EDUKASYON.PH
BULLETIN BOARD
vol. 02

2020: Disruption and opportunities

COVID-19, as expected, had a profound impact on our organisation and ecosystem. Faced with uncertainty, we took the painful step of right-sizing our team, from 75 to 40 full-time employees. It was incredibly difficult for us to part with many talents who helped build Edukasyon.ph, but we remain forever grateful for their contribution to our journey and hope to work with them again, sooner rather than later.

Despite our reduced resources, we carried on our mission to help the youth explore within reach and learn with purpose, especially given the new challenges of online school. The team successfully completed our website rebrand, with a fresh Gen Z identity and UI/UX improvements that have led us to double our registration rate. Out of 8 million students who visit us annually, more than 600,000 students have signed-up to access our services, which now include an improved search engine, enhanced online education resources, gamified Quests, and an end-to-end online application system for Ateneo de Manila University.

Fortunately, we have also continued to build our ecosystem—onboarding 300+ additional schools, welcoming brands including Cream Silk, Smart, Modess, AWS Educate and partnering with social development partners including BPI Foundation, Brainsparks and Save the Children Philippines. Finally, thanks to the support of our investors, we completed our Series A round, which will enable us to continue making the future less scary for our youth.

Welcoming a new Edukasyon.ph CEO

We’ve always anticipated that at the right junction in Edukasyon's journey, we would separate the Founder and CEO roles. And as I mark my 5th year anniversary serving both roles, we believe it's the right time to effect this change, to bring us more focused leadership, clearer organisation structure, and more value created for all our stakeholders.

Today, we are glad to share that, after 18 months of preparation and positive impact as Chief Marketing & Partnerships Officer, Grace David has stepped into her new role as CEO of Edukasyon.ph.

In our search for a new CEO, we wanted to optimise for three Es: Experience, Excellence, and Empathy. Grace’s Experience is unparalleled: she joined us after more than 15 years of experience in brand management, marketing and sales in large local, regional and global institutions—including San Miguel Corporation, Kraft, Mondelez and Kerry. Her Excellence has been demonstrated as an academic scholar at San Beda College, a national diversity scholar at INSEAD’s Executive MBA program, a Regional Marketing Director, and Edukasyon’s top ranked employee for 6 quarterly review cycles in a row.

Perhaps even more importantly, her Empathy is unrivalled. As a leader, she has shown deep care for our employees, especially during the tumultuous and painful 2020 transition. As a passionate education advocate, she is constantly mindful of doing right by our #1 stakeholder stakeholder, the Filipino student.

We chose the best person for the job. She just happened to be a woman - like 50% of our employees, 65% of our users, and many of our investors and partners. She will join the small but growing field of female Tech CEOs in the Philippines and we couldn't be prouder of having her lead us into the new year and beyond.

2021: The exciting road ahead

We remain fully committed to our Filipino youth, and whilst we believe 2021 will be a challenging year with continued COVID-19 impact and disruption, it will also be one of improved education opportunities.

We plan to launch new product offerings in online education, enhancing our mobile experience, expanding our ecosystem, and venturing into more facets of youth empowerment, education and career preparation. And we can’t wait to share these with you.

We thank you once again for your steadfast support. On behalf of Team Edukasyon.ph and our community of 8 million students, maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat.