By Mhicole A. Moral, Special Features and Content Writer
With nearly four decades of reporting on the forces shaping the Philippine economy, the work of BusinessWorld has grown beyond the pages of a newspaper and the screens of the World Wide Web where its reports appear.
Through its Economic, Forecast, and Insights fora, together with the Cybersecurity Summit and the inaugural BusinessWorld Best Places to Work Awards, the business multimedia content provider has been creating spaces where policymakers and members of the business community can exchange ideas on issues affecting the wider economy.
The growing on-ground presence has added another foundation to BusinessWorld’s work in creating opportunities for conversations to happen in person.
“As we foster face-to-face dialogue alongside print and digital insights, I think BusinessWorld has deepened our relationship with the business audience and community we serve,” said Jay R. Sarmiento, vice-president for sales and marketing at BusinessWorld and the PhilSTAR Media Group. “This has sparked and influenced the way the business sector makes informed decisions.”
Distinguished gatherings
BusinessWorld’s Economic Forum and Forecast fora, held every May and November, respectively, form part of its regular calendar of gatherings. Both events examine the conditions facing the Philippine economy, which brings public and private-sector perspectives into discussions about economic realities and the gap between the country’s long-standing potential and progress that has yet to materialize.
The recent BusinessWorld Economic Forum focused on the Philippines’ chairship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and how the country could translate regional policies and opportunities into concrete action for the private sector.
World Bank Division Director for the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei Zafer Mustafaoğlu delivered the keynote address, saying the Philippines could become a major economic engine in the region but needed to improve productivity, infrastructure, human capital, regulations, technology adoption, and worker skills.
The discussions that followed moved from the country’s competitiveness compared with other Southeast Asian economies to the capacity of Philippine businesses to adopt emerging technologies.
The forum also examined agriculture, energy, geopolitics, and opportunities for micro, small, and medium enterprises.
The closing keynote came from Jose Ma. “Joey” A. Concepcion III, chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council and founder of Go Negosyo, who discussed the importance of keeping trade open, protecting supply chains, supporting SMEs, and sustaining inclusive growth in an integrated region.
Meanwhile, the latest BusinessWorld Forecast 2026 forum covered the macroeconomy, artificial intelligence, legal reforms, sustainability, demographic and generational trends, the future of work, and changes in global trade.
Former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. delivered the keynote address, focusing on credibility, institutional strength, policy consistency, and investor confidence.
With Forecast 2027 scheduled for November, the annual cycle gives BusinessWorld another opportunity to examine what businesses and investors are watching as the country moves into another year.
The Insights series, on the other hand, provides a platform for more specific discussions throughout the year, allowing conversations to focus on particular industries, business issues, and developments that require closer examination.
Comprehensive engagements
For Ms. Sarmiento, the thinking behind these events is tied to connecting business discussions with action.
“By convening private sector leaders, policymakers, and innovators to directly discuss solutions for national and regional business challenges in our events, BusinessWorld can bridge the gap between news coverage and action,” she said.
Jenalyn P. Sarte, marketing manager at PhilSTAR Media Group, said businesses need information that helps them make decisions not only for their organizations but also in consideration of their contributions to the economy and society.
“BusinessWorld is in a unique position to bring together conversations from different sectors, including government, private companies, consulting agencies, and business organizations,” she said.
She noted that the participation of different groups helps make the resulting reports, insights, and discussions more comprehensive. Such process begins with how each event is developed.
“These engagements take our role beyond the usual way we report the news. For me, the significance of these events is that we are not just reporting news; we are also helping shape and create meaningful conversations with the participation of different sectors.”
This year alone, the Insights series has covered a wide range of subjects.
For instance, this year’s edition of the Stock Market Outlook, held last February, examined whether Philippine equities could regain momentum after a difficult 2025. The forum focused on the relationship between market performance, investor confidence, governance, capital formation, and reforms in the Philippine capital market.
The Insights forum in April turned to healthcare, examining digital healthcare, medicine delivery, artificial intelligence, and healthcare access.
In June, BusinessWorld Insights covered agribusiness, which talked about food security from the perspective of agricultural production, logistics, financing, technology, and infrastructure.
Another forum in June, “Powering the Electric Shift,” focused on electric vehicles and the country’s transition toward electric mobility.
The latest BusinessWorld Insights last August focused on micro, small, and medium enterprises, another contributing sector for inclusive growth.
While subjects differ, the format remains consistent in identifying issues affecting businesses and the economy.
From cybersecurity risks to digital resilience
BusinessWorld’s on-ground engagement also expanded into cybersecurity through a series of discussions under its cybersecurity campaign.
The series started with the forum “Fortifying Cybersecurity Among Organizations” on Aug. 22, 2025, which gathered industry experts to explore the strategies businesses can employ in response to top cybersecurity threats. It continued with discussions on the Philippines’ policy space for cybersecurity on October 22, 2025 and on the essential steps to enhancing cyber literacy among Filipinos last Feb. 18.
The campaign culminated in the BusinessWorld Cybersecurity Summit on July 21, held under the theme “Toward Stronger Digital Defenses.” The summit examined cybersecurity from several angles, including regulation, national security, crisis leadership, technical controls, employee practices, business continuity, and market confidence.
During the summit, Atty. Renato “Aboy” A. Paraiso, executive director of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, called for organizations to develop cyber-resilience plans that account for the possibility that attacks can penetrate their defenses.
Other speakers examined how organizations should respond once an incident occurs, including how leaders communicate, assign accountability, manage employees, and make decisions based on verified information.
The final keynote from Cybersecurity Council of the Philippines Chairman Dr. Donald Lim returned to the issue of trust, preparedness, and collaboration.
Hence, the summit demonstrated how a business event can take a subject often treated as a technical matter and examine its implications for leadership, operations, regulation, employees, customers, and the economy.
Recognizing the workplace behind business performance
BusinessWorld’s expansion into on-ground engagement has also reached the workplace.
The inaugural BusinessWorld Best Places to Work Awards, produced in partnership with employee-experience platform WorkL, brought employee engagement and workplace culture into the publication’s events calendar.
The awards recognized Philippine companies based on employee feedback and engagement data. WorkL’s survey used 31 questions covering six areas: reward and recognition, instilling pride, information sharing, empowerment, well-being, and job satisfaction.
Organizations needed to achieve a minimum overall engagement score of 70% to qualify for accreditation. The benchmark was supported by WorkL data covering more than 85,000 organizations.
The program also required companies to submit supplementary information alongside their survey results, allowing the assessment to consider employee responses together with additional organizational information.
The first awards night took place on Dec. 2, 2025, where companies from different industries were recognized across organizational, demographic, and employee-experience categories.
During the ceremony, BusinessWorld Editor-in-Chief Cathy Rose A. Garcia addressed the changing nature of work and the uncertainty surrounding artificial intelligence.
“For the first time in decades, technology isn’t just changing how you work. It’s challenging the very foundation of entire professions. But we all know AI is simply a tool, not a bogeyman, not a catastrophe threatening to take people’s jobs. The real issue here is leadership, culture, how organizations guide their people through this transition,” she explained.
She noted that companies should focus on workplace culture, while pointing to WorkL’s six areas of employee experience as measurable indicators of how employees view their workplaces.
The awards, therefore, placed employee experience alongside more traditional business topics such as finance, strategy, technology, and economic performance.
“The first installment of the Best Places to Work showed how championing diversity, promoting gender equality, and providing support for mental health can help create a better workplace environment within companies,” Ms. Sarte said.
Connecting information with action
BusinessWorld’s on-ground strategy is closely linked to the publication’s ability to connect business leaders with policymakers and other decision-makers.
Ms. Sarmiento explained that the events provide a setting where conversations can feed into the publication’s broader coverage and analysis. This strategy creates a connection between what happens in a forum and what reaches readers through BusinessWorld’s various platforms.
Meanwhile, Ms. Sarte said BusinessWorld’s editorial participation is important in turning events into substantive exchanges.
“The curation of speakers and topics is very important. Beyond that, the role of the BusinessWorld editorial team is also crucial. They help steer the conversation and make it more fruitful by asking the right questions and extracting as much insight as possible from the speakers,” she shared.
Ms. Sarte added that editorial questioning helps draw out information that can be useful to the audience. With that, the process places greater emphasis on the quality of the conversation rather than simply the number of participants or the visibility of an event.
BusinessWorld’s upcoming event agenda is expected to address several issues that Ms. Sarmiento said require greater attention from business leaders.
Among them are artificial intelligence governance, sustainable finance, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) compliance, supply chain resilience, and macroeconomic developments across Southeast Asia.
The topics also fit within the publication’s established approach of bringing together people from different sectors to examine issues from several perspectives.
For BusinessWorld, the expanding event calendar is part of a broader evolution in how a business publication can engage with the community it covers.
“Ever-expanding on-ground presence means serving as an active convener and ecosystem builder, connecting policy, capital, and leadership to shape economic conversations beyond traditional business news reporting,” said Ms. Sarmiento.
Similarly, Ms. Sarte described the development as part of BusinessWorld’s changing contribution to society.
“This role is especially important today, with the growing emergence of disinformation. By bringing together credible voices, perspectives, and insights, we can help create more informed conversations and contribute to a better understanding of the issues that affect society and the economy,” she added.
Such method places BusinessWorld’s on-ground presence alongside its print and digital journalism as interconnected parts of its engagement with the business community.
