Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) adds another award to its roster of global and regional achievements after it bagged the International Innovation Awards for the RCBC DiskartechPreneur bootcamp program, a business case competition launched by the bank to train future entrepreneurs expand their business practices and improve their business acumen leveraging on digital platforms.
RCBC’s nomination for DiskartechPreneur competed against more than 160 entries from 30 countries across 24 industries. RCBC highlighted the impact of the business case competition to the lives of FIlipino youth as well as the power of partnerships across industries.
RCBC DiskartechPreneur was formally launched in 2022 alongside rollout of the Aralin sa Madiskarteng Pananalapi (A Study on Strategic Financial Management) digital module embedded in the senior high school curriculum in partnership with the Department of Education.
RCBC also partnered with government leaders and industry experts to provide mentorship and guidance to the twenty finalists from Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon (CALABARZON) and National Capital Region (NCR). RCBC also worked with the biggest Filipino live streaming platform for Filipinos, KUMU, to enable the finalists to sell their products online. At the end of the business case competition, each region had winners who received a cash prize of P50,000 to expand their businesses.
RCBC Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer Lito Villanueva regarded the most coveted regional recognition as a seal of approval not only for RCBC but for financial literacy programs that focus on the youth.
“Our win in the International Innovation Awards is a huge motivation and recognition not only for RCBC but for the whole fintech and banking industry in the Philippines for empathy-driven engagements and programs targeting the next generation of Filipino entrepreneurs,” said Villanueva.
“RCBC has been and continues to be in the frontlines promoting financial education and creating channels and avenues for people to become empowered. By working with communities and knowing their needs, we have demonstrated that collective and collaborative approaches to solving our biggest problems is possible,” added Villanueva.
RCBC emerged as the fastest growing bank in the country after it leaped from 8th position in 2018 to 5th in 2022 in the list of the Philippines’ largest privately owned banks in terms of assets. Among its global and local recognitions as a leading digital challenger bank include a four-peat award as the Philippines’ Best Bank for Digital by Asiamoney, the Eye on Innovation Award by Gartner, YouTube Challenger Award for its viral and out-of-the-box digital ad campaigns generating combined views of over 17 million, Grand Champion for Digital Payments and Financial Inclusion by the Bankers Institute of the Philippines, and Rank 1 in the Philippine Best Customer Service 2023 survey by the Philippine Daily Inquirer and global research firm Statista. Just recently, RCBC DiskarTech was awarded as Best Brand Program in the Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines (BMAP) Awards during the Financial Education Expo by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.