SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – Former Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma has won another Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards this year as “Thought Leader of the Year.”
According to the award-giving body, the award is given to individuals with innovative ideas who demonstrate the confidence to promote or share them as actionable or distilled insights.
Eisma, who is now a director of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), was bestowed the silver Stevie for her Covid-19 contingency plans for the Subic Bay Freeport that paved the way for businesses inside the Freeport to endure the effects of the pandemic.
During her term, the agency has implemented measures that ensured, not only for businesses to thrive but the safety and security of the stakeholders in the Freeport as well.
Innovations such as business teleconferencing; disinfection protocols and mass testing; emergency isolation facilities; online bidding for products and services; virtual job fairs; online medical consultation; and a “bubble” concept for sports tournaments, seminars and workshops, and other events to boost local business operations, were maximized during that time.
These measures not only sustained jobs and investments in Subic, but also led to significant economic growth during the worst period of the pandemic: P3.2-billion revenue, P1.3-billion new committed investments, 682 new jobs, and $1.12-billion imports and $1.03-billion exports in 2020, the first year of the pandemic.
These records were even eclipsed in 2021 with a P3.47-billion revenue, or an 8 percent income growth; 142,177 workers, or an employment increase of 2.31 percent; 1,737 business locators; and P17.29-billion new investments that topped the 2020 record by P15.74 billion or 1,011 percent.
This was the second time that Eisma received a Stevie award. In 2018, a year after becoming SBMA’s first female CEO, Eisma also won a silver Stevie as “Female Executive of the Year for Government or Non-profit” under the individual women awards category.
Meanwhile, she also received a bronze Stevie for the SBMA for “Organization of the Year” under the category for government or non-profit with more than 10 employees.
Eisma felt “humbled and honored” with the recent recognition and expressed her gratitude to the public for their continuing support, she said in a social media post.
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The winners in the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards were announced last week from more than 800 nominations for innovative achievements in the 29-nation Asia-Pacific region.
Gold, silver, and bronze Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 150 professionals around the world, organizers said.
The “Stevies,” which is considered as the business equivalent of the Oscars, is given annually by the American Business Awards organization to recognize accomplishments and contributions of companies and business people around the world.
The winners will be celebrated at a virtual ceremony on June 27.
