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The Job Creator
EO Speech April, 2013
By Myrna Padilla
Good morning. My name is Myrna Padilla. Before I share my story, let me first greet
all of the people who are here today, the EO members, guests, sponsors and
organizers, Maayong hapon kaninyong tanan and to those who are non-Filipino
good afternoon.
I would like to thank Mr. Fred Ayala and the entire EO organization for inviting me
here. It is a great honor to be here with you.
They invited me to share my story... And to challenge the way you think about the IT-BPO Industry...the business process outsourcing industry...
I will do my best to meet that challenge. But if I seem boastful or arrogant please
forgive me now... that is not my nature I only wish to fulfil the task set before me by
Mr. Ayala and the EO.
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Some of my earliest memories... are the tears in my mother's eyes when we would
go to bed hungry.
I know from personal experience the ugly face of poverty.
When I was only 10 years old, instead of going to school, I would dive alone in the sea
to gather seaweed and seashells to help feed my family.
Like many other women born into poverty in the Philippines... my only chance to fulfil
my dreams for my family... was to go overseas to seek employment.
I left my two children behind and spent the next 20 years working as a domestic
helper and raising other peoples children.
I became an OFW.
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For the non-filipinos in the room let me explain OFW.
It stands for Overseas Filipino Worker. Just imagine at this very moment there are
more than 10 million Filipinos working overseas working as OFWs or ex-pats.
The government likes to call us OFWs ... "modern day heroes", in part... because we
will remit over 24 billion dollars back to the Philippines this year. more on that later.
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It was while working as a domestic helper in Hong Kong in 1999... that I becameactive in community service.
I founded the Mindanao Hong Kong Workers Federation and I was fortunate to serveas Chairman for 8 years.
My employer in Hong Kong entrusted me to raise their son. His name was Jonathanand he was only 8 years old. It was young Jonathan who taught me how to use acomputer.
At that time, I knew nothing about technology, but.... I did have a thirst forknowledge... so I studied and read everything I could find on the subject. I soonbegan applying technology to the operation of the Mindanao Hong Kong WorkersFederation.
However, it was when I started using the internet... that I began to fully understand...people could perform services without the need to leave home.
For those of you who have never left your children behind for 5, 10 or 15 years...you have no idea how powerful a concept that is.
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In Hong Kong the Mindanao Hong Kong Workers Federation would gather in the
park on Sunday.
There we would conduct our meetings and part of my responsibility as a leader...
was to listen to my members... listen to their complaints... and listen to their stories.
Some of those stories broke my heart.
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I cannot count the number of nights... I lay in bed crying.
Sometimes I cried for myself
and other times I cried for my members.
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But because of the empowering nature of technology... I started dreaming.
I dreamed of coming home and starting a business of becoming a job creator.
I simply did not want another mother or father to follow in my footsteps; to suffer the
same pain and anguish of being separated from their families.
I now know that I was envisioning business process outsourcing without even
knowing what a BPO was.
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When Mr. Ayala...
and other officials of the BPO industry talk about creating 1.3 million jobs by 2016
or that we are directly responsible for creating over 800,000 jobs... today.
What does that really mean?
For me... for a mother... who spent 20 years overseas raising other people's children
I can tell you... EXACTLY what 800,000 jobs really means
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It means 800,000 Mothers, Fathers, sons or daughters
who will now stay in the Philippines
instead of being ripped from their families and shipped overseas.
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Now, I want to talk briefly... about what success in the IT-BPO industry has meant forme.
First and foremost... I have fulfilled my dream of becoming a job creator. ... Iaccomplished the goal I set for myself so many years ago... while working as adomestic helper in Hong Kong....
Second... owning a BPO business... has given me access to very smart, very creativepeople. I am surrounded by problem solvers.
My company has spent years building social networks for clients in America. And wehave a team working on a state of the art CRM system for a client in Europe... built ona cloud computing platform.
In short, success in the BPO industry has given me exactly the right resources Ineeded to pursue number 3... my passion.
My advocacy for the migrant worker...
I would like to take a brief moment to talk about that project...
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We call it OFW Watch... it is a network connecting OFWs together using mobile and
social media technologies.
Let me share something personal with you...
No amount of success in business will erase the memories I have as a migrant
worker...
And nothing... will erase the stories I have been told by other OFWs.
At this very moment as I speak
there are thousands of Filipinos who have fallen victim to human trafficking...
Filipinos who are desperately crying out for help
But... no one hears them
As an OFW for over 20 years... I know why we do not hear them...
We do not hear their cries for help because....
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The evils of modern day human slavery happens in the dark.
Let me explain...
If you are going to abuse our people our OFWs...
without the fear of being caught...
the very first thing you do is...
You stop the OFW from communicating with their families back home.
You cut off their communications.... You confiscate their phone.
You in effect... force them... into darkness.
I now know we can use technology to detectif a woman stops communicating.
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And that is the first red flag... the first red flag that something has gone terribly wrong.
No OFW goes overseas and then suddenly stops communicating with the people they love.
With OFW Watch the problem is no longer... hearing a cry for help... We can detect that.
The new challenge becomes... overwhelming numbers...
There are 10 to 12 million Filipinos scattered all over the world...
No matter how dedicated or well-funded our government agencies are...
They can not watch out for 10 million people scattered all over the world...
But we all know... Twitter succeeds because of overwhelming numbers...
Facebook succeeds because of overwhelming numbers...
When you are talking about social and mobile networks... overwhelming numbers is not the
problem...
overwhelming numbers is the solution.
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Overwhelming numbers means...
no matter where an OFW is in trouble...There are hundreds, if not thousands, of
successful OFWs nearby.
Using targeted messaging we can alert the migrant workers nearby to check on their
fellow migrant worker. Or we can ask them to call the local authorities. In short, we
can use Facebook, Twitter and social media to empower the strong to watch over the
weak and vulnerable.
Having been an OFW and... I know a lot about one group... The domestic worker ...
The world sees them as nannies, drivers or gardeners, but I know them to be strong,caring people.
And for the millions of migrant workers who are professionals... Working as teachers,
nurses and engineers...
I can sum up the OFW community in one way...
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The Philippines may be a nation of migrant workers... but we are not a nation of helpless victims.
OFW Watch is being built around this concept...
The vast majority of our OFWs are successful... they are strong... they are technically savvy...
we Filipinos... control over 21 million Facebook pages....
We are many things... but one thing we are not... we are NOT helpless.
And... We... No one else... We should be helping ourselves.
We should be helping the Department of Labor...
tasked with the oversight... but overwhelmed by our sheer numbers...
And most of all... we should be watching out for each other.
Why?
Because time waits for no one... And in the future... but for the Grace of God...
There stands a loved one... A son or a daughter in need of the communitys help.
We have to build the network now. There is not time for maana maana. (Tomorrow tomorrow)
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As entrepreneurs... we are all in business to make a profit.
And I believe projects like OFW Watch... born of an honest passion... are examples of how we can dogood...
while at the same time... doing good business.
OFW Watch was designed to empower OFWs to watch out for each other...
but the OFWs can also use the network to watch out for the Philippines.
we need to be teaching our OFWs how to promote the Philippines as an outsourcing destintation...
The answer to poverty in the Philippines is not remittances from overseas...
The answer is meaningful jobs here in the Philippines...
So another mother, father, son or daughter does not have to leave home in the first place.
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Let me say one last thing about being a hero...
something about being heroic.
When I dove alone in the sea at the age of ten to help feed my family
that was not heroic that was survival.
When I left my family to go overseas for almost 20 years
that was not heroic that was a tragic necessity to help my family break the cycle of poverty.
But when I returned home to the Philippines... and started a business...
when I became a job creator for me personally... that was heroic.
When we give someone who needs it... a meaningful job... We have given them more than just a paycheck.
We have given that man or woman and their family... an opportunity to live a life with dignity.
Certainly... for all those born into poverty... They know exactly what I am talking about.
In closing... I believe... with all my heart...
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The real hero of the Philippines is the Job Creator.
MABUHAY ANG BPO INDUSTRY AT MABUHAY TAYONG FILIPINO!
God bless you. Thank you.
http://www.ofwwatch.com