Family Enterprise Excellence Conference to Tackle Challenges Facing Family Businesses

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Premier Family Business Consulting Inc. (PFBC), the only family enterprise consulting firm in Southeast Asia, is inviting family businesses, practitioners, and stakeholders to join a conference that will tackle the challenges facing family businesses.

Now in its third year, the Family Enterprise Excellence Conference (FEEC) will be held on October 26 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cebu City. With the theme “United, we unite families in business,” the one-day event will not only feature talks but also serve as an occasion for sharing experiences and best practices among family businesses as well as for networking.

International expert Dr. Dennis Jaffe of the US-based Family Firm Institute will lecture on the topic “Bridging the Gap of the Senior and Younger Generation” to address the issue of nurturing effective working relations between generations of a family business.

Considered one of the architects of family enterprise consulting as a field, Jaffe has taught at Hult University in Dubai and is on the Advisory Board of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Stetson University. He has also served on the Boards of the World Business Academy and Saybrook University.

Renowned inspirational speaker Francis Kong will meanwhile give a talk on “The Value of Family Unity and Parenting” to emphasize their role as the main drivers in family business perpetuation.

Hypertension Need Not Lead to Strokes

Wazzup Pilipinas!

More than 1.56 billion people worldwide are expected to have hypertension by 2025, making the disease more alarming to healthcare providers. However, most people diagnosed with the condition have no signs nor symptoms of the disease until they reach its life-threatening stages.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in every five adults with high blood pressure—a more general term for hypertension—is unaware of his or her disease, making prevention to deadly consequences such as stroke more difficult than ever.

“Hypertensive patients may experience frequent headaches, shortness of breath or nosebleeds, but these signs won’t occur until their blood pressure rises to its peak,” said Dr. Amado Nazal, medical director of Pharex HealthCorp. “When left untreated, their high blood pressure may cause them serious health problems, including heart attack and stroke.”

About eight out of ten people who had their first stroke are diagnosed with hypertension, which is responsible for worsening the quality of lives of some 14 million Filipinos, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

“You can have high blood pressure for many years without symptoms surfacing every now and then—what people don’t know is that the disease comes like a thief in the night,” Dr. Nazal said.

He added, “This makes regular monitoring of blood pressure all the more important. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is important whether you are already hypertensive or not; the challenge comes recognizing the disease and taking action before it leads to stroke.”

U-Hop to Present Mass Transport Ride-Sharing as Solution to Manila’s Traffic Problem

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The PNP Highway Patrol Group (HPG) took the helm of EDSA traffic a few weeks ago, the latest in the many attempts of the government to solve Metro Manila's traffic problems.

The HPG is meant to be the iron hand, stricter rules that would hopefully result to discipline.

But as we all know by now, no man can control an unstoppable monster. During rush hour or when rain starts to pour, EDSA turns into a parking lot.

So what's the problem? There are just too many cars on the road.

The HPG itself admits: it's a matter of volume rather than discipline.

According to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the average daily capacity of EDSA is 160,000 vehicles. But as of 2014, that number has more than doubled to 360,417 vehicles daily.

That number is poised to increase as Land Transportation Office (LTO) reported an increase in car registration.

According to a report by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), in 2012, private vehicles occupied 78% of the road in 2012.