AEV team members Les and Aly both share an unyielding passion for uplifting communities, demonstrating adaptability, resilience, innovation, and boldness. Their GT journey stands as a testament to the transformative power of purpose and change, showing us what it truly means to forge ahead with lasting significance.
Let’s learn more about their inspiring stories, where they embraced risks, learned from setbacks, and uncovered the limitless potential in shaping a better future for all.
I am Lester Gimeno – Synergy Manager. Before Fresh Depot was offered to me, I was with AIC as part of the Strategy and Corporate Planning team. Since I am a CPA and working towards CFA Level 3 at that time, I believed I was on the right track. However, a journey began. I was one of the fortunate A-people given a chance to test hypotheses through Fresh Depot, a cold-chain based initiative. It was a big decision to make, so I grabbed my running shoes and went out for a run to think about it. Imagine coming from a farming background in Occidental Mindoro; growing up, my parents used to encourage me, saying that if I didn’t strive harder, I would end up becoming a farmer, a typical “probinsyano” mindset. That’s why, I was asking myself if it would be a crazy decision to go back to what I refused to explore while growing up.
After assessing, I joined the project and took part in the GT journey, seeing it as a career detour. Once approved, I immediately met with the Department of Agriculture in CAR to collaborate.
After completing the hurdles of importing and after working with multiple people and groups inside and outside the org, we successfully deployed two pilot units in 2 different sites. Being in charge of the operation and strategy of Fresh Depot, I thought it would be a walk in the park. I thought we just needed to test the cold storage and learn from it. However, the challenges stemmed from one to another. I thought after putting the storage there, farmers would automatically go there to put their produce in an instant, but no. We were not getting traction. Why? Another challenge occurred, stemming from another problem within the value chain.
What I did was run, but this time with friends. When we were in Benguet, our staff and I ran many times—we took it as an opportunity to talk to farmers, our target market, onboard them to our digitization platform, brainstorm with the team and strategize, and of course bond while keeping fit. I even gifted one of our staff, who always joins me, running shoes so he wouldn’t refuse next time. We found out that farmers need financing, which can be addressed through Union Digital, and also a market linkage that can be addressed by Pilmico and our ecosystem.
After several meetings and planning sessions, we were informed that we needed SBU sponsorship to continue with phase 2 of our pilot, catching us off guard because it came sooner than expected. Don’t get me wrong; the group is very supportive of this project. They want us to continue, but the catch is we need to convert it into startup mode and prepare for a series of approvals. We had several options: 1. Jump into the project and resign, 2. Pivot my role within the transformation team, or 3. Explore other opportunities inside or outside the group. We needed to pivot. It frightened me, to be honest; it would require a long run. But I decided not to run. While assessing my risk tolerance and readiness for this venture, I found out that there’s a new office created to tell the story of the Great Transformation, the Synergy office. So shout out to Dudes for betting on me.
The requirements of the foundry team aren’t very different from what I’m doing now, which is exploring where we can add value to the group’s goal, creating value out of chaos, and out of diversity. Creating value out of the resources that we have invested through teamwork.
If you were to ask me if joining the transformation team is a big regret or a waste of time, my answer would be no.
The journey taught me invaluable lessons: being open-minded, becoming a leader, creative, and resourceful, spotting pain points and transforming them into innovative solutions.
Despite challenges, we succeeded in what we signed up for. The GT story continues, and through this project, I was able to share our story even with underserved communities like the farmers of Benguet. Though I’m no longer part of the team, I still contribute to our bigger transformation group aiming to become the first Techglomerate. This isn’t your typical success story; it’s about how changes can be frightening sometimes but ultimately transform us to be more agile, where learning, enjoyment, and community contribution prevail. As a bonus, I was able to run my first-ever marathon before 2023 ended.
My name is Aly Virrey, and I am also one of Fresh Depot’s co-launchers. But unlike Lester, who hails from a farming background, I grew up in the city. On my end, conceptualizing Fresh Depot was mostly based on research and my own observations as a consumer so actually going into the farming communities was a truly eye-opening experience for me. But driven by the desire to grow and contribute beyond my usual role in Brand and Communications, I joined the Transformation Team with the aspiration to leave a meaningful impact and challenge myself.
Our Fresh Depot journey was fueled by good intentions, with a Massive Transformative Purpose of uplifting communities and leaving a lasting legacy within Aboitiz. In just one year, we achieved significant milestones. We deployed two pilot cold storage units in vastly different environments, testing our hypotheses and pushing boundaries.
The numbers speak volumes about our impact in just a short amount of time: over 600 farmers engaged through cold storage and our digital platform, with more than 130 cold storage bookings and nearly 12,000 kilograms of vegetables stored. The croppable area of registered farmers on our platform reached 2.9 million square meters. None of these would have been possible without the dedication and hard work of our entire team – a special shoutout to Bianca, Vangie, Glec, RJ, and Cheann – as well as the unwavering support from the Transformation Team, AEV, and other Strategic Business Units like Hedcor, AP, SNAP, Union Digital, and Pilmico.
Throughout this journey, I’ve grown so much. I’ve developed my agility, resilience, and stakeholder management skills, which are very much useful in my current role in the new Transformation Team headed by Dea and Wolf. During our stint, the Aboitiz core values guided my every decision, most especially Responsibility, ensuring that we stay true to our purpose of Creating Prosperous Filipino Farmers Feeding the Philippines.
Reflecting on this experience, I have no regrets. While it didn’t exactly work out the way we hoped it would, I came away with a richer worldview. I proved to myself that I can thrive outside my comfort zone, embracing challenges with integrity and determination. The Great Transformation isn’t just a vision—it’s a call to action for everyone to be brave, take risks, and contribute to building a better future.
I believe that when we truly own this journey, there are no limits to the possibilities we can achieve.
Check out their GT Story featured in the Storytellers Leaders Caravan:
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