Premier venture builder F(DEV) gathers tech experts to empower budding tech careers
File Photo of Filinvest building in Alabang from THEPHILBIZNEWS/MAS
The global pivot to digital in almost all aspects of daily life from work, education to commerce and entertainment has opened new opportunities, creating digital-based jobs and providing employment for people with the requisite skills. This, however, has also widened the digital skills gap in the country. The Philippines ranked 51st out of 134 economies in the 2021 Digital Skills Gap Index by the multinational publishing company Wiley with a score of 5.1.
Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC), one of the leading and most diversified conglomerates in the country, believes the answer to this gap lies in upskilling, reskilling and retraining workers, which the Filipino workforce are willing to undertake to perform better in their current job or find a new one.[1] F(DEV), the digital innovation and venture arm of FDC, sees a comprehensive, inclusive and relevant training led by the biggest and most-established names in the digital industry as a good start to achieve this goal.
In pursuit of this mission to help develop the country’s talent on top of investing in infrastructure and technology, Filinvest partnered with General Assembly (GA) to launch The 2030 Movement: The Future of Work is Now. The week-long virtual Digital Upskilling conference, organized by F(DEV) and set for March 15 to 18, brings together the biggest and emerging names in the technology, startup and corporate world.
“We believe in making digital upskilling and education accessible toward providing equal opportunity to our workforce. F(DEV)’s mission to transform industries through technology-based business models and GA’s goal to confront the skills gap through best-in-class instruction using the most relevant and in-demand skills across data, design, business and technology culminates in this week-long event. This is the future of work, and we want to take the Filipinos with us on this journey,” says Xavier Marzan, Filinvest Group Chief Digital Officer and CEO of its venture arm, F(DEV)
General Assembly, initially a co-working space in 2011, has since grown into a global learning hub with campuses in 20 cities here and abroad and more than 35,000 graduates. A pioneer in education and career transformation, GA nurtures and encourages a community of professionals to pursue the careers they love. Through its award-winning and dynamic training, GA is working toward its goal of closing the global skills gap.
Home-grown and international talents such as Vett Watson, the Modern Work & Security Business Lead at Microsoft Philippines; Ace Gapuz , CEO of Blogpalooza; Johnson Dang, Demand Management Specialist at Nestle Australia Ltd; and Benjamin Wong, co-founder and CEO of Kinobi, will share their insights during the conference. They will discuss trends, product development, design, digital marketing, data and future of work as well as their personal stories of hardships and challenges.
The conference program is designed to prepare the attendees and participants to think like a tech startup founder, with the discussions covering the entire spectrum from identifying new opportunities, designing and developing a product and experience to marketing it and optimizing data to grow the business.
“We are facing unprecedented times and we believe that the ongoing disruption in many industries has changed the needs of our country’s businesses. We want to equip our workforce with the digital skills that they need to be able to stay competitive globally and equip themselves for the future. We want to make the Philippines a globally relevant digital hub with a strong digital-savvy workforce,” says Filinvest Group President and CEO Josephine Gotianun-Yap.
The conference offers free courses for all interested participants. Premium courses are also available. Go to 2030movement.com to register.