It was a beautiful and sunny Saturday afternoon and a perfect day to gather freelancers, internet marketers, e-trepreneurs, and other professionals for the 1st Payoneer Forum in Manila, Philippines. Over a hundred guests trooped to the SMX Convention Center in Taguig City to participate in this historic gathering, a major milestone in Payoneer’s 10-year history as it aims to focus on the highly important and fast-growing Philippine market.
The forum consisted of three lectures conducted by highly respected guest speakers who are considered key figures in the local freelancing, e-commerce, and start-up industries. In addition, as the Payoneer Brand Ambassador here in the Philippines, I spoke about Payoneer’s global payment solution to new and existing users.
The first speaker of the event was Jojy Azurin, a serial entrepreneur who is also the Co-Founder of Horsepower.ph and recently Freelancer.com’s Regional Director for Continental Asia. His talk entitled “The Future of Work” explained the revolutionary change about the way people and companies do their work that’s already unfolding. It served as an eye-opener to many of the guests who listened intently and might now want to consider working as a full-time freelancer than a 9-5 day job.
The next lecture was delivered by Eireen Diokno-Bernardo, a well-known E-commerce Educator and Founder of www.ecommerce102.com. During her talk, the guests were treated to an interesting and practical hands-on exercise on how to create an “E-commerce Business Development Blueprint” which was well-received by all in attendance. She also brought with her a group of supporters and students, with some coming from the far northern provinces, just to learn more about Payoneer.
As I mentioned, I am the Payoneer Brand Ambassador in the Philippines and Co-Founder of local IT outsourcing start-up EASE Technology Solutions. As ambassador, my role is to discuss Payoneer: the company profile, how it works, and how it’s features and services can benefit freelancers, affiliates, business owners, and other professionals. I discussed Payoneer’s full suite of services such as the USD/ EUR Payment Service, Local Bank Transfers, and the Payoneer Prepaid Mastercard and included upcoming features like sending funds outside of the Payoneer network and the ability to accept credit and debit card payments.
I also spoke about the Refer a Friend program and how simple it is for Payoneer users to make additional income simply by sharing Payoneer services with their networks.
Marv de Leon of FreelanceBlend.com capped the afternoon with another inspiring and enlightening presentation about “Creating and Monetizing Your Freedom Business.” He discussed about how people can start a “freedom” business like a freelancing or blogging career, and how branding one’s self can help in the success of one’s chosen career. Networking opportunities followed after the program.
The 1st Payoneer Forum in Manila, Philippines was a huge success. All guests were treated to four hours of meaningful and healthy discussion that they can use to start or improve their own freelancing and e-commerce careers, and share these with their friends, families, and colleagues. We’ll be hosting several events all over the Philippines, so stay tuned. And, if you have a suggestion or would like us to visit your city, let us know in the comments below!