Globe G-Cash, the world’s first wireless and cardless m-commerce platform, upholds its commitment to redefine and expand the borders of Filipino m-commerce, with their recent recognition of mobile innovations generated by G-Nius: the Search for the Great G-Cash Idea. Organized by Globe Telecom and G-Xchange, Inc. — its wholly-owned subsidiary tasked to oversee the development of G-Cash – the competition aimed to foster creative thinking and business acumen among the youth by giving them an opportunity to develop m-commerce applications based on their needs and experiences.
"Having grown up in a swiftly-innovating world, today’s youth are very technologically savvy, and their fresh insights on existing m-commerce applications are indeed valuable," says Ayala Corporation chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, noting that the youth comprise a significant portion of the mobile public.
Five regional winners representing North and South Luzon, National Capital Region, Visayas and Mindanao respectively, were selected to further develop their initial product concept into a full-blown business plan. This was presented to a panel of judges including Dean Eduardo A. Morato of the Asian Institute of Management Asian Center for Entrepreneurship, Dr. William Medrano, Executive Director of the Commission of Higher Education, Chairman Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV of the National Youth Commission and Rodell Garcia and Mario Domingo of Globe Telecom.
Kalayaan College’s Titan Research beat the nationwide entries to gain top G-Nius honors, with their G-Cash application, "The 4Gs," a multi-faceted program which seamlessly integrates m-commerce technology with transport and toll payments, while enhancing the service’s existing retail functionality with a rewards program and exclusive mobile shopping portal.
"Personal experience played a great part in the formulation of our concept," said team captain David James Ramos. Their enhancement of G-Cash retail services, in particular, were inspired by frequent shopper points and online shopping websites like eBay which require credit cards – a luxury that few young people can afford. "Our goal was to make G-Cash more relevant to the mobile public, especially to the youth," he added.
Second-placers Comteq G-Wizards, on the other hand, focused on making G-Cash more accessible and convenient with "G-Cash Premium," a bank partnership that allowed automatic G-Cash mobile wallet cash transfers with registered bank accounts. "Our group observed that the basic impediment to the use of G-Cash was the cash-in process, and this is what we sought to address," says Jonathan Beduya, who led the contingent representing Comteq Computer & Business College of Olongapo City. Other m-commerce applications that made it to the final round include shopping and auction portals suggested by teams from STI College-Lucena and Central Mindanao University and a G-Cash powered livelihood website from College of St. John-Roxas.
Globe Telecom President and CEO Gerardo Ablaza expressed enthusiasm with the winning G-Nius ideas and lauded the innovative spirit behind these m-commerce applications. "Globe takes pride in being an innovation leader in mobile communications, and it only seemed fitting that we provide avenues, such as the G-Nius competition and the 1st Globe Future Business Leaders Conference, that foster the values of enterprise and creativity among the youth of today," Ablaza said, noting that Globe plans to pursue such activities on a regular basis.
