AWEN Awards 2019: Regional body awards Pointwest President Outstanding ASEAN Woman Entrepreneur Award 2019

Robert Ramos
June 27, 2019

The ASEAN Women Entrepreneurs Network (AWEN) awarded Pointwest President Maria Cristina “Beng” Coronel with its Outstanding ASEAN Woman Entrepreneur award 2019 in recognition of her achievements in the fields of Information Technology, Business Process Outsourcing, and Healthcare Information Management last 21 June 2019 at the JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok, Thailand.

The AWEN Awards are given to women entrepreneurs throughout the member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) who made significant contributions both to their industries and in advancing the participation of women in all levels of economic activity. 

“I am honored and humbled by the recognition given by the leading network for Women entrepreneurs in ASEAN,” Ms. Coronel said, who received the accolade from Thailand’s Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol. “This gives us further impetus to push for a more inclusive, resilient and competitive business atmosphere for women entrepreneurs throughout the region and beyond.”

Pointwest President and CEO Ms. Beng Coronel with her award.

Aside from being President and CEO of Pointwest, Ms. Coronel is also the President of the Healthcare Information Management Association of the Philippines (HIMAP). She was also the longest-serving President of the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), and currently sits in its Board of Directors as head of the Capability Development Committee.

The awarding of Ms. Coronel and other women CEOs – including several other Filipina entrepreneurs – capped the ASEAN Women’s Business Conference: Globalization 4.0 and Beyond, Advancing Women Economic Empowerment Through Action and Impact attended by over a hundred leaders in business, government, and non-government organizations from all over the region. 

According to AWEN, the event “aims to implement and exponentiate the AWEN Strategic Work Plan 7 focus topics” which were on Women’s Leadership; Financial Inclusion; Sustainability; Big Data; Re-skilling; Environmental Issues, and; Digitalization.

Outstanding ASEAN Woman Entrepreneur award 2019 Filipina awardees.

Ms. Coronel gave a talk during the Conference for the Big Data Focus Topic. Her talk was titled, “Leveraging Data and Human-in-the-Loop Tech for the Women Entreps in the ASEAN”, where she discussed the value and importance of obtaining and maintaining gender-disaggregated data in influencing policy formulation and training. She showed how the principles of Data Science and Analytics can help in handling barriers to growth of women entrepreneurs in ASEAN and in tracking the progress of the initiatives related to policies in overcoming the gender divide.

AWEN is a network of businesswomen in ASEAN. It was established to give the growing number of women business leaders and entrepreneurs within ASEAN the means to exchange knowledge and experience, network among each other, and promote initiatives that promote gender equality and the creation of a favorable environment for women-led enterprises in the region.

The organization began at the 6th ASEAN Committee on Women (ACW) Meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in November 7-8. 2007. AWEN’s leadership rotates among the ten ASEAN nations. In 2019, it is chaired by Khunying Natthika Wattanavekin Angubolkul, President of the Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Associations of Thailand, under The Royal Patronage of The Queen of Thailand.

The Outstanding ASEAN Woman Entrepreneur award 2019 presented to Ms. Coronel.

Pointwest was named as one of the 50 Leading Companies for Women in the Asia-Pacific in 2014 by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). The company is known for its progressive policies for women both for recruitment and career advancement. More than half of its managers pool are women, so are the majority of its Senior Leadership Team.

Pointwest, the leading fully Filipino-owned IT company of the Philippines, is also no stranger to recognition, having earned many awards since its founding in 2003. Among its many accolades include: Technology Leadership Team of the Year in the 2012 Asia CEO Awards; the first time a Philippine-made mobile app won in the United Nations-backed World Summit Awards for Mobile (WSAm) for Arko in 2014; the Most Innovative Company award in the Philippine leg of the 2014 ASEAN Business Awards; being named as the first Hall of Fame member for the Best Filipino-owned IT Company category during the 2016 International ICT Awards Philippines, and; Outstanding Global Player in the 2016 National Export Congress.

“Pointwest has always relied on the global-standards skills and know-how of our people to provide our clients with the best possible service and products,” Ms. Coronel said. “That we have so many women in roles ranging from specialists in highly-technical fields like Data Science and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to leadership roles in some of the most demanding projects from some of the top companies in the world shows that the Filipina is more than capable of working in IT and its allied services.

About Pointwest

Founded in 2003 by pioneers of the Philippine Global Sourcing industry, Pointwest creates value for its list of satisfied clients — including top Fortune 100 and local companies — with world-class digital innovation and IT modernization services backed by international-standard methodologies, and innovative practices. 

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