AEV sets up fund to promote innovation | VG Cabuag

Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) has approved a P39-million exploration and experimentation fund to support its employees in jumpstarting their own innovative ideas.

AEV President and CEO Sabin M. Aboitiz said every Aboitiz employee is allotted a seed fund that they can use to work on projects individually or in collaboration with others by pooling their funds for a larger project.

Aboitiz hopes that the initiative will motivate employees to inject the spirit of transformation into their day-to-day work. “Instilling innovation in Aboitiz is about discovery and experimentation in both our personal and professional lives. We have accelerated transformation across our business processes, decision-making methods, and collective way of thinking—inside and outside our job titles—to move us forward in our ambition to make Aboitiz a world-class innovator.”

The Aboitiz holding firm said empowering its employees to conceptualize and implement new ideas is the path towards opening minds further in the organization, thereby pushing creativity in design and development regardless of scale or complexity.

With or without the use of technology, the innovation experiments proposed by its employees can pave the way for opportunities that enhance or add value to the Group in the short- or long-term, the company said.

Adrienne Heinrich, Innovation and Process Management Lead for AEV said innovative thinking is key to transforming and becoming more efficient, productive and ultimately, successful.

“These experiments will help nurture the innovative spirit of the great transformation. There are a multitude of challenges that can be addressed through experimentation, and each team member is encouraged to apply an entrepreneurial mindset in selecting opportunities that will create larger value, impact, and advantage if successful. Do not be afraid of failure. When we fail, we learn, and when we learn, we succeed,” Heinrich said.

Through the program, the company said it looks to foster an environment where transformative exploration, collaboration and idea-sharing thrive.

Successful projects and ideas are expected to bring business value, improving the company’s products and services to all of its customers and stakeholders.