Things work smoothly when you have a friendly working relationship with colleagues. This is one thing I’ve learned over the years. In my work with the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC), for example, it is always a series of intense meetings with my counterparts from the ASEAN member-states, with the Joint Business Councils, with sectoral representatives and with subject-matter experts. I suppose that is the wisdom behind peppering these regular meetings with exciting tours of the host cities, karaoke nights, good food and a lot of camaraderie.

That is also why, when we held the 105th ASEAN-BAC meeting in the Philippines over the weekend, I made sure the delegates also had a little R&R as we labored through meetings, and showed them what I myself find to be the best place to work and play within driving distance of Manila: in Nasugbu, Batangas. Here, there’s sun, sea, mountains, thick forests, scenic sunsets and the best weather all year round. And the neighbors won’t hear you sing out of tune during karaoke nights. I assured them that more places in the Philippines are just like Nasugbu, and that we will have a chance to visit them this year while the Philippines is the host of ASEAN.

Another example I can think of is the relationship we’ve built with the President and the First Lady over the years. Our meeting of the minds on how we can help Filipinos rise above poverty and elevate the Philippines’ profile on the regional stage has made all the difference in last Thursday’s successful ceremonial handover of the ASEAN-BAC chairship from Malaysia to the Philippines. Not only did the First Couple graciously host the event, they also opened the museum of Malacañang to a private tour for the event’s guests. I wish I had the opportunity to join my kids on the tour; I was told that it is quite impressive and would make every Filipino proud. Maybe next time.

Another relationship I can think of as an example is the one we’ve built with the leaders of the country’s top corporations. They have, time and again, showed up for our Filipino entrepreneurs, and they’re showing up for our country’s hosting of the ASEAN this year. There was at the handover, as always, SM’s Tessie Sy, who went above and beyond by also helping us with our newest program, Trabaho@Negosyo. Another generous lady, Alice Eduardo, was there; so was GT Capital’s Alfred Ty, Megaworld’s Kevin Tan, San Miguel’s Ramon Ang and his very capable daughter Cecile, First Philippine Holdings’ Piki Lopez and Bounty Fresh’s Tennyson Chen. Our Ambassador to the US, Babes Romualdez, was also there.

The commonality I see is that we all want a better future for our country. Many people often accuse businessmen of being tone-deaf. I think this is far from the truth, especially now with social governance so intimately tied with a company’s well-being, and with social media now our proverbial ear on the ground. Our goal with the ASEAN chairship is to bring us closer to making our economy more inclusive, which is why we continued to build on our guiding theme from our last chairship in 2017, “Prosperity for All.”

I have said time and again that we have to help those at the bottom of the pyramid. It cannot be only the few who can lead comfortable lives; everyone should have a shot at the top. Our avenue at Go Negosyo is entrepreneurship, which we believe will have a lot of impact by creating jobs where they are needed the most. Imagine a citizenry that finds it easy to open businesses and with each new business, they will need to hire people to help run it.

Our goals at the ASEAN-BAC are much broader-based, considering the diverse cultures we have to consider and country conditions that we have to negotiate. For entrepreneurship mentoring, for example, we had to translate our learning modules into the languages of ASEAN for our ASEAN Mentorship for Entrepreneurs Network. For our plans in scaling up agriculture and ensuring food security, we have to study cropping schedules in different countries. For initiatives on global supply and logistics, we have to update with a view of shifting geopolitical alignments and climate change. This requires a lot of meetings, a great deal of consultation with subject-matter experts and some consensus-building. These inevitably manifest in the large meetings we have to organize, such as the ASEAN meetings.

But I also share some of my colleagues’ frustration and occasional impatience with meetings. I am, after all, an entrepreneur, and it is in my nature to keep things moving, to get things done, to want to see results. In my view, I count this impatience as a net-positive because if I myself find the processes too slow, then imagine what it’s like for the people we’re doing all this planning for? If it doesn’t translate to tangible results for the farmers, the women entrepreneurs and the marginalized, can we blame them for rolling their eyes at the traffic caused as delegates from all over the world descend on a single city? But that’s part of the work, isn’t it? Even in the time of Zoom meetings and conference calls, nothing beats deals and collaborations done in person and with a lot of camaraderie.

We have to build up the excitement for this year. Every chance I get, I describe to our ASEAN guests and Dialogue Partners the many under-explored gems throughout the Philippines. There’s Boracay and Cebu, of course, but there’s also emerging places like Bohol and Siquijor. I keep giving public shoutouts (I think that’s what they call it now) for Bruno Mars to come and perform at the ASEAN gala; this seems to have drummed up some excitement from the ASEAN delegates. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the First Lady will once again do her magic. Who knows? Like I always tell the entrepreneurs who come to me for advice: always keep a positive mindset.

 Originally Published in Philippine Star