homegrown e-commerce platform VeMoBro leads by example in urging more women to take the reins in technology and business to create more diverse and effective management teams.
“I believe all women’s creativity and passion are at par with what men can do. We have this woman’s touch in every craft we make. and we need to put this power into technology and business to ensure a harmonious development and advancement for everyone,” said Rain Ibajo, co-founder and chief operating officer of VeMoBro, a new Philippine-bred e-commerce platform poised to challenge larger companies dominating the digital marketplace space.
Ibajo, who has held key management positions in companies handling logistics and transportation prior to starting VeMoBro, said companies should support women by providing opportunities without any bias to gender.
“You can see that in every division in VeMoBro, a powerful woman plays a key role,” said Ibajo. “Our organization and its culture are very dynamic and diverse. We cultivate an environment of empowerment. We value women’s voices, ideas, efforts, and hard work. We support and amplify each other in the organization. We support women on whatever career aspect they’d like to pursue in our organization.”
Meanwhile, VeMoBro digital marketing officer Grettel Seco sees the lack of female role models as a significant barrier preventing more women from thriving in the tech industry. Hence, organizations like VeMoBro need to highlight strong female examples to encourage others to follow suit, she said.
“Having strong support from the organization can inspire other women who want to take part in the industry. By empowering more women leaders, we can create a safe place for other women to be the best version of themselves in a male-dominated workplace,” Seco said.
For Seco, the circumstances women in the Philippines face in their careers due to gender bias still need to be improved, especially in industries that have been dominated by men. Through VeMoBro, the tech startup aims to encourage more women in business to upgrade their ventures through e-commerce and digitalization.
“Seeing a lot of indifferences and inequalities towards women motivates me to strive harder in my chosen field. With this, I may be able to support other women and empower them so that they can do the same to others and collectively, create an impact on a larger scale,” she said.
Launched in December 2020, VeMoBro, which stands for “Velocity, Mobility, and Broad”, is an online shopping website providing a wide array of products and deals on food, gadgets, accessories, automotive parts, essential products, and more.
The platform places strong emphasis on its speedy logistics system which provides options such as same-day delivery and standard 48-hour delivery.