More than a thousand Filipino entrepreneurs signed up for the first-ever Olern Virtual Business Summit live-streamed on March 3 and 4, 2020. Of those registrants, about half are business owners, up to 20% are business consultants and senior management executives, while the rest are employees.
With the theme ‘Helping SMEs Become World-Class,’ the two-day online summit tapped 20 speakers from the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Singapore—experts in various fields who shared insights on how business owners and managers can make their companies become globally competitive. Four major topics were covered: management strategy, sales and marketing, strategic human resources, and innovation and technology.
The first Olern Virtual Business Summit disrupts the business summit industry in the country in an effort to reach out to more Filipino small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). “Most of the attendees of our physical seminars in the past were from Metro Manila, so we thought those entrepreneurs in the provinces are somehow deprived of the learning opportunities,” said Olern SME Academy Founder Jerry Ilao.
Reaching out to more Filipino SMEs
“That is why we pioneered this virtual summit. Aside from Metro Manila, we are surprised that there are also many registrants from Mindanao. Some are from other countries, probably overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are operating or planning to put up small businesses back home,” he added.
A speaker facilitates an online session during the summit.
The virtual summit also serves as a way for Olern to showcase its e-learning capabilities as a technology-powered training company that can reach out to more participants. The summit was live-streamed online through a dedicated website, which enabled registrants to watch and participate in each discussion in real-time and for free. Those who missed the talks can watch some of the discussions anytime online.
This brings the current learning options offered by Olern SME Academy to three: this virtual summit (initially to be offered annually), the traditional face-to-face seminar sessions, and the customized online courses (can be taken by participants during their convenient time). The two latter options require minimal registration fees from participants. To check out and register for any of the upcoming learning sessions (face-to-face and online) by Olern SME Academy, click here.
Online training opportunities
“The advantage of online learning is that you can watch the sessions anywhere, anytime, even at the comfort of your home,” Ilao explained. “These days, we know it is such an effort to attend a physical event given the traffic condition in the metro. This time, why not attend an online learning session at the comfort of your own home, using your PC or even a mobile device?”
Aside from these learning options, Olern also offers its e-learning system to local companies, especially those that operate in multiple locations. Olern’s e-learning platform can be tapped to upload any firm’s own training modules and materials for dissemination to its employees through a secured and reliable online access.
To learn more about Olern SME Academy and how it can help Filipino businesses, click this link.