I attended Singapore Fintech Festival for the second year in a row. It’s a yearly scan of the what the world of finance and tech have been busy on. The following tech discussions reverberated the most during the many talks and conversations I had during the event. I promise to write this with the highest clarity and least fluff.

1) The urgency to implement digital identities across the world

“Africa will not be able to imagine the SGDs if it doesn’t use digital identities.” Jawed Ashraf (former Commissioner of India in Singapore) made this bold statement when talking about driving innovations in the Global South.

Once you are KYC’d or KYB’d in a bank whenever you’re applying for a loan or savings account, your digital identity is formed. The more transactions you perform, the more robust your digital identity will be. In a macro and interoperable sense, a digital ID can be used to authorize payments and share verified data across different providers and even countries. But what about those who do not have means to engage with financial institutions?

“A strong will from the government is required to make the national ID and creating the incentive structures for it.” Per the World Bank’s ID4D Global Dataset, 186 (out of 198) countries already have a foundational ID system where identity records are stored in a digital format as of mid-2022. The next step is to drive usage and trust with these identities with a more rewarding experience; such as more access to loans, quicker lead times for government services and such.

SFF 2025 also showcased a lot of startups that pushed for digital identity solutions, such as ThinkCloud Technology with their video-based e-signature “SelfieSign” and Ample FinTech with their tokenized credentials.

When asked of his one concrete action to drive financial inclusion, Michael Schlein (CEO, Accoin) said: “Let’s start with 100 more countries to develop their DPI. If we do this right, this is tremendous innovation for the world.”

2) The Finternet is launching in 2026 — a global standardization of how we do finance

One of the most powerful keynotes in SFF 2025 came from Nandan Nilekani (Chairman, Infosys). In his short 20-minute discussion, he challenged the festival crowd and countries to consider true innovation as a sum of its parts. “We are building solutions per problem, but that’s so slow and will take 100+ years. We solve this with the Finternet.”

In his keynote, Nandan broke down the Finternet: a unified infrastructure agnostic of the types of financial assets / tokens transacted within it.

What it means for us? Finance can now be more than just payments or banking. “Everyone can now be a token manager — all of your traditional assets (e.g. real estate) can now be tokenized and traded 24/7. Anytime you need the asset again, you can convert the token back immediately.”

Beyond this, once assets are also in this regulated unified ledger, agentic AI could help users optimize how they use their assets: decide when to invest, trade, or borrow against them. A simple example of value: Filipinos can now buy tokens (or assets) from Singaporeans anytime.

“There are four main initiatives we want to prioritize: cross border payments, loyalty and rewards, securitization, and democratizing wealth for retail. Finternet is expanding across 20 ecosystems in four continents, with live implementations across multiple sectors expected by 2026.”

Truly exciting stuff to watch out for next year.

3) Public and private partnerships have never been more critical in a world of fragmentation

One of the fluff words often used during the festival was political fragmentation. As a fan of politics, I quickly looked into how this impacts fintech and banking.

Ever wondered why you can’t pay with VISA or Mastercard in some shops in China? Why do OFW remittances from the USA to Philippines take time to process? Why did it take the innovative Google Pay years to finally launch in the Philippine market? Factors such as a country’s differing regulations, geopolitical tensions, and competing economic strategies can affect financial innovations.

When asked if AI can handle political fragmentations, one of the pioneers of the worldwide web and thesis writer of the REST API Dr. Roy Fielding (Adobe) boldly claimed: “No, because someone will always discollaborate it. Some very innovative companies want control of the market and lock it out from everyone else.”

Jawed Ashraf (former Commissioner of India in Singapore) further added: “Everyone is making their own systems: LLM, UPI, Cloud, API. Countries are talking about their digital sovereignty. The need for interoperability is never higher!”

It is not enough to have the most innovative solutions built by the private space. The public (such as the regulators, governors, ambassadors) also have to create regulations and conversations that encourage them to do so. As a Filipino, I can happily share that the BSP was very present in the festival with over 15–20 attendees. In one of the private conversations I’ve had with them, they shared that aligning with other central banks were one of their festival goals.

The call in SFF was clear: countries have to think beyond locally and consider building infrastructures rather than just incremental improvements to their financial suite. As the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) mentioned: “You can’t have one area who’s so innovative and another who is not at all.”

4) Tokenization is key to unlocking the best payment and investment rails

One of the key festival developments I liked was the noticeable rise in participation from China’s leading tech companies, particularly Ant Financial, which led discussions on the future evolution of payment systems. Their chairman Eric Jing (Chairman, Ant Group) shared a key point to the delegates: “Tokenization of money enables real-time settlement, 24/7 trade across cross-border markets.”

So how does tokenization work for payments? Basically, traditional fiat (e.g. PHP, USD) are converted into digital tokens that represent the same value on a blockchain or ledger. That tokenization allows FIs to skip the cross border and batch clearing processes with ACH, which usually takes 1–2 days. These allow transactions to also be processed during weekends.

To further the point, tech consulting company Zuhlke also shared the attached chart as a good compass of where we are in blockchain adoption. “Wave 1 was crypto assets such as meme coins. Wave 2 is digital money such as stablecoins, CBDCs, tokenized deposits, and regulated payments done in public rails. Wave 3 will be tokenized capital markets. We are now in Wave 2.”

Even standard-setters like the BIS support this movement. Andrea Maechler (Deputy GM, BIS) added: “Tokenization allows us to leverage smart contracts. All transactions and settlements between banks can now be done synchronously.”

In a private conversation I had with fellow Filipino Paolo Joquino of Insignia, he also told me that the vision of stablecoin issuer StraitsX is that no coins should exist in the future! In the end, coins and tokens should only be instruments used to make transaction experiences faster, more secure, and trackable. “Your customer does not care what technology or coin you have. She just wants to get paid or served.”

5) AI industrialization among the biggest legacy companies

SFF is also well-known for its side events. I also attended DBS Asia’s event wherein their leaders shared the legacy bank’s AI transformation journey.

Lim Him Chuan (SG Country Head, DBS) listed down DBS’ investments on its AI industrialization: 10,000 out of its 40,000 (25%) employee base is now IT — 1000 of those are in the data department, and 200 are specifically data scientists. They have also created their own library of recyclable models called ALAN, their own generative AI tool called DBS GPT, and a single massive data warehouse called ADA. But it did not come easy: they started with 5.3 PB of data to sanitize, which Lim claims to be larger than Netflix’s data. They initially had 12 data warehouses. Their business unit adamantly rejected AI usage until they were the last batch of unit.

Lim ended with a bold goal: “At least 1/3 of our organization has to be our own AI champions. If not, the cost to change isn’t clear.”

You may have heard this before, but this furthers the point that for legacy banks to survive, a clear AI transformation plan has to be ruthlessly planned and executed ASAP.

Hope you liked the read! If you liked my content, give me a follow in Medium and Instagram @lance.cham

You can catch my recap of SFF 2024 also here:

My 7 Highlights from Singapore Fintech Festival 2024

Lance is Filipino fintech product leader with years of driving digital banking, core payments, and enterprise financial solutions. He was also a former university lecturer and currently hosts top-ranked podcasts engaging national figures and industry leaders.

More stories like this? Connect with him: https://linktr.ee/chamlance05

In the Philippines, when you tell people you work in finance or banking or fintech, the common response include “Great! That’s a high paying job!” or “So typical for a management graduate” or “You must be great with numbers.”

Over the years, my parents often encouraged me to become a banker like them. I always said no, because to me, banking felt like the most traditional, corporate, and bureaucratic job there is. But sometimes, life has other plans. I now work at the country’s largest digital bank; though before that, it was a fintech company and e-wallet. I’ve been in this industry for over four years now, experiencing both good and bad days. Still, as the idealistic Gen Z that I am, I can’t help but question how my work truly contributes to the common good.

My spontaneous visit to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Museum felt like a godsend. As I walked through its halls, I began to see finance and its role in society more clearly. Finance was presented not just as numbers, but through the lenses of economics, public finance, statistics, and interdisciplinary studies — areas that felt more human and relatable to me.

Through this article, let me try to share that experience to you.

1. Through economics: I learned about how Singapore fights high prices for its citizens

The MAS museum started off with charts and visuals talking macroeconomics, detailing how Singapore has managed consumer price inflation through the years. Quite interestingly, it used the luxurious dish “fillet mignon” and compared its price from years back ($20 in 1993, compared to $42 today). At the root of it, inflation “erodes the value of money” and that is why we need to learn about it and what the authorities are doing about it.

DID YOU KNOW? One of the measures MAS take to combat inflation is tightening so the dollar value goes up and imports will cost less for the everyday consumer. In a country where imports make up most of the everyday goods, this is a critical strategy. Per the MAS: “Trade accounts for over 300% of Singapore’s GDP. As an island with no natural resources, SG’s external orientation has been key to its economic success.”

2. Through public finance: I understood how the government sustains us during crises

Documentary videos were also played in dedicated spaces of the museum. They did storytelling through newspaper headlines, plotting the context of global crises like a recession (“IMF puts cost of credit crisis near $1T) and how the government responded to it (“Government guarantees all bank deposits”).

DID YOU KNOW? Your savings in a bank are usually protected by an insurance limit (for example, in the Philippines, deposits are insured up to ₱1 million). During financial crises, the government can extend this guarantee beyond the limit to prevent consumers from withdrawing their funds out of panic. This guarantee means the government assures that you’ll get your money back even if your bank fails.

3. Through statistics: I discovered how our personal data is monetized

One of the more interesting visualizations in the museum showed a branch of all kinds of financial data. While data points like biometrics, bank transactions, spending habits, and annual salary are familiar whenever you apply for lending instruments (e.g. credit cards); the visual also highlighted less obvious data sources: political trends and affiliations, social media activity, and even medical records. As the saying goes, “data is the new king,” and everyone seems to want access to everything you do or participate in. Unfortunately, this also makes privacy increasingly difficult to protect.

In the following infographics, the museum presented a video summarizing survey results on how people prefer their financial data to be shared. Interestingly, 52% of 884 respondents said they would allow their health information to be distributed if it meant lower insurance premiums. Nine percent were undecided, while 39% said no. When asked to rate their preference from 1 (more privacy) to 5 (more technological innovation for a better life), 39% chose either 1 or 2, 32% chose 4 or 5, and 30% remained neutral at 3. From this, we can infer that when incentives are tangible and immediate, people are more willing to trade or monetize their data.

4. Through interdisciplinary finance: I learned that the field welcomes more than just number nerds

The tail end of the museum had a point of emphasis in it: finance careers are not limited to “number nerds” or graduates in economics, engineering, or accounting.

It was breathtaking to see a massive cylindrical pillar at the center of the museum, showcasing the wide variety of finance career paths available. There’s a role in risk & compliance for lawyers and political science majors, a role in go-to-market strategy for communications or business intelligence graduates, and a role in product management for researchers. The exhibit made it clear that finance is truly interdisciplinary, offering opportunities for people with diverse skills and backgrounds.

Maybe finance can be more than a lucrative job. It can be more human than we thought. It affects the very backbone of what we care about today like daily necessities, careers, and responding to global crises. A lot of the heroes and change-makers we herald today had a powerful finance background. Former Filipino presidents Ninoy Aquino, Mar Roxas and Fidel Ramos were economists first. Tycoon Zobel de Ayala started in banking, but now drives valuable social change thru his conglomerates and foundations.

Give the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) museum a visit please! More info here: https://www.mas.gov.sg/who-we-are/mas-gallery/explore-our-gallery. As a bonus, you get to generate this beautiful and inspiring Times magazine cover at the end of your visit.

Lance is Filipino fintech product leader with years of driving digital banking, core payments, and enterprise financial solutions. He was also a former university lecturer and currently hosts top-ranked podcasts engaging national figures and industry leaders.

More stories like this? Connect with him: https://linktr.ee/chamlance05

Through five points, I talk about my short two-hour visit in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) below with some nice takeaways.

1. Setting the stage

The HKMA was located in the heart of Central in between the different banking giants like HSBC, Standard Chartered and of course the IFC (International Finance Centre). You’d have to bring an ID to register and go up all the way to the 55th floor so that you could go and visit the one-floored museum, likely designed that high up so visitors can also take in the view of Hong Kong’s banking skyscrapers and corporate skyline.

What immediately surprised me was seeing so many parents with their children in a museum this technical; focused on finance, economic trends, inflation, and monetary stability. Beyond that, there was an emphasis on gamification and engagement among all the exhibits. It’s as if they really wanted the kids to be a primary audience.

The museum is divided into four key sections. The first is the historical timeline, a series of boards detailing Hong Kong’s monetary system transformations from 1842 all the way to present. The second is the currency section which details how Hong Kong's bank notes were intricately created and how HKME stabilizes the money versus the US dollars. The third is the policy section which details the roles of monetary institutions in investing the country’s fund and utilizing it during global crises. The fourth and last section is the library, which houses thousands of technical books and scholarly sources about finance.

2. How historical events shaped Hong Kong’s financial structures and policies

Many people ask me why I do consistent podcasting and writing about historical events and current political news when I work in corporate tech and finance. Why not just spend the hours used for content creation and instead learn deeper financial terminologies and big data analyses and AI? I’d argue that a deep understanding of history and macroeconomics is one of the most critical skills for anyone building a career in finance. While technology evolves, history reveals the constant human patterns of saving and investing; as well as how markets cycle, governments intervene, and policies shape economies. These give us empathy.

The historical section of the HKMA museum showed that the early Hong Kong used copper and silver to do transactions. But the late 1800s financial crisis led to the collapse of the major banks in HK and the government deciding to transition from silver to banknotes. When the Japanese occupied HK from 1941 to 1945, they immediately replaced the local currency with Japanese military notes.

Even energy crises and its impact to HK economy were well-documented in these informative boards. When the Arab banned oil shipments to US, Europe and Japan back in 1973–74, high oil prices led to the worst global economic recession and the biggest stock market crash (90%!) in HK’s stock market. These led to the government to use the Exchange Fund to keep the banks alive. It also established new three-tier banking system namely licensed banks, restricted licensed banks, and deposit-taking companies.

3. The uniqueness of Hong Kong’s currency instruments

A key difference between Hong Kong’s banknotes and those of the Philippines is that, instead of featuring national heroes, Hong Kong highlights cultural mainstays such as dimsum, opera, and the city’s skyscrapers on its denominations. In the currency section, you also learn how banknotes are made, with features like shimmering patterns and micro-lettering technology that distinguish them from counterfeits. Interestingly, did you also know that these notes were made of cotton and mold?

According to the museum, Hong Kong was the first to develop a coin circulation process in which coin carts are deployed daily to collect coins from the public in exchange for banknotes, Octopus card credits, or even charity donations. The exhibit also featured videos showing both the interior and exterior of these carts, as well as how the counting machines operate. Beyond this, coin deposit machines are installed around the metro to help consumers re-circulate their funds.

This is encouraging, as the BSP has also introduced coin deposit machines in recent years, collecting a record-high PHP 1B. There remains significant room for improvement though under a centralized leadership from our monetary institutions.

4. Framing HK as Asia’s financial hub

Beyond its educational value, what struck me more about the museum was the evident pride of the HKMA in asserting Hong Kong’s identity as Asia’s premier financial hub. Throughout the exhibits, the institution consistently highlighted how it manages funds during historical financial crises, invests strategically in portfolios, and leverages Hong Kong’s proximity to China to sustain a steady stream of remittances.

This is the kind of transparency I wish my government would show, the kind that builds confidence that taxes are truly being put to good use.

5. A dedicated library for deeper learnings

Capping your tour is the final stage which is the library. To enter, you need a staff member to unlock the door with their ID, and they’ll inform you that photos and videos are not allowed inside, though you’re welcome to take notes with pen and paper.

The library had all sorts of books about modeling, econometrics, China's monetary policies and even books about great people in finance and entrepreneurship in general. These were very thick books with hardbound covers which reminds of your college research days. It also had dedicated computers to research about available online sources and had these beautiful seats that were overlooking Hongkong’s skyscrapers while you read books. In my short 30 minutes inside this silent heaven, I remembered reading the book Lessons from the Top by Thomas Neff which contained excerpts from the leaders of Disney, Microsoft, Intel and more on what it takes to become business empires.

Give the museum a visit when you go to Hong Kong 😊 This isn’t an endorsement of any sorts, just pure appreciation for monetary institutions that go the extra mile to educate its citizens. More info here: https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/

Help me get this article out too! Let me know if you have publications, creators, or digital media companies that may want to bring this piece to their audience.

Lance is Filipino fintech product leader with years of driving digital banking, core payments, and enterprise financial solutions. He was also a former university lecturer and currently hosts top-ranked podcasts engaging national figures and industry leaders.

More stories like this? Connect with him: https://linktr.ee/chamlance05

To answer, I wrote down this 6-minute article with a LOT of pictures to recap SFF 2024 through my seven highlights. I hope this piece gives you a glimpse of Asia’s biggest fintech event.

1. The Festival Stage is like a concert ground. Massive and impressive.

The Festival Stage was by far the largest stage I’ve been on for a conference. Without exaggeration, I think that room can fit 7–8k people. As expected, the biggest speakers were featured in this stage — such as Doug Feagin (President of Ant Financial), H.E. Serey Chea (Governor of National Bank of Cambodia), and Hon. Paula Ingabire (Minister of the Republic of Rwanda). Do note that while this is the biggest stage, there are around 4–5 more stages hosting parallel talks in the festival.

My favorite moment was the discussion on SMEs, featuring panelists from fintech giants like Alipay+, Amazon, GCash, and government representatives. They talked about: (1) building financial services that are flexible and fungible, as SMEs often switch between personal and business accounts, and (2) helping digitize SMEs’ needs beyond just payments, such as inventory management and supply chain optimization.

2. The battle of the most iconic company booths.

There are six halls used for SFF. Each hall contained the following: a talk stage, a food area, and a LOT of company booths. Showcasing its 9 years of doing this festival, SFF’s halls are thoughtfully designed transitioning seamlessly from a macro to a micro perspective.

Hall 1 featured the Festival Stage, the centerpiece of the all major talks. Hall 2 housed the FutureMatters Stage alongside Singapore’s biggest banks and tech giants. Hall 3 showcased the Technology Stage and a variety of service (SaaS) providers. Hall 4 was dedicated to the Founders Zone, highlighting some of the most innovative startups. Hall 5 focused on the Regulation Zone and country booths, while Hall 6 provided space for SFF Meetups, a 1:1 networking space.

Mastercard’s booth “Sphere of Commerce” won it for me. Just look at that queue! NASDAQ’s was a close second, with its live-streamed conversations that made you feel like you were in a newsroom.

3. Spotlighting Filipinos in the global stage!

The Bagong Pilipinas booth was the largest country pavillion in SFF. The stage showcased a beautiful podium set against a sea of red carpet, complemented by a vibrant LED backdrop. Around it were the biggest government agencies like Landbank, SSS, and GSIS promoting their loan programs; digital bank Maya; industry giants such as PLDT Enterprise and Philippine Airlines; as well as alternative lenders like TALA, JuanHand, ATRAM Investments.

The booth was packed with talks and partnership signing events, but the highlight was H.M. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands gracing the occasion. The BSP presented the country’s financial inclusion report to her, which achieved a respectable score of 57.

Pro tip: visit the country booths as they give you a good gist of what technology and financial trends the country is focusing on. For the Philippines, lending was the primary theme.

4. Hello from the Maya Team — Philippines №1 Digital Bank!

I’m only writing this because of the opportunity Maya has given me to attend SFF. Maya, the Philippine’s no.1 digital bank and biggest financial ecosystem, spotlighted a lot of events as well. Maya Bank President Gelo Madrid and COO Manu Panda joined seasoned panels to discuss the country’s financial health and how digital banks are solving MSME challenges respectively.

Beyond this, I personally thought that Maya attracted global partners and investors throughout the event. These ranged from service providers offering platforms for KYC, cross-border remittances, and onboarding, to media companies specializing in market intelligence.

5. Chance encounters with amazing and diverse personalities

If you’re attending this event in the future, prepare ahead by familiarizing yourselves not just with the companies attending but with the specific people. SFF has an app which lists down all attendees and its complete event agenda. Announcing your attendance in LinkedIn also helps set up discovery meetings.

I reconnected with my college batchmate, Paolo Joquino, and learned that he is now an author of several startup books, published by Insignia Business Review. I also met with Ee Chien Chua (Director, GTN) who has been a long-time LinkedIn connection. We talked about our respective works in the world of media and podcasts.

Beyond work meetings, SFF is also a great opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals, former colleagues, and anyone you know who’s based in Singapore 😆

6. Not really Fintech talks but equally insightful

Should you attend this event if you’re not in the fintech or banking space? I personally think there’s still value to gain. Scattered across the stages are talks that generally expand the mind.

For example, how does Trump winning the US elections affect global business landscape? The panel talked about a potential US-China decoupling which may make it more expensive for American businesses to maintain their Chinese suppliers.

TED also took the stage to share pitch tips to founders, covering topics like crafting a smashing title, what VCs look for, and the 50–25–25 rule for managing your time: 50% for research, 25% for writing, and 25% for rehearsing.

7. Meals and replenishments are “free”

Don’t make the same mistake as I did. Across the six halls, there are dedicated food and beverages (F&B) zones that serve “free” meals. Most say that the hefty ticket price already covered for this. Each hall served a different vegan, Halal, and standard cuisine; ranging from Western, Indian, and Asian.

If you’re more adventurous, you can go to the Marketplace @ Expo located just outside the halls. It’s your usual Singaporean hawker!

Lance is Filipino fintech product leader with years of driving digital banking, core payments, and enterprise financial solutions. He was also a former university lecturer and currently hosts top-ranked podcasts engaging national figures and industry leaders.

More stories like this? Connect with him: https://linktr.ee/chamlance05

If there's one thing I learned as an educator (and if there's one thing I want to pass on to my fellow educators), it's this: It takes a village to teach students. And I truly believe that it's time we move past these class setups:

• 30:1 ratio (30 students is to 1 professor)
• the "professor as the one true source of knowledge"

Let me explain to you why I think so by sharing my story as an educator. I'm also imparting some particular benefits that I noticed along the way if we adopt this "village mindset" when teaching students. (Heads up: this article may not be applicable for all educators, who may have different courses and personalities compared to me. But I think there are still some takeaways that we can learn from.)

In my 5 semesters of teaching, I partnered with a total of 28 professionals coming from 18 different companies / startups. Some notable ones include multinational companies (MNCs) like Nestle, Grab and Unilever; and some mightily successful startups such as GIGIL, Bukas, Startup Village, QBO Innovation Hub and Avion School. The professionals were also a mixed bag of CEOs, founders, managers, analysts, designers and more.

The colored chart below shows the varying use cases these wonderful partners helped me with throughout my class:

1. Marked in yellow were partners who helped provide me with experts who can serve as panelists for my students presenting their startup / product ideas.
2. Marked in pink were partners who spoke to the class on key specialized topics (ex. innovation, social entrepreneurship, creativity, Web3).
3. Marked in green were partners who facilitated a wonderful hands-on workshop to help up-skill my students.

With a "village mindset", an educator is able to extend the breadth of knowledge that they can impart to his/her students. Similar to how startups partner with different startups to scale their company and avoid building everything from scratch, an educator can also be way more effective and efficient with partners along the way. You will be surprised as to how willing people are (regardless of their status!) to teach students and contribute to honing the future generation.

Perhaps the point made above is obvious, especially for seasoned and tenured educators. So I'm listing down a couple more underrated benefits for both the teacher and student if the educator adopted a "village mindset" in his/her class.

For the educator:

1/ Save time preparing and learning by "outsourcing" some topics to partners. This needs no explanation. In my case — instead of having to learn and absorb surging topics like Web3, prototyping, or process innovations, my partners shared their passions and work to the students instead.

2/ Jumpstart potentially long-term partnerships and friendships. Don’t think that after the partnership for your class, that’s all there is to it. As an educator, you also build your own network by adapting the “village mindset.” Here are some examples: (1) In my partnership with fintech startup Bukas, I met wonderful people like Dino Alcoseba and Inna Abadilla who are fellow product management (PM) enthusiasts as well! Up until today, I still seek their guidance from time to time during difficult PM decisions in my work in Maya. (2) In my partnership with Backscoop CEO Amanda Cua, I acquired my go-to tech newsletter for daily consumption! When it comes to newsletters, I never really looked back since then!

3/ Enjoy that adrenaline rush when you capture that elusive "yes." As educators, we also need to keep ourselves motivated and challenged along the way. Else, we fall prey to the dreaded "educator routine" — teach the same subjects x number of times until you get tired out it. In trying to secure partners, I remember "pitching" about my class to Startup Village's CEO Carlo Calimon and QBO Innovation Hub Community Head Dave Del Rosario. I felt that immense passion to bag their "yes" for my students!

For the student:

1/ There are specific times and topics that practitioners obviously teach better than academicians. This is another obvious benefit to a "village mindset." How do you teach creativity applied in the workplace? Ask the help of Philippine's most creative and viral agency GIGIL to come into your class! How do you teach lo-fi and hi-fi prototyping of digital products? Ask the help of expert web and product designers! No amount of "rooted-in-books" theories and concepts can surmount the knowledge these practitioners bring to the table.

2/ Expose your students to a once-in-a-lifetime audience with the some of the greatest people in the corporate/startup world. You may be some hotshot educator; but for students who have zero interest to become an educator like you, you need to inspire them differently. This is where you partners come in. Imagine being a sophomore student and learning from CEOs like Victor Rivera (Avion School), Carlo Calimon (Startup Village), Richard Prodigalidad (Leentech Network Solutions), Nicholai Go (Fabtech Group of Companies) and Patch Dulay (The Spark Project)! Heck, I'm also in awe at times being in the same room as these guys. Whew!

3/ Bag some employment or advancement opportunities for your students. In your luckiest days, your partners will also be generous (and powerful) enough to provide employment opportunities to your students. I'm still so grateful to Startup Village for awarding two internship jobs to my students!

Like how startups take a whole village to build one, it also takes a village of the most generous and successful partners to teach a student. I'm not saying this mindset will always work; what I can guarantee is that students enjoy a class more when they have multiple perspectives and skills imparted to them.

To my fellow educators, the village is just waiting to be tapped by you!

Damn, I already miss teaching.

Lance is Filipino fintech product leader with years of driving digital banking, core payments, and enterprise financial solutions. He was also a former university lecturer and currently hosts top-ranked podcasts engaging national figures and industry leaders.

More stories like this? Connect with him: https://linktr.ee/chamlance05

In order to slowly collate all my thoughts and experiences, I committed to writing and publishing once a week in Medium. Last week, I reflected upon my learnings from attending UX+ 2020 and received some gratitude and applauses from my friends and followers. You can read it here too!

It was such a rewarding experience — magical even. Writing does wonders to the mind and heart. I continue to live by my college professor's advice: "Any information in this world can be readily obtained with a click, but the world needs more people who can stitch it together and make a sense out of it. The world we live in has become so fragmented." In a super fast-paced and busy environment (such as working in a super corporation like Meralco), writing helps me slow down and stitch my learnings and emotions.

Alright, on to the good stuff!

Some context — why am I writing this?

1. The more you reflect, the more you remember. If people were to ask you — what are the translatable skills you've learned so far at work, can you name it? Writing your learnings down can be handy down the road.
2. The more you reflect, the more you'll know your next steps. Try to list down your learnings. Chances are, you'll be greeted later with thoughts such as "Wait, why haven't I done this yet?" or "Oh, so that's what I've been missing in my time here!"
3. There's just no one better at branding yourself. I write to build my personal brand — that of a writer and a well-reflected man!

I hope this list of lessons serves as a guide for those thinking about working in a corporation. If the lessons listed below interest you, then maybe the corporate life works for you. Go for it!

1. The better you understand how structures in the corporation work, the more you'll know what to do with your growth.

Corporations like Meralco are HUGE — so it may be too dreamy to wish for a flat structure where you get to converse with your CEOs and VPs anytime. There are structures and departments in place for scaled work. If you have millions of customers, you need to have teams with specialized roles and expertise to quickly meet needs.

Thus, learning how a corporation's structure works is important. You can do this by reflecting occasionally, asking around different departments for their roles, and reading organizational charts.

In my one year stay in Meralco, I realized that the marketing structure here takes more of a supporting role. The company is composed of a lot of engineers and a lot of business units that have services that are often too technical to be understood. Marketing helps them communicate these. The challenges posed by this supporting role are a LOT, but not necessarily more complex. It revolves around the 101 communication materials (ex. TVCs, flyers, website, social media posts) to sell or launch a service.

Realizing this structure enlightened me where I should allot more learning time in: I needed to grow my skills more deeply. Instead of taking up more "side-projects" in my free time for added experience, I allotted my time instead to intentionally learning new concepts and technologies through courses and workshops. I knew I wouldn't be learning these naturally in my role here no matter how long I stay. Because of the intensity of delivering day-to-day business needs, skill-building may get lost in translation. Make sure to have the ethic to continue learning new skills.

2. As corporate decision-makers, you grow to appreciate the art of knowing "just enough."

In that same realm of skill-building, often we become overwhelmed with the thought of learning an entirely new skill. "I'm too busy! I don't have time for that anymore." "I'm no longer that young sponge who can absorb new skills each day, like when I was a student."

If not overwhelmed, we feel discouraged. As a graduate of the Ateneo, we were taught to expand our horizons and repertoire, to be holistic-minded individuals and not just a master of one perspective. And when we do not have enough time and resources to do this, we become hard on ourselves. We punish ourselves for missing out.

In one of our lunches, my boss in Meralco told us this: "To be honest, there are probably a lot of things that you are better than me at. I'm your boss not because of my skills primarily, but because I know just enough about a lot of things. And I know the people to talk to for these things."

My point is: skill-building does not necessarily have to mean taking up 100 hours to finish a course nor does it mean having to change careers so you can focus on crafting that skill. Sometimes, skill-building may also mean knowing and learning "just enough" — through reading about the skill, attending workshops, and asking masters in those fields. You will be tasked to handle a lot of decisions every day if you work in a corporation. Knowing lots of "just enoughs" will help in these decisions.

3. It's important to realize and ACCEPT what corporations can't give you.

I remember coming into my interview in Meralco having so many non-negotiables: "I want to have work-life balance, but also training programs and an open-minded culture. Hopefully the role is dynamically challenging and wide-scoping and not routine."

Working in a corporation provides you with a LOT. I have a great work-life balance; thus, I am able to teach and write past 5pm. I have a role that is wide-scoping and seldom routine, engaging with hundreds of varying people everyday (ex. colleagues, partner agencies, stakeholders, suppliers, engineers). I have a stable job/salary in an essential industry and a good budget to work wonders with. To be associated with Meralco has its weight and prestige too.

But there will be many factors as well that won’t be there. You'd love to be in an agile and efficient environment, but corporations are full of processes, approvals, and bottlenecks. You'd appreciate progressing quickly in the career ladder, but there will not be much vacancies. You'd dream to have a mentor who would intentionally teach you the way your professor did, but it won't always be that way due to the intense business needs everyday.

You may have heard of these scenarios before already, but I'd to like to add another point. It's not enough to realize the pros/cons, you'd have to learn to accept them too. Yes, changing careers or companies can be an option. Yes, you can rant about these to your families and compare your positions to your friends. But you can also just accept it, and tailor-fit the other aspects of your life to gain the things a corporation can't give you. You want agility? Join as volunteers or part-timers in organizations or start-ups. You want mentors? Tap into your network of family friends and join their companies for a minimal salary. It isn't easy, but accepting the corporate life both for its pros and cons is a first step.

4. A corporation can really be utterly inefficient and hierarchical — but it also has its reasons.

Everyday, I too still rant about the inefficiencies of working in a corporation. To get a contract signed, 3 to 4 bosses have to give their sign-offs which means multiple email threads. To get a simple social media post or website article approved, 3 to 4 different teams provide their inputs on a simple one-liner copy/caption! Instead of just getting more work done, you have to submit SO MANY reports since you need to update a lot of teams and bosses.

But after one year of work in this setting, I've learned to see the other side of the coin. I realized that corporations also have its reasons for being hierarchical. Here are some of the reasons I've observed:

1. Scaled work: Companies like Meralco have millions of customers, so there really has to be specialized departments catered to serve this huge demand. Can you imagine a small team of 10 catering to the concerns of everyone or troubleshooting during security breaches? I'd be worried too. To manage these huge departments effectively and holistically, a hierarchical structure may be imperative.
2. The nature of the business: Since Meralco is the sole distributor of electricity in Metro Manila, its business is regulated by the government. Thus, approvals tend to take time since you always need to ensure accuracy and compliance. The room for error is slim!
3. The nature of the brand: Brands in the service-related industry are often the most scrutinized. It's what I'd like to call a "thankless" job. Do well, and you'll hear nothing from customers. But the moment your service fails even just momentarily, you will be flooded with complaints from irate customers. Given this, the brand has to make sure everything it releases and communicates are not only impartial but sensitive. Thus, a number of teams have to have their say.

I write this not as an excuse for corporations to remain inefficient. If you work in one, you know that there are a LOT of ways to improve. I write this as a challenge to those working in corporations today to continue to do WHAT YOU CAN to improve efficiency through your own ways. Since corporations won't change their set-ups for a number of reasons, we may have to look into fields we can influence more. Is it possible to reduce the bottlenecks and lead time by proposing more efficient processes and ways of working to your bosses (ex. automated sheets, reports)? Is it possible to handle your team differently from the company standard and allow them to operate more freely? These may seem like small steps — but if these bring desirable results, you'd have to believe that you'd make a case to be heard.

5. Finally, a list of handy tips to work better in the corporate life!

Once again, I share this acknowledging that I only have a year's worth of experience. The tips may not work for everyone, nor will it be comprehensive. But I'd like to start this list anyways to promote a culture of learning from each other.

1. Read #3 and #4 points again. I can not emphasize enough the importance of realization and acceptance.
2. When seeking approvals, anticipate all possible questions you can think of and provide them already. How is the cost compared to other months? Why is it higher/lower? How is it compared to industry standard? The availability of these information will lessen the back-and-forths.
3. Be the most organized person in the team. All your files should be readily accessible and shareable anytime and anywhere. Your data should be ready and cleaned in case you have to make up a report in an hour. The corporate life can get messy during peak or crisis times.
4. Strategize, strategize, strategize. Half of the work is knowing who you’ll present to and tailor-fitting it to his/her language and perspective. Is your boss more process-oriented or output-oriented? Does he/she prefer visuals or numbers?
5. Choose your battles. There will be times when you will feel your strategy is the most logical. But you also have to realize that there will be days/projects beyond your control. A sign of maturity is also knowing when to step back.

Lance is Filipino fintech product leader with years of driving digital banking, core payments, and enterprise financial solutions. He was also a former university lecturer and currently hosts top-ranked podcasts engaging national figures and industry leaders.

More stories like this? Connect with him: https://linktr.ee/chamlance05

Despite not ever learning about it in school or at work, I have always been enamored by UX. It's a mindset to put people first — to make their every experience with you useful and desirable. And I look at UX a bit more— it isn't just great website designs or user research. For me, learning it is a way to remain selfless. After all, UX is always about putting yourself in others' shoes, understanding their pains, and working/designing to help clear those pains.

Enough about me- and more about what my title promised you. Here are the eight things I've learned from eight AMAZING speakers. For fun, I've arranged it in terms of what hit me most (1 being the highest, 8 lowest).

1. Confidence (not affordability) is the #1 barrier for people deliberating to buy a digital product.

I always thought that if someone didn't have a phone or tablet with him, it's probably because he can't afford it. I mean — given a choice, why would you live without these digital "keys" to a whole new world of entertainment and socialization?

I was wrong. Digital confidence was the main barrier, not funds. More and more people today are hesitant to commit a month's worth of wage to buy something that they may not know how to use. And it's a fast world we live in — people no longer have the patience to teach each other the basics. Kids aren't as enthusiastic to teach their parents. Associates don't take the time to introduce to their older bosses new technologies to be more efficient. There is limited help to the billions of people coming online today. That's tough — just think of the people who are entering the digital realm now due to this pandemic (ex. your parents who own a traditional business, your teachers who just started online teaching).

So, keep your designs very human. Rule of thumb: your users should be able to explain your designs and value to their friends naturally. Thanks to Julie Schiller (Google) for my #1 learning!

2. We need to better anticipate and respond to the unintended consequences of our designs.

In one of their ideation workshops, sheryl cababa (Substantial) shared that one of her colleagues brought up the idea of Black Mirror. But it got her thinking: was this show really an inspiration they can build on, or was this a cautionary warning for the team?

Have we ever wondered why the greatest tech unicorns in our world are the strictest at home in terms of phone/tablet usage? What do they know that we don't? More and more today, everyone wants to report about engagement, reach, and views. Even if a social media post is totally non-sensical or a disinformation, the algorithms will feed these to us as long as it's engaged upon by a lot of people. The creators of these technologies and algorithms probably did not intend for these to happen. But it's also on them for not considering the "unintended consequences" of their creations.

We need to have more discussions on ethics and responsible technology. While we're still ideating about our next big technology or product or project, we should already be asking questions such as:

"How could this tech be used for harm or exclusion?"
"Do our growth targets compromise our values or harm others?"
"Do we have systems in place to avoid falsehood?"

3. Language is constantly changing. We each have our own codes of communication.

Ask my friends, I am always very cautious about my grammar. I feel I will turn off a lot of people if I make grammatical mistakes. I'm actually already feeling skeptical about this article. But Niaw de Leon (Cognible) reminds us that sometimes the right grammar, punctuation, or spelling do not meet the user's needs. Lest we forget, "grammar" was also created by humans and is subjective.

The more important thing? Know the jargon and tonality of your users or customers. I go back to the time when I taught a class for junior college students. We were only 2–3 years apart, yet it feels as if they speak a different tongue already. When they’re trying to make a serious/valid point, they use "HAHA" at the end of sentences to lighten the tone. I also enjoy when they strategically use the so-called Spongebob case to make a sarcastic point — "oNlinE LeArnIng iS sO fUn." And each of their messages has so much punctuation points, like this one!!!

Immersion is always important. Casually converse with your users more, read up on their favorite publications or social media pages. As you get to know them, you get to know their language. Copywriting then becomes a lot easier.

4. Set goals to make sure the output goes out.

1. How do I make my post or article trending?
2. What are the key elements of a shareable article or video?
3. What content should I put out to gain followers?

Ever Googled the following questions? You're not alone. Nowadays, we fill our appetites through likes, comments, and shares. We get our daily dose of adrenaline from the red pop ups in our notifications. But if these were our bars, we'll never get anywhere with our goals.

Julie Zhuo (Facebook) shared that we should focus instead on goals for ourselves, instead of goals reliant on others' reactions. Write and publish one thing a week no matter how good it is. Create one TikTok video a week no matter how random it is. I have a good friend who attaches hashtags such as #MotivationalMondays in her art posts to legitimize the "weekly" thing. Set goals to get comfortable with your craft!

5. Don't assume that "drivers are drivers" in foreign markets.

The term "cultural sensitivity" isn't anything new to me. As a Chinese-Filipino, we are often subject to race-related jokes.

"I bet you own and operate a POGO too, don't you?"
"In the stake for the South China Sea, where would you pledge your allegiance?"

Thus, I was able to relate when Femke van Schoohoven (Uber) shared that drivers from Mexico had different norms and tech-savviness compared to the local drivers she knew. Often, we have so many assumptions about our users. We may always think that shorter captions are always better, that efficiency is the ultimate goal. But for some people, they prefer more details because it feels more complete. Some prefer a step-by-step process to gradually build their confidence on using a product/design.

Once this pandemic is over, plan research trips with your team. Immerse into the communities of your users. Never assume that drivers are drivers, especially if you're in a new environment.

6. Sometimes, you just need to follow your gut.

When we're looking for ideas, we often run to Behance or Pinterest for what we call "inspirations." When we want to get the latest on top consumer behavior trends, we seek the latest Nielsen and Kantar research reports. When we want to improve our product, we get advices from top consultants.

Nothing wrong with getting extra help — but over-reliance to these inspirations and consultants is an insult to your own creative perspective. When Kylie Timpani (Apple) had a project to develop a website about skydiving, she personally thought that the background music will bring the "skydiving vibes" to life. That perspective probably won't pop out in Google's search results or from anyone's recommendations, but it's equally genius.

Sometimes, we just have to lean more on what we think will make a product right. Develop and trust your own perspective!

7. Design systems carry the burden of boring, so designers and developers don't have to.

Ohhh, the power of the playbook. The greatest companies always have a branding and social media playbook at hand to serve as their ultimate bible. Such books allow them to stay consistent in all of their outputs and to save time from debating on their executions.

In the conference, Dan Mall (Super Friendly) empowered everyone to consider having a design system or what I'd like to think of as a "playbook" in creating designs. What are the most common problems that your design teams confront daily? Should this be a lightbox or a pop up notification? Should this be a carousel banner or a standalone?

Every moment deliberating on these mundane questions is a waste of time. The design system should already have the answers for these. It may seem as a waste of time and resources to develop this master book, but this tremendously helps the team move forward quickly. Scalability is build on mastering the mundane!

The Most Exciting Design Systems Are Boring | Big Medium

8. Stop waiting to be invited.

Last but not the least, I'd like to end with this learning: it's time we invite ourselves to events, organizations, or conversations that we feel we need to be a part of. Even if we're not invited. Be intentional in learning!

Rannie Teodoro (Thumbtack) brought about the fact that waiting is prevalent in Asian, collectivist cultures. We often feel that when we join something we aren't invited on or speak up on something we aren't asked upon on, we are disrespecting. Often, we don't realize that we actually gain more respect if we assert ourselves (appropriately)!

Ask yourself — are you the one stopping you from making progress?

What's next for me?

I'd like to thank you so much for reaching to this point! I hope the eight learnings were as impactful to you. Coming from this great conference, I'd just like to share my next steps. Keep me accountable?

1. I will seek to write and publish something at least once a week here in Medium for the rest of 2020. It allows me to slow down and reflect upon the happenings of life. If you enjoyed the content, hope you could follow me! Let's share stories!
2. In my road to learning more about responsible technology, I will read and write about the following resources: How to Design for Digital Confidence? (reco'd by Julie) and Omidyon Ethical Explorer (reco'd by Sheryl).

Exciting times ahead! Once again, thanks for reading!

Lance is Filipino fintech product leader with years of driving digital banking, core payments, and enterprise financial solutions. He was also a former university lecturer and currently hosts top-ranked podcasts engaging national figures and industry leaders.

More stories like this? Connect with him: https://linktr.ee/chamlance05

8 Learnings from UX+ 2020 and what I'll do about these was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.