Tag: SM

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SM Expands Entertainment Ecosystem To Capture Emerging Consumer Demand

SM Investments Corporation (SM Investments), the parent company of the SM group, recently shared that it is strengthening its entertainment ecosystem across its portfolio to meet and possibly capture the growing demand for experiences among younger Filipino consumers.

“At SM, we recognize the younger generation’s growing preference for experiences, and this shift opens new opportunities for growth across our businesses. By listening closely to our customers, we are broadening our entertainment offerings to strengthen engagement and create long-term value across the SM ecosystem,” said Frederic C. DyBuncio, President and CEO of SM Investments.

A Groupwide Approach to Entertainment

The group’s presence in entertainment is not limited to its malls and arenas. Through SMIC SG Holdings, SM became the first Philippine company to invest in Klook, the Asia-based travel and experiences platform. It’s a one-stop logistics solutions provider, 2GO, which features karaoke lounges and video arcades in its vessels, rare in inter-island travel. BDO Unibank and China Bank also integrate lifestyle and travel-related rewards into customer programs.

This groupwide presence positions SM to tap the ₱1.94-trillion Philippine creative economy, which grew by 8.7% in 2024, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Next-Gen Entertainment Hubs

In its people-facing businesses, SM is transforming malls, convention centers, and arenas into multi-dimensional experience hubs.

“Malling for the older generation of customers in SM Malls was much simpler and practical then—dining, shopping and fun. Fast forward to today with our emerging segments, the millennials and Gen Z, who grew up on the Internet and social media—they now value the experience, the feeling of inclusivity, community involvement, and even sustainability,” said Joaquin L. San Agustin, Executive Vice President for Marketing, SM Supermalls.

“That is why our marketing efforts, including entertainment events, are now geared toward targeting communities, or what we call ‘tribes’. These are your gamers, geeks, foodies, and the many fandoms sprouting, who like more interactive and personalized experiences. The mall has become their entertainment hub and their escape,” Mr San Agustin said.

The MOA Arena, designed for global productions, continues to host international acts and will soon be complemented by a larger arena in Cebu.

“Production value is a whole lot better at the MOA Arena because the building is able to accommodate the creative demands of big events and top-tier acts, especially for multi-sensory experiences. We see the value in constructing world-class venues in key areas that would be able to support their economic growth,” said Arnel C. Gonzales, Vice President for Arena Operations, MOA Arena.

Meanwhile, SMX Convention Center is benefiting from the surge in fan meets, gaming expos, and pop culture conventions, with attendance and bookings rising significantly since late 2023.

“Over the past year, there’s been a remarkable increase in event bookings, ticket sales, and audience turnout at our venues, particularly for entertainment-driven events. This upward trend gathered momentum in late 2023 and continued to grow steadily through 2024 into this year. Even weekday events are seeing rising attendance, indicating that audiences are actively making time—and room in their budgets—for these experiences,” said Mike Albaña, Vice President and General Manager of SMX Convention Center.

Entertainment as Enabler

For SM, entertainment is not just an add-on but an enabler of business and community value. It drives consumer traffic across group businesses, strengthens partnerships with global content providers, and creates shared spaces for leisure and wellness, such as the FIFA-grade football pitch at SM MOA Sky.

“Our role is more of an enabler for all of the entertainment content to pass through our properties, to be able to give back more to our stakeholders as well as to give the fans, our loyal patrons, something to look forward to every time they visit our properties,” said Mr Gonzales.

With its scale, integration, and customer-first mindset, the SM group is positioning itself as a leading player in the country’s fast-expanding experience economy, where business growth, consumer satisfaction, and community value intersect.

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Corporate Governance Asia Recognizes SM with Seven Awards for Corporate Excellence

SM Investments Corporation (SM Investments), the parent company of the SM group, was recently honored with seven major distinctions at the 15th Asian Excellence Awards organized by Corporate Governance Asia, a leading regional journal on corporate governance.

The accolades recognize the company’s consistent leadership in corporate governance, sustainability, and stakeholder engagement. Among this year’s honors, Corporate Governance Asia named SM Investments President and Chief Executive Officer Frederic C. DyBuncio as Asia’s Best CEO, while Executive Vice Presidents Erwin G. Pato and Franklin C. Gomez were co-awarded Asia’s Best CFO, affirming the company’s strong financial stewardship and leadership excellence.

Commenting on the recognition, Mr DyBuncio said, “We are deeply honored by these awards, which reflect the collective effort of our people across the SM Group. Our commitment to long-term value creation, sustainability, and sound governance remains core to how we operate and grow.”

This year’s theme, “The Role of Asian Corporations in Climate Neutrality”, underscores the growing importance of sustainable and transparent practices in shaping the region’s future.

SM Investments also earned awards for its other corporate initiatives, namely, the Sustainable Asia Award, Asia’s Best Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Best Corporate Communications, and Best Investor Relations Company (Philippines). The following accolades marked the second consecutive year the company has received all seven awards.

Founded in 2011, the Asian Excellence Awards celebrate outstanding achievements in management, financial performance, corporate social responsibility, environmental practices, and investor relations.

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SM Helps Smallholder Farmers Make A Living

The SM Group keeps helping with inclusive development by giving smallholder farmers useful, long-lasting farming skills. This helps them improve their lives and make their communities more food secure.

The Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan (KSK) Farming Program from the SM Foundation is at the heart of this project. It has trained 32,359 farmers. SM Foundation and the Philippine Geothermal Production Company, among others, have trained over 49,000 farmers across the country so far.

The KSK program will reach more rural areas in 2025, including parts of Visayas, Bicol, and Northern Mindanao that don’t get enough help. This will bring opportunities closer to where they are most needed.
Cristie Angeles, the SM Foundation’s Assistant Vice President for Livelihood and Outreach Programs, said, “We think that inclusive growth starts at the community level.” “We’re not only helping to secure local food supply chains by investing in smallholder farmers, but we’re also making it possible for people in rural areas to have better lives.”

KSK teaches people how to improve the quality and quantity of their crops by giving them hands-on experience with backyard and small-scale farming. More importantly, the program helps them connect with local markets and SM’s larger supplier network, which helps farming families form cooperatives and get more stable, long-term income.

The Asian Development Bank found that smallholder farmers are the backbone of food systems in developing countries. They make up 84% of all farms and grow almost a third of the world’s food. In the Philippines, where many people farm less than a hectare of land, having access to information, technology, and markets is very important.

To strengthen connections in the market, SM started the SM Weekend Market, a place where local farmers and agripreneurs can sell their goods directly in busy malls. The weekend market helps local farmers find new customers, including people who shop there every day and people who work or live in the mall.

SM cares about the community in all of its businesses. SM supports urban farming projects in collaboration with the Philippine Geothermal Production Company (PGPC) and the Makiling Centre for Mountain Ecosystems. They do this by promoting sustainable gardening and finding long-term farm sites.

The SM Group’s larger mission is to be a partner for inclusive progress by making meaningful, inclusive opportunities that support rural development, create jobs, and boost local economies. These projects are part of that mission.

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SM Harnesses Business Ecosystem To Support an Evolving Job Market

SM Investments Corporation (SM Investments), the parent company of the SM group, is harnessing the strength of its diverse business ecosystem to help bridge the country’s skills gap and prepare the workforce for the demands of a rapidly evolving, tech-driven economy.

With interests across retail, property, banking, and investments, SM is aligned with the implementation of the Enterprise-Based Education and Training (EBET) Framework—a newly enacted law aimed at strengthening public-private collaboration, especially in the industry and education sectors. The EBET Framework promotes industry-driven apprenticeships and training programs that equip Filipino workers with job-ready skills aligned with actual market needs.

“SM can function at its optimum because of the skills of our people. As our businesses continue to grow, so too does our need for more skilled and resilient professionals to join our workforce. We shall continue to do our share to upskill and professionalize the Filipino workforce to make them competitive in the ever-evolving job market,” said Mr Frederic C. DyBuncio, President and CEO of SM Investments.

He added that SM’s responsibility to contribute to a skilled, resilient workforce goes beyond employing them within the SM ecosystem.

“Whether they work for us or even in other companies, we are committed to equipping them with the right tools, as we have been doing so with our investments in education through institutions like the National University and Asia-Pacific College, both non-profits, and of course the SM Foundation, which has been graduating scholars for more than 40 years,” Mr DyBuncio said.

Right people, right jobs

As of 2024, SM has over 142,000 employees across its ecosystem of businesses operating in key areas nationwide, making it one of the country’s top job creators. A majority of job functions in SM are sales, engineering, IT, and other STEM-related positions.

SM Investments’ vice chairperson, Teresita Sy-Coson, is a member of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) Education and Jobs group, a public-private partnership established in 2022 to address employment gaps.

A key initiative resulting from this partnership is job fairs mounted in SM malls across the country as part of the group’s J.O.B.S. (Job Opportunities Building Skills) programme.

From 2024 to May 2025, SM held 244 job fairs in its malls, during which 8,095 employers, 149,626 job seekers, and 20,616 were immediately hired.

Recently, BDO Unibank launched an accelerated hiring process for IT and cybersecurity professionals. The positions offered included project management, cloud technologies and operations, security analyst, security engineer, customer relationship management delivery, and other IT-related jobs.

Better education, better opportunities

In 2024, the SM Foundation welcomed more than 1,100 new college scholars, its largest batch to date. The program has nurtured over 4,600 graduates since its founding. In a recent alumni homecoming, 925 graduates across 27 batches shared their career journeys, with a majority now gainfully employed across various fields.

Additionally, 71% of the alumni have pursued further studies, including master’s degrees, PhDs, secondary degrees, and other professional programs.

The SM Foundation Scholarship Programme provides full tuition coverage, comprehensive enrichment activities, part-time jobs, internship placements and potential career opportunities within the SM Group.

National University, one of the oldest educational institutions in the country, founded in 1900, was acquired by SM in 2008 and has since embarked on a long-term campus expansion strategy to make education within reach. With the expansion, NU is aiming to reach 100,000 students in 2027.

While some programs in NU, particularly in Allied Health and Engineering, are long-established, of note are the courses offered in their College of Computing and Information Technologies that lean towards the future of digitalization, among them: BS Computer Science with specialization in Digital Forensics and Machine Learning; BS Information Technology with specialization in Mobile and Web Applications and Multimedia Arts and Animation.

Asia Pacific College, founded in 1991 as a partnership between SM Foundation and IBM Philippines, has been championing an industry-based curriculum that combines traditional classroom learning and hands-on experience calibrated to produce competitive IT professionals.

APC’s Multimedia Arts program is notable for combining technology and creativity, merging current disciplines in the creative field and the relevant knowledge of the digital creative tools currently used in the industry.

APC recently announced that 97.28% of its graduates as of 2024 have successfully secured employment after graduation.

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Art Education At Asia Pacific College Leads To Real-World Employment Opportunities

The new era of “content creation,” in which creativity and technology come together to populate the contemporary media landscape, is providing new work prospects, particularly in the sector of creative digital marketing.

This increasing trend positions educational institutions such as Asia Pacific College (APC), a member of the SM Group, and its Multimedia Arts program at the forefront of providing an art education that can lead to solid professions.

According to human resource consulting company John Clements Consultants, digital marketing is one of the top five rising careers in the Philippines in 2024, with a focus on providing content in various formats for usage on social media platforms. According to the online job search platform Jobstreet, a digital marketing professional’s current average monthly compensation is Php 30,000.

Arts in the Multimedia Age

APC was founded in 1991 as a cooperation between the SM Foundation and IBM Philippines, and it has been pushing a curriculum designed to develop competitive IT professionals in the country.

SM has long been a strong supporter of quality education for the impoverished, which leads to practical and fulfilling work. APC is a direct product of this endeavor, as it is a non-profit, non-stock organization.

Their multimedia arts program, which presently enrolls 384 students, meets the demand for education that combines technology and art. The curriculum is intended to include the most recent disciplines in the creative area, as well as relevant understanding of the digital creative tools now utilized in the industry.

Students can use a variety of program-specific tools to help them work on projects involving 2D and 3D animation, digital sculpting and painting, multimedia publishing, sound design, video production, and photography.

Aside from the digital resources available to students in their courses, APC’s Multimedia Arts program takes a project-based approach.

“Our program is unique in that it offers very targeted and in-depth training,” explains APC Executive Director Robert Besana. “The many hours students spend in the studio creating creative works are critical to their education. They improve their skills as they spend more time in the studio. Furthermore, the mentor-apprentice relationship between professors and students is critical to developing a more engaging learning environment. Professors serve as facilitators of learning rather than lecturers,” Mr. Besana says.

Teachers as mentors

Many of the instructors in APC’s Multimedia Arts department are industry practitioners themselves, so students get real-world industry insights and valuable on-the-job experience.

Jaime Pacena II teaches video production, post-production techniques, scenography, and photography. Mr. Pacena II, a seasoned visual artist, music video director, and filmmaker, earned the Best Director award at the 2024 Cinemalaya Film Festival for his film Kono-Basho, which was shot entirely in Japan.

“I incorporate a large number of my pupils in most of my personal efforts. I have worked with many of them on music video projects. “Some of them had really worked with me on the film I shot in Japan,” Mr. Pacena explains.

APC’s project-based learning allows students to collaborate with various clients who are APC partners.

“We have a subject called seminars, in which we bring various industry executives to speak with our students directly and intimately in a classroom setting.

APC Multimedia Arts graduates have gone on to work in a variety of disciplines within the rapidly expanding digital creative economy.

“Many have pursued careers in post-production, studio design, music video production, television directing, and corporate videos, among others. Some have opened their own studios, creating opportunities for themselves,” Mr. Pacena explains.

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SM and Mastercard Empower Ten Outstanding STEM Students (TOSS) with Scholarship Grants

SM, through SM Store and SM Retail, in partnership with Mastercard, and SM Foundation have launched a new initiative to empower Filipino students pursuing careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Through this collaboration, ten exceptional students from the Ten Outstanding STEM Students (TOSS) program will receive scholarship grants and access to critical digital learning tools to help them succeed in today’s tech-driven world.

Mastercard will donate P100 to SM Foundation for every eligible transaction made using a Philippine-issued Mastercard at SM Stores. The funds raised between November 15 and 17 during the promo period will go directly toward supporting the scholarships for these students, enabling them to pursue higher education and build careers in the technology sector.

In addition to financial support, the program also seeks to address the digital divide in the Philippines. Previous efforts have already equipped thousands of students with e-tablets and established digital learning hubs in public schools. In 2023 alone, nearly 10,000 students benefited from these resources, gaining access to modern technology that enhances their educational experience.

According to a 2020 Department of Education survey, only 64% of Filipino students had access to smartphones, and just 55% had access to laptops—critical tools for participating in digital learning.