Navigating the new normal with proactive leadership mindset

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy is far-reaching. To survive this global health crisis, companies must have the right mindset and management decisions to adapt to the new realities of conducting businesses these days.

Sharing her management insights on ways to deal with these challenging times, MFT CEO Mica Tan joined the Filipina Women’s Network entrepreneur speaker series last July 11 to talk about actionable and transformative ideas to help businesses cope with the effects of the pandemic.

With the topic “Achieving 100 business areas worldwide: Millennial perspective in the boardroom”, the 28-year-old CEO discussed how innovations as well as agile and forward-thinking leadership helped MFT’s businesses in the food and beverage, health care, and finance sectors navigate the new normal and adapt to the ever-changing quarantine guidelines set by the government.

Streamlining health service delivery
Given the exponentially growing cases of COVID-19 in the country, MFT stepped up its game to turbo-charge the health care sector.

Its healthcare arm, Mondial Medical Technologies, for one, is helping companies in developing their workforce reentry and testing program by offering affordable health services to ensure that their employees are safe and healthy as they go back to work.

Tan said they have partnered with some of the country’s most trusted healthcare providers, including Borough Medical and QualiMed Clinics, in key locations nationwide to offer testing services in its clinics or workplaces.

Mondial has also partnered with local telemedicine application, AIDE, to deploy effective telehealth solutions as part of COVID-19 precaution in greater Manila. This improvement has enabled better customer experience by allowing patients to safely and efficiently touch base with any physician who will administer the test without going to any medical facilities at all.

“We provide testing at home. It is very different from other countries where swab testing is also shouldered by the government and they get it for free. As much as possible we try to make this a little more affordable even through online service,” said Tan, “AIDE has cared for 140,000 patients and it is trusted by almost 5,000 medical professionals,” she added. The app currently has 250,000 subscribers.

Sustainable sourcing
For its F&B business, Salad Stop, the first and largest healthy food chain in Asia, it remains business as usual. Tan said understanding that “economic opportunities come down to acting responsibly and ensuring social acceptance” is the single most important variable in its equation of achieving business success.

“We know that the world’s resources are limited and we need to preserve what is available to us. And throughout the expansion of Salad Stop to different countries, we aimed to be a thought leader on sustainability. Simply put mindfully sourcing,” said Tan.

During the pandemic, the healthy food chain also opened its second store in Vietnam, and through the Eat Wide Awake Movement, it aims to build on its local partnerships to provide mindfully and domestically-sourced produce and ingredients.

To add to the list of its non-financial initiative, Salad Stop, in its Singapore branch, was able to save at least 60,000 bags by charging 10 cents per bag. This strategy had encouraged at least 20,000 customers to bring their own reusable containers, saving them a daunting 680 kilograms of waste.

“Environmental friendliness is at the core of Salad Stop’s commitment, and we continue to contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals by keeping track of non-financial targets on sustainability and integrating this to our business strategy,” she added.

Shaping wealth opportunities, financial security
Despite the pandemic battering a lot of markets worldwide, the Philippine market still appears to be a little rosy to trade compared to other countries.
With its current condition, Tan said Asian Invest, the company’s asset management company has positioned itself to be an intermediary between its clients and wealth opportunities that abound the region.

“We’re coming from a better place compared to other areas in the world, because the growth rate, despite what is happening, has still been expected to outpace the rest of the world, fueled by resilient domestic demand and low unemployment,” she said.

Recently, MFT has also launched Quick Loans Online, a risk-free salary loan facility to augment the benefits of employees. This newest innovation, Tan said, provides added perks for employees aiming to help them have access to cash when an urgent situation occurs. It also maximizes their productivity and enhances cash flow.

Purpose-driven growth
Tan said MFT’s corporate social responsibility arm, MFT GIVES (Grit, Integrity, Value of Time, Excellence, and Synergy), drives the company to embrace a purpose-driven growth agenda.

Having a clear purpose and sticking to these principles enabled MFT to find ways to contribute to the society and improve its business value simultaneously, even in the middle of an unprecedented global emergency.

For instance, Mondial has put relationship-building with its employees at the top of its priorities. Tan said that extending support to its team by offering direct selling opportunities has amplified a very positive message to keep their spirits high.

“We’re currently rewriting the future of business, and we have a framework called COVID… C stands for: crisis reveals our tremendous ability and willingness to help one another; O stands for operating practices and how there’s a need for this to be elevated to another level; V stands for victory and victory can be obtained by breaking our silos, and this touches more on helpful mechanisms, communication, and leadership of a company; I is internally, we have to internally recalibrate our minds in terms of how we do remote work and how we communicate; and D is to develop systems and disciplines to track even more deeply into the supply chain,” she said.