Dear Fellow Stakeholders,

 

The stability of the world as we know it, as a result of the United States being in total control of most situations, has ended. For as long as we have recorded history, models have been at odds, political or religious. Today we have competition among two models — Autocratic–Democratic and Chaotic–Democratic. We at Aboitiz must adapt to the grass left over as two elephants play. 

 

The skill we are working on improving is the capacity of our Governance and Management Teams to adapt to change as close to the right time as possible. Doing so earlier has a cost, and doing so late has a higher price. Not adapting means demise; it takes a vigilant team to do so most efficiently, i.e. at the right time. Our Four Imperatives have the same mission — to create the teams and atmosphere to not just survive, but also adapt and thrive.  

 

Talent. Better and better people, with the world as our pool, will upgrade those already there. We are searching the world for diverse talent and mixed cultures, outlooks, and attitudes to enrich our idea resource and our Never Good Enough philosophy on innovation and success. The overwhelmed will fade away, and more complex work requires intelligence, human and artificial, to be broken down. Teams are about weeding out the weaker links and not keeping them for sentimental reasons. Discipline and Diligence are what our conductors must not compromise on. Failure is the fertilizer for future decisions and not history to be obfuscated.

   

GT 2025 is about the individuals and the team. The reason why we need a Great Transformation is because we failed at slow evolution, and we acted late. We are correcting this delay to evolve individuals and teams that love a challenge and thrive in innovation. We live in a culture that avoids confrontation, and innovation needs controversy, challenge, and tension to feed its success. We are setting out to do this against the wind of Asian Non-Confrontation.

 

Federation is about the structure that needs evolution. Authority pushed down to the subsidiary level is just the start. Raising talent and capital follows that route. Structure drives behavior. The behavior we must insist on is agility and precision. Moving quickly is not enough, and greater effectiveness in execution is the outcome of thriving.  Building a techglomerate starts with digitization, with the final goal of evolving the intangible value of our many tangible assets. 

 

We have no idea what the world of accelerating, accelerating change will bring us. To be prepared, we are evolving our people, structure, and balance sheet for what we think may come should nature do its worst.

 

Chance Favors the Prepared. 

 

Enrique M. Aboitiz

Chairman of the Board

Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc.

 

Sabin M. Aboitiz

Chairman of the Board

Aboitiz Power Corporation