Senior marketing mentors honored

Joy Isla, Michael Tan, Jeffrey Go and Backy Baquiran —CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

Four senior executives were feted for their excellence in mentorship at the 4th Mansmith Market Masters Awards—the first and only mentoring recognition for senior marketers, based not on corporate performance, but on the winners’ mentoring of Mansmith Young Market Masters Awards (YMMA) recipients.

YMMA is the first and only recognition program for marketers and entrepreneurs 35 years old and below in the Philippines.

Held virtually on Dec. 10, the Mansmith Market Masters Awards were given to: Backy Baquiran, president and chief operating officer of Unilab Inc.; Jeffrey Go, general manager of Glaxo Smith Kline Consumer Healthcare of the Philippines and Indonesia; Joy Isla, former general customer development manager of Unilever; and Michael Tan, president and chief operating officer of LT Group Inc..

“As mentors, our role is not so much to instruct, as it is to encourage,” Baquiran said, talking about the mentoring experience at the awarding ceremony. “Pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performance. Never give up when faced with failure.”

In his speech, Go shared his personal journey: “My formative years shaped my work ethic and marketing know-how.” Thanking his own mentors in his speech, he also mentioned “as appreciation of their efforts, I have made it a personal mission to pay it forward and do the same for the young leaders in my care.”

Speaking of her mentees, Isla said: “The learnings that I got from them and from each member of the team that I handled at the time—I can say that I actually grew with them, learning from their youthful and dynamic concepts and insights. We learned from each other.”

“The most challenging mentorship experience is the one with life itself,” said Tan, giving key insights to the audience. “If you are playing to win, all of life is an obstacle. If you are playing to grow, all of life is an ally.”

These executives join a highly decorated roster of previous awardees: John Concepcion, CEO of Unilever RFM Ice Cream Inc.; Margot Torres, managing director of McDonald’s Philippines; Noel Lorenzana, president and CEO of Mediaquest Inc. (Cignal TV, TV5 Corp.); Didith Morales, in-field operations director of Roche Philippines; Raffy Fajardo, country director of Procter & Gamble; Gina Lorenzana, vice president for personal care of Unilever Philippines; Rene Reinoso, chief operating officer of the Philippine Daily Inquirer; Edwin Totanes, vice president & group head for marketing of Universal Robina Corp.; Dennis Balajadia, CEO of the Dragon Edge Group; Ken Lingan, country head of Google Philippines; Rosa Simba, senior vice president for Nestle Philippines; and Robert Trota, president & CEO of Max’s Group.

Both the Mansmith Market Masters Awards and Mansmith YMMA are organized by Mansmith and Fielders Inc, the first and only advocacy-based marketing training and consultancy group in the Philippines and recent Innovation winner at the 2021 Asean Business Awards.

With these programs, Mansmith would like to encourage everyone to contribute to more positive outlook on the Philippine business community by sharing their own tributes and appreciation for those who significantly shaped their personal and professional life— mentors, bosses, families and more.

—Contributed