December 3, 2018 marked the official turn over of Wooden Spoon, the business innovation center of the Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. and Pilmico at the TESDA Compound in Taguig City.

Wooden Spoon is named after Pilmico’s flagship flour brand and one of every baker’s most reliable tools. The newly renovated facility is set to provide opportunities for women and aspiring business owners to get started on their very own bakery business. Designed to mimic an actual business production line, the facility is equipped with up-to-date baking equipment and Cafe Juana, a cafe that lets students market and sell their own products.

“We will stay true to our mission of empowering budding entrepreneurs and shaping chefs and baristas who share with us the same promise of advancing business and communities. We in the Aboitiz Foundation and our partners in Pilmico commit to do our best to help TESDA Women’s Center’s Bakery and Pastry Production NC II program be accredited at the Unified TVET Program Registration and Accreditation System. We will also continue to find more ways to promote education as an enabler of growth and enterprise development- thus, helping more Filipinos earn more income and have better lives.”, Maribeth Marasigan, COO of Aboitiz Foundation, expresses.

Aboitiz, through Aboitiz Foundation and Pilmico, proudly shares this moment with TESDA Women’s Center. Wooden Spoon is the product of their great visions aligned with both organizations aspiring better futures and greater opportunities for individuals, particularly women and the youth. Attended by top executives from both the Aboitiz Group and TESDA Women’s Center, the facility was turned over to the caring hands of the government agency for innovation and collaboration to flourish through their training sessions.

“Guided by our vision to be our customers’ Partner for Growth, we have made it a point to continuously look for opportunities where we can use our expertise to bring a positive and lasting impact to our various stakeholders. Over time, we have learned that the best way to make that impact is to work alongside like-minded and values-based organizations who enable us to effectively mobilize our various programs,” Tristan Aboitiz, Pilmico COO, says in his speech.

The renovation of the 500 square-meter space is estimated to cost about 6 million, with 3.6m dedicated for the outfitting and design, and 2.2m for the state-of-the-art baking equipment.

In its training programs, the TESDA Women’s Center always puts women as the priority for enrollees enforcing a 9:1 ratio of women to men in the classes. In addition to this, the facility will also be Pilmico’s new training center dedicated for customers and other stakeholders.

Through their partnership with TESDA and the establishment of Wooden Spoon, Pilmico and AFI advance business and communities by not only paving new ways of growth and learning for women and the youth but by also educating them on how to sustain their livelihoods.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the Wooden Spoon facility advance both Pilmico’s commercial interests and TESDA Women’s Center’s social mission?
The facility advances Pilmico’s commercial interests by creating a new generation of technically competent, business-ready bakers who will become natural customers for Pilmico flour — trained from the ground up on the products and standards that Pilmico promotes. TESDA Women’s Center’s social mission — prioritizing women in its enrollment with a 9-to-1 female-to-male ratio — is advanced by providing women and the youth with professional credentials and hands-on business experience. The alignment of both objectives in a single physical space is what Marasigan described as great visions aligned between two organizations aspiring to better futures and greater opportunities.

What was the occasion for the official Wooden Spoon turnover and who was present?
The official turnover of the Wooden Spoon Business Innovation Center took place on December 3, 2018 at the TESDA Compound in Taguig City. The event was attended by top executives from both the Aboitiz Group and TESDA Women’s Center, including Aboitiz Foundation COO Maribeth Marasigan and Pilmico COO Tristan Aboitiz. The ceremonial turnover formally established the facility as an operational partnership between the two organizations — transferring day-to-day management of the training program to TESDA Women’s Center while Pilmico continued as a key institutional partner and customer training center.

What does the name “Wooden Spoon” represent?
The Wooden Spoon is named after Pilmico’s flagship flour brand — and deliberately invokes the most fundamental and universally recognized tool in any baker’s kitchen. The name signals the facility’s philosophy: accessible, practical, foundational. Just as a wooden spoon is the starting point of every baking process, the Wooden Spoon center is positioned as the starting point of every aspiring baker’s entrepreneurial journey. The brand connection to Pilmico flour is also embedded in the name, linking the facility’s identity to its primary corporate sponsor.

What is Cafe Juana within the Wooden Spoon facility and why is it included?
Cafe Juana is a working bakery cafe embedded within the Wooden Spoon training facility, operated by trainees as part of their program experience. Its purpose is to give trainees direct hands-on experience running an actual food business — managing customer orders, pricing products, interacting with real buyers, and handling the operational rhythms of a commercial cafe — within the safety of the training environment and with the compound’s TESDA community as their customer base. This experiential component bridges the gap between technical baking skill and commercial business readiness.

What did Tristan Aboitiz say about Pilmico’s motivation for investing in the Wooden Spoon?
Pilmico COO Tristan Aboitiz described the Wooden Spoon as a product of Pilmico’s commitment to using its expertise to bring positive and lasting impact to its various stakeholders. He specifically noted that Pilmico had learned over time that the most effective way to make that impact is to work alongside like-minded and values-based organizations that enable the company to mobilize its programs effectively — directly naming the TESDA Women’s Center partnership as an example of this approach in practice.