For Aboitiz Foods, innovation goes beyond adopting cutting-edge technology. It means empowering people to weave digitalization into their day-to-day functions, trust data-driven insights, and strengthen their expertise while striving to do Always Better.
This commitment comes to life in our approach to learning. One way to integrate technology is by transforming traditional learning sessions into more productive, engaging, and interactive masterclasses using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. During the Business Process, Internal Control, and Risk workshop in the Philippines last August and the China Deep Dive workshop in China last September, Aboitiz Foods team members had the opportunity to explore new digital learning solutions and adopt a future-ready mindset aimed at enhancing efficiency and improving outcomes.
Stewarding excellence. During the AI-enabled China Deep Dive workshop held on September 8, 2025, Aboitiz Foods Chief Finance Officer Ebbie Mabatid led the insightful discussions and underscored the importance of alignment, discipline, and clarity in managing Business Process, Internal Controls, and Risk.
Harnessing AI to drive collaboration
Facilitated by Aboitiz Foods Chief Finance Officer Ebbie Mabatid, the Business Process, Internal Control, and Risk workshop used AI tools to ensure a smoother discussion flow and smarter learning with the guidance of “AI-Avatars” from the Finance, Project Management, and IT teams. These AI tools were also incorporated during the China Deep Dive Workshop to make it even more dynamic and engaging for the participants.
The AI-powered workshops equipped employees with technical skills and a forward-looking mindset. By making AI accessible and relevant to everyday tasks, the workshops led employees to view technology as a partner in productivity.
Throughout the sessions in both workshops, the team used Google’s Gemini in Google Meet to record and transcribe exchanges, adopting a faster and reliable solution to note-taking. This allowed the participants to focus more on the conversation without distraction. With its advanced features, Gemini served as the team’s virtual documentation assistant that helped them save time, brainstorm more effectively, and pay attention to more important matters.
From innovative concepts to concrete steps. In the Philippines, Business Process, internal Controls, and Risk Workshop participants immersed themselves into digitally driven creative discussions using AI tools such as Miro and Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash, enabling them to focus on generating groundbreaking ideas and turning them into tangible plans.
Streamlining ideas into actionable plans
Brainstorming and strategic ideation have never been more immersive using Miro. This digital whiteboard helps visualize ideas, cluster thoughts, and transform concepts into action items as participants dive deeper into each point of discussion. Miro’s collaboration tools helped accelerate idea generation and boost creativity, encouraging active participation from everyone.
The highly optimized Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash assisted the participants in generating suggested action plans, mapping out activity timelines, and summarizing talk points. By streamlining dialogues, Gemini 2.5 Flash allowed participants to maximize their time, channeling their energy into building actionable next steps.
Condensing takeaways the AI way. With the help of Synthesia.io, facilitators of the two-day workshop were able to synthesize pertinent information and encapsulate the key discussion points into a video, complete with an avatar and narration translated in different languages.
Capturing highlights for better retention
Wrapping up both workshops in the Philippines and China, the participants remained engaged, motivated, and AI-empowered through Synthesia.io, a content creation tool that turns text into videos with avatars and voiceovers in different languages.
With Synthesia.io, the facilitators captured the session takeaways and gave a concise and organized summary translated into English, Mandarin, Bahasa, and Vietnamese. Beyond recapping the sessions, this AI tool helped participants overcome language barriers, gain a deeper understanding, and retain key insights, allowing them to apply what they learned with more confidence, clarity, and perspective.
Through learning alongside AI, Aboitiz Foods continues to discover how technology connects, refines, and optimizes processes across the business. Beyond the training room, employees apply what they have learned into practice and tap into the potential of AI to improve workflows, build expertise, and deliver excellence.
As Aboitiz Foods looks to the future, its technology-fueled workshops serve as more than just training sessions; they are catalysts for building a culture where people and technology progress together, driven by innovation, efficiency, and a commitment to always doing better.
FAQs:
- What was the AI-enabled workshop all about?
Held in August and September 2025 in the Philippines and China, the AI-enabled workshops were designed to further enhance the capacity of Aboitiz Foods teams in terms of managing financial systems, streamlining control processes, and strengthening governance. The workshops were a mix of conventional discussions and digitally enhanced sessions.
- What were the AI tools used in the workshop?
The AI tools used in the workshop were Google’s Gemini for recording and transcribing, Miro for brainstorming and idea visualization, Gemini 2.5 Flash for synthesis and generating action plans, and Synthesia.io for recapping highlights and key takeaways.
- How did the AI tools contribute to the participants’ learning?
The AI tools helped the participants focus more on the discussions with less distraction, improve their collaboration, map out their ideas, maximize their time and effort for action planning, and summarize important discussion points with ease.
- How does Aboitiz Foods use technology to fulfill its purpose?
Anchored to its core value of innovation, Aboitiz Foods leverages technology to enhance efficiency, improve product quality, and enable a data-driven approach across its operations. This enables Aboitiz Foods to fulfill its brand purpose of sustainably feeding Asia’s growth from mill to meal. Aboitiz Foods uses technology to automate, streamline, and integrate processes for efficiency, build its expertise in the food and agribusiness sector, and champion sustainability while supporting the communities where it operates.
