Nippon Paint establishes Gennosuke Obata Fellowship Fund

The NIPSEA Group, otherwise known as Nippon Paint throughout Asia, announced the establishment of the Gennosuke Obata Fellowship Fund at the prestigious Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

The fund will provide financial aid to GSD students in Asia, with the hopes of attracting, enrolling and supporting talented design scholars from the Asian region as they work to become leaders in transforming the social and built environment.

NIPSEA Group Chief Executive Officer Wee Siew Kim said they are humbled to be able to have the opportunity to partner with Harvard University Graduate School of Design to invest into the future generation of design students through the Gennosuke Obata Fellowship. “Nothing can be more rewarding than to be a small part of creating an impact or making a change in the lives of Asian students and returning home bringing with them a better future for themselves and for their country.”

Nippon Paint’s gift of US$300,000 dollars (Php 16,000,000) to establish the Gennosuke Obata Fellowship Fund includes US$50,000 (Php 2.6 million) for immediate use to benefit students at the GSD. The remainder of the gift is invested in the Harvard University Endowment, leveraging these dollars for future support. As part of its “Grounded Visionaries” campaign, the Harvard University GSD has increased the number of student fellowships by over 50 percent, and there are now 24 endowed funds, expanding further the opportunities for talented design students.

The Harvard GSD partnership brings with it an additional program for the regional winners of Asia Young Designer Award (AYDA), rewarding both from the Architecture and Interior Design categories, a six-week, all-expense paid learning opportunity at the Harvard GSD “Design Discovery” program. At the “Design Discovery” program, winners will have the privilege to learn and experience intensive studio work, lectures, workshops and field trips.

Nippon Paint (Coatings) Philippines (NPCP), thus, is very happy to announce this significant development in Nippon Paint’s Asia Young Designer Awards (AYDA), a design competition for students NPCP has been doing since 2014.

“This partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Design provides local student winners an opportunity to learn from one of the best institutes in the world, further enhancing their skills as future professionals that will be responsible in defining and shaping construction projects in the Philippines,” declares Michael Francisco, NPCP General Manager.

Nippon Paint (Coatings) Philippines, Inc. is a paint and coatings specialist under the NIPSEA Group and is the exclusive distributor of Nippon Paint products in the Philippines. The superior Nippon Paint products are dedicated to quality and top-of-the-line innovation and exceptional customer service. For more about Nippon Paint (Coatings) Philippines, Inc., visit www.nipponpaint.ph.

PHILIPPINE AIRLINES SET TO FLY CLARK, PAMPANGA - SAN VICENTE, PALAWAN ROUTE

The country’s longest-operating airline is set to fly the Clark-San Vicente route beginning July 16, 2018. The domestic route will connect Pampanga and Palawan and is expected to boost the economies of the two provinces focusing primarily on the growth of the local tourism industry. Pampanga is known for gaming and other leisure destinations while Palawan is best appreciated in its nature-inspired destinations such as pristine beaches, clearest waters and tropical islands that captivate visitors the world over.

Palawan Governor Jose Ch. Alvarez underscored the significance of the air connectivity noting that tourists from northern Luzon will now have easy access to hassle-free flights en route to Palawan.

Taking into account the traffic congestion leading to major airports in Metro Manila, the alternate route will offer travelers brief respite from long queues and missed flights due to traffic woes.

The picturesque town of San Vicente known for its 14-kilometer long beach line is a “stone throw away” from neighboring local tourism hubs like El Nido and Taytay wherein tourists can get a short hop from the airport direct to these townships.

The development of local infrastructures swings forward in steady pace to prepare the township on the influx of visitors that is expected to hit the local shores in the days to come.

The idyllic town of San Vicente is gradually shaping up as the new tourism hub in northern Palawan and is projected to catch the attention of adventure seekers and nature lovers from both domestic and overseas tourism markets.

JLL Philippines Sees Significant Opportunities for PropTech Companies with US100 million JLL Spark Investment

Manila, 29 June 2018 - JLL Spark, a division of real estate professional services and investment management firm JLL, recently announced the creation of JLL Spark Global Venture Fund, which plans to invest up to US$100 million in companies focused on leveraging technology to improve everything from real estate development and management to leasing and investing, while enhancing the experience of those who occupy it.

“Asia Pacific is home to the world’s leading smart cities, many of which are powered by tech-enabled real estate tools. JLL is committed to cultivating next-generation proptech start-ups and promoting Asia Pacific as a hub of technology innovation for real estate, and JLL Spark Global Venture Fund is an extension of that goal,” says Mihir Shah, Co-CEO at JLL Spark. He adds: “The fund gives us the unparalleled opportunity to partner with local and global entrepreneurs who can utilise the resources of JLL’s business lines to rapidly grow their companies while creating value for JLL’s clients.”

For his part, Christian Ulbrich, JLL’s Global CEO says: “Creating this US$100 million venture fund through JLL Spark allows us to continue to lead the real estate industry in bringing the best proptech ideas to reality. It complements and expands our substantial ongoing investments in innovative, cutting-edge digital solutions, which is a core part of our Beyond strategic vision and commitment to achieve ambitions for our clients”.

While JLL Spark will direct its efforts to technology startups with products that can help JLL investor and occupier clients, the fund is also interested in companies that are inventing new technology-enabled business models in traditional JLL service areas or those that will help expand its services to new client segments.

JLL Philippines’ Head of Research and Consulting Janlo de los Reyes expressed optimism that the new fund will boost the viability of proptech start-ups in the country. He says: “JLL Spark provides us with the opportunity to transform the Philippine real estate landscape through the introduction of the latest technology and innovation developed by both Filipino and global proptech enterprises.”

According to a recent report by JLL and Tech in Asia, proptech start-ups in Asia Pacific are outpacing their counterparts in Europe and the United States with 179 of them raising around US$4.8 billion in funding between 2013 and mid-2017 – over 60 per cent of the global total. It forecasts that funding for proptech start-ups in this region will reach US$4.5 billion a year by 2020.

To learn more about JLL Spark, please visit https://spark.jll.com.