GCash Digital Excellence Awards 2023 honors private sector partners

For uplifting the lives of Filipinos by giving them access to innovative, safe, and convenient digital finance technology, GCash, the country's leading e-wallet, is recognizing outstanding enterprises and MSMEs through its annual GCash Digital Excellence Awards 2023 held recently at the Grand Hyatt Manila in BGC, Taguig City.


The second GCash Digital Excellence Awards for enterprise honored its partners' hard work and dedication to helping make Filipino lives better every day. Moreover, it aims to inspire more public, private, and MSME sectors to continue innovating their services for Filipinos and help transform the country into a more financially inclusive society.

The ceremony opened with a video message from the president and CEO of Globe Group, Ernest L. Cu, the presence of G-Xchange Inc President and CEO Ren-Ren Reyes, Chief Technology and Operations Officer Pebbles Sy, Chief Marketing Officer Neil Trinidad, Head of New Businesses Winsley Bangit, Chief Finance Officer Tek Olano, Chief People Officer Robert Gonzales, Fuse Chief Finance Officer Gabriel Lacuesta, Strategy Officer Ron Testa, GCash Vice President for Enterprise Luigi Reyes, Vice President and Head of Wealth Management Jong Layug, Head of Consumer Experience Joanne Avendano graced the ceremony.

"The new normal brings unique challenges to the economy, especially the fintech industry. Through the GCash Digital Excellence Awards, we pay tribute to private and public entities for their innovative achievements that span digital transformation, customer-centric solutions, business and technology agility, and product and service innovation. We hope this will inspire our key partners in various sectors to continue to innovate, serve millions and improve Filipinos' lives daily," GCash chief commercial officer Ren-Ren Reyes said.

This year's awardees were recognized in six different categories.

The Excellence in Innovation award was given to partner industry leaders who have implemented a trailblazing project or initiative and contributed to partners' digitization efforts, leading to better customer experience, improved overall business efficiency, and more convenient transactions to GCash's 79 million and growing GCash users. These partners are Robinsons Department Store which won 1st place, Villarica Pawnshop Inc., and Max's Group Inc., which won 2nd and 3rd awards, respectively.

For the Excellence Ecosystem Award, key partners were honored for embracing the digital lifestyle and fully integrating the different solutions of GCash into their ecosystem. The awardees include Puregold Price Club Inc. (1st place), Robinsons Supermarket (2nd place), and Globe Telecom, Inc. (3rd place).

Taking home the Excellence in Growth Potential Award were PMFTC Inc. (1st place), BDO Unibank, Inc. (2nd place), and McDonald's Philippines (3rd place) for showing promise to grow in terms of transaction volume, door count, or expansion into new lines of businesses with GCash.

Recognizing their efforts to achieve exponential growth in Gross Transaction Value (GTV) and sustained user base, the Excellence in Growth and Usage Award was given to AB Leisure Exponent, Inc. (BingoPlus) Abenson, Appboxo Pte. Ltd. Dragonpay Corporation, Gaisano Mall of Davao, Jollibee Foods Corporation, Lalamove Philippines Inc., Lazada E-Service Philippines, Inc., Mercury Drug Corporation, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, P.J. Lhuillier, Inc. (Cebuana Lhuillier), Seaoil Philippines, SM Retail Inc., Landers Superstore, and Unilever Philippines Inc.

Meanwhile, the Pioneer Awards, which recognize companies that pioneered the adoption of GCash's innovative business solutions, were divided into four categories: the Pioneer Award for Best GGives Merchant was awarded to Zalora, the Pioneer Award for Best GCredit Merchant. On the other hand, it was given to MERALCO. Meanwhile, the Pioneer Award for Ad Solutions was given to Smart Communications, Inc., and taking home the Pioneer Award for Data Solutions was Trusting Social AI Philippines, Inc.

Lastly, the highlight of the evening and the most prestigious of the awards, the Partner of the Year, was granted to Puregold Price Club Inc. for being one of GCash's key partners that exhibited excellence in digital finance and aided in promoting financial inclusion in the country. Along with GCash, Puregold Price Club Inc. introduced Filipinos to the first-ever barcode payment solution, effectively providing a safe and convenient digital payment solution to anyone with a smartphone and a GCash account.

By continuously building strategic collaboration with its partners, GCash is on track to make its mission of 'Finance for All' a reality and to help millions of Filipinos have a safer, more inclusive, and better financial future.