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CPA Australia survey: Young entrepreneurs help drive robust growth in Filipino small business sector

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MANILA, Philippines, May 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Filipino small businesses continue to stand out as among the most dynamic in the Asia Pacific region, with 77 per cent reporting growth in 2024 and 89 per cent expecting to expand this year.

These key findings, from the latest Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey conducted by one of the world’s largest professional accounting bodies, CPA Australia. This bullish performance is largely attributed to a customer-focused mindset.

However, challenges such as constrained access to finance and slower technology adoption compared with other markets in the region are holding some businesses back.

Last year saw the highest number of growing Filipino small businesses since 2019. Reflecting this improved sentiment, 41 per cent of respondents increased their workforce in 2024, and 57 per cent plan to hire more employees in 2025.

Customer loyalty and satisfaction remain key drivers of small business success in the Philippines. Nearly half (46 per cent) of Filipino respondents cited customer loyalty as their top growth factor, while 37 per cent selected improved customer satisfaction.

Mr Rufus Pinto, a CPA Australia-qualified accountant who works in the Philippine finance industry, said: “Small businesses in the Philippines are thriving due to their exceptional customer-centric approach, which helps them to retain loyal clients and attract new ones.

“Overall, the economy maintained steady growth last year, driven by strong domestic consumption, which created many opportunities for small businesses.”

Mr Pinto said the youthful profile of Filipino small business owners was a key advantage. “Our young population is a key driver of the dynamic economy,” he said. “The Philippines has one of the youngest small business owner profiles in the region and their strong entrepreneurialism is driving growth in the sector.”

Reflecting confidence in the business outlook, 28 per cent of Filipino respondents expect strong revenue growth from overseas markets in 2025, a three-year high that surpasses many regional counterparts.

“With a young, English-speaking workforce and a strong work ethic, the Philippines remains a top destination for outsourced services from international companies, especially for voice-based services and customer support roles. Small businesses should continue to leverage these strengths to attract more overseas clients,” he said.

Despite the promising outlook and employment trends, Filipino small businesses continue to lag their regional counterparts in digital adoption. In 2024, 62 per cent of respondents reported earning more than 10 per cent of their revenue from online sales, below the surveyed average of 67 per cent.

Though 74 per cent received more than one-tenth of their revenue from digital payment technologies such as Dragonpay and GCash, close to the regional average (75 per cent), only 13 per cent sought advice from IT consultants last year, well below the Asia-Pacific average of 28 per cent.

“With a large talent pool and a focus on people-to-people connection, Filipino small businesses tend to prioritise personal connections over digitalisation and automation,” said Mr Pinto. “Challenges such as limited internet access in rural areas, a large unbanked population and reliance on cash and remittances also hinder digitalisation.”

However, the benefits of tech investment are clear. Among Filipino small businesses who invested in technology in 2024, 69 per cent reported improved profitability, well above the Asia-Pacific average of 56 per cent. This placed the Philippines second among all surveyed markets.

Rising costs remain the top challenge, with 40 per cent of respondents citing it as a key barrier. Access to finance is also a hurdle. While 65 per cent sought external finance in 2024, only 22 per cent found it easy to obtain, the lowest result in the region. This trend is expected to persist.

“Banks remain the primary source of funding, however only 22 per cent of respondents named them as their main lender,” Mr Pinto said.

“When applying for bank finance, it usually requires documents to demonstrate how the funds will be used and the credibility of the borrowers. Filipino small businesses should set ambitious long-term goals and craft well-prepared business plans towards achieving them. These are persuasive and solid documents for securing bank loans.

“Consulting professionals, including accountants who hold the internationally recognised CPA designation, can help improve financial records and address technical issues such as taxation.”     

CPA Australia’s Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey collected views from 4,236 small businesses in 11 Asia-Pacific markets in November and December 2024, including 310 from the Philippines. This is CPA Australia’s 16th annual survey of small business issues and sentiment since 2009.

About CPA Australia

Founded in 1886, CPA Australia is one of the world’s largest professional accounting bodies representing more than 175,000 members working in over 100 countries and regions around the world including more than 20,000 members in Southeast Asia. CPA Australia advances its members’ interests through education and knowledge exchange, the development of professional networks, thought leadership and the promotion of value of CPA Australia members to employers, government, regulators and the public. The CPA Australia designation denotes strategic business leadership and is recognised and valued throughout the world. More information available on www.cpaaustralia.com.au

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SOURCE CPA Australia

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LYKSTAGE Launches Patented Video Platform That Pays Creators and Viewers — Now Live Across Five Countries

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April 20, 2026

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MUMBAI, India, April 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — LYKSTAGE, a video-sharing platform owned by LYK Inc., a Delaware-based entity, and founded by New York-based entrepreneur Adris Chakraborty, is redefining how the creator economy works — with a patented monetization model no other platform can legally replicate.

Built by a technology team in India under Manhattan Tech Ventures, LYKSTAGE runs on a patented Watch-Time Monetization Model that fundamentally changes who earns from video content. Creators earn whenever their content’s watch time gets monetized — no subscriber minimums, no waiting periods, and no thresholds to cross before earning begins.

What makes the model unprecedented is that viewers earn too. Logged-in viewers are rewarded whenever their watch time gets monetized — when they watch content uninterrupted and the ad served during viewing is fully consumed. When that happens, the creator earns, the viewer is rewarded, and the platform earns. Every reward is funded by actual ad revenue — not venture capital subsidies. The model is entirely self-sustaining.

The platform serves both skippable and non-skippable ads, determined by an ad server algorithm that optimizes based on viewing patterns and content traction. For advertisers, impressions are served intelligently — matching the right ad format to the right moment, delivering higher completion rates and genuine attention.

LYKSTAGE is now live across five markets — India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the UAE — and available on Samsung TV, LG TV, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, desktop, mobile web, and native apps on both the App Store and Google Play Store.

Adris Chakraborty, a Kolkata-born Columbia Business School alumnus based in the US since 2003, co-founded Mediamorphosis Advertising & Technology Inc. in New York in 2006 with his spouse and business partner Poulami Mukherjee. The company expanded to the UK in 2012, followed by Manhattan Communications in India — building a multicultural advertising group spanning five countries with over 100 clients, providing LYKSTAGE with built-in advertiser relationships and market intelligence.

The platform has crossed over one million users across all markets, with more than 20,000 creators on board and growing across all five countries — achieved with minimal paid marketing.

LYKSTAGE is a transparent, patented system where the people who create the value are the ones who earn from it.

Sign up at:
Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lykstage.app
Apple – https://apps.apple.com/in/app/lykstage-video-streaming/id6754064834

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2960187/LYKSTAGE_Logo.jpg

 

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Towngas and Tencent forge strategic partnership to drive “Energy + Tech” smart digital transformation

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56 minutes ago

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April 20, 2026

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HONG KONG, April 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas) and Tencent have signed a strategic partnership agreement in Hong Kong. The two companies will collaborate extensively on unified cloud resource management, digital platform development, large artificial intelligence (AI) models and applications, customer engagement enhancement, and R&D tool synergy. Together, they aim to drive the smart digital transformation of the energy sector.

The partnership dates back to 2020, when Towngas Lifestyle, the extended business division of Towngas, first teamed up with Tencent Cloud. In 2021, Towngas Energy, the Group’s renewable energy arm, worked with Tencent Cloud to build a smart energy ecosystem, which currently supports over a hundred integrated energy projects for the business segment. In 2023, Towngas Lifestyle and Tencent Cloud entered into a comprehensive strategic partnership spanning cloud platforms, big data, AI, and customer engagement, delivering one-stop lifestyle solutions to 46 million household customers across Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland. This latest agreement marks a comprehensive, group-level strategic partnership between Towngas and Tencent. It is designed to pool their resources, achieve cross-divisional synergy, drive quality and efficiency gains, and accelerate AI innovation.

Over the past six years, this collaboration has yielded remarkable results. Powered by Tencent Cloud, Towngas Lifestyle has upgraded the digital foundation and driven application innovation for its Towngas Lifestyle Cloud (TLC) platform. Furthermore, leveraging Tencent Cloud’s TBDS (Tencent Big Data Suite), it built the Towngas Analytics Platform (TAP), which currently supports big data applications for over 70 affiliated city-gas companies as well as its Hong Kong operations.

In terms of AI applications, Towngas Lifestyle has capitalised on Tencent’s AI computing power and large model technology to launch innovative tools such as smart safety inspections and AI service agents, significantly boosting the efficiency of frontline staff at gas companies. To better serve its customers, the company has deeply integrated Tencent’s WeCom to improve customer outreach. On the R&D front, Towngas Lifestyle has widely adopted Tencent’s AI development tools to streamline workflows. Moreover, the partners have successfully replicated their mainland successes in Hong Kong, completing the cross-border deployment of the TAP platform and advancing the upgrade of the city’s business systems.

Mr Peter Wong Wai-yee, Managing Director of Towngas, said: “Tencent’s leading position in AI and digital technology is obvious to all. Since 2020, the two parties have established a strong partnership, expanding from Towngas Lifestyle’s extended business to cooperation on the smart energy platform for the renewable energy segment, and gradually extending from the mainland to Hong Kong. As an enterprise with a 164-year history, Towngas has grown to possess a customer base of over 120 million since entering the mainland gas utility business in 1994. Facing such a massive number of customers, data security is of paramount importance. How to build a secure and efficient system for management and service has become a critical issue for business development. We are confident in joining hands with Tencent to co-build a secure and efficient digital system, comprehensively elevate the customer service experience and operational efficiency, and jointly pioneer more possibilities for ‘Energy + Tech’.”

Mr Dowson Tong, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent and CEO of Tencent Cloud and Smart Industries Group, stated that as a household brand in Hong Kong, Towngas’s “customer-centric” service philosophy aligns closely with Tencent’s corporate mission of “Value for Users, Tech for Good”. Over the past six years, Tencent has engaged in deep collaboration with multiple segments under Towngas, empowering businesses with technology to achieve precise operations. Tencent looks forward to taking this exchange as a new starting point, further consolidating the “Cloud + AI” technological foundation based on existing cooperation, and deeply integrating Tencent’s digital capabilities with Towngas’s rich application scenarios. Through technological innovation, the goal is to achieve better customer service delivery and enhance operational efficiency, exploring a new path to sustainable development for the smart upgrade of the energy industry while ensuring data security and user privacy.

Looking ahead, the two companies will continue to deepen their collaboration in migrating core businesses to the cloud, co-building digital platforms, deploying large models and AI applications, and enhancing customer engagement. This will not only deliver a superior experience for gas customers but also set a benchmark for the high-quality transformational development of the energy industry.

 

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SOURCE Tencent Cloud

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DMEGC Solar Achieves EcoVadis Gold Medal, Underscoring Its Commitment to ESG Excellence

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56 minutes ago

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April 20, 2026

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JINHUA, China, April 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On April 15, DMEGC Solar, a global leader in magnetic materials and renewable energy solutions, achieved a milestone breakthrough in sustainable development. With outstanding performance in environmental protection, social responsibility, and other key areas, the company earned a Gold Medal from the internationally recognized rating agency EcoVadis, scoring 82 points. This places DMEGC Solar in the top 3% of all rated companies worldwide, surpassing 97% of participants.

EcoVadis is a globally leading sustainability assessment platform, having rated over 150,000 companies across more than 250 industries and 185 countries. Its evaluation framework covers 21 indicators across four core themes: Environment, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement. The platform aims to assess the sustainability performance and social responsibility of companies within global supply chains.

DMEGC Solar participated in the assessment at the group level rather than as a single factory, demonstrating outstanding strength across all four dimensions. In the Labor & Human Rights dimension, the company has established a comprehensive employee rights protection system, strictly implemented occupational health and safety standards, and promoted employee development and career growth, ranking in the top 1% of its industry.

In the Sustainable Procurement dimension, the company has built a full-chain green supply chain management mechanism, collaborating with core suppliers to create a “cooperative carbon reduction” ecosystem. Initiatives such as packaging material recycling, green electricity usage, and localized collaborative production have enabled a low-carbon, traceable supply chain, also ranking in the top 1% of the industry.

Coupled with strong performances in environmental governance and business ethics, the company achieved an impressive score of 82, surpassing 97% of evaluated companies and earning the Gold Medal. This distinction places DMEGC Solar at the top in the global solar module manufacturers to receive such recognition.

This Gold Medal rating will for sure strengthen the company’s competitiveness in overseas markets. On one hand, its industry-leading ESG performance helps meet policy requirements related to sustainable supply chains, enhancing both the premium pricing of its products in international markets and its ability to secure orders. On the other hand, this recognition will boost customer and partner trust in the company’s brand, supporting the expansion of market share for its core products—such as photovoltaic modules, residential energy storage systems, and magnetic materials—while consolidating its market leadership.

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