Just like other businesses, BAYO also experienced the heavy impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the 29-year old company managed to carry on its business operations because owing its agility to adapt to changing times.
“What’s good about our response is that we are able to keep ourselves above water and even beyond that to thrive in spite of what’s going on. It’s the resiliency that is inherent to us Filipinos as well and with the experience we’ve had in the business, somehow it really helped us,” BAYO Chief Executive Officer Anna Lagon told the BusinessMirror.
BAYO was able to expand its product offerings when it ventured into the manufacturing of personal protective equipment (PPE). Lagon said this was a new category and has generated the much-needed sales to compensate for the low turnover of sales from its stores since their stores are closed during lockdowns.
Going online also proved beneficial, as BAYO’s online store also has been providing a big source of its revenues. “Our online presence is very robust. It’s giving us a lot of good numbers. It also helped that we have this new feature in our website where you can see your carbon footprint,” Lagon said.
“When you buy any product on our web site, the customer would know how many kilos of carbon emission has been used in creating the product. That emission is processed through carbon offsetting which makes our products carbon neutral. That feature involves the customers in making a more responsible purchase and it has a lot to do with the increase of our sales,” she added.
At the onset of the pandemic, Lagon described BAYO’s digital readiness as weak. To address the challenge, BAYO revamped its web site and sales platform. The move resulted in delivering big revenues to the company.
High quality Pinoy craftsmanship
TO weather the Covid-19 challenge, Lagon said BAYO evolved by creating fashionable PPEs, which are also being sold in their stores. Their PPEs received warm response from the market.
“In terms of quantity, when our customers order our PPEs, it’s really in volumes. We’ve had an order of 1 million face masks; another one is 500,000 face masks. That will not be comparable with the quantities that we are producing for our regular items,” Lagon explained.
Retooling the work force was not a problem for BAYO as it has been engaged in manufacturing clothes for some time. With a highly skilled work force, Lagon said BAYO just needed to provide the necessary equipment to make the PPEs with blue sealant. With this move, BAYO has proven to the cynics that Filipinos are capable of producing high quality PPEs.
“Contrary to what people say that local manufacturers can’t produce imported-quality PPEs, we can actually make them and even make them better,” she pointed.
BAYO’s medical PPEs, especially the colored white with blue sealant is the most popular product. Now that the situation has become more somewhat stable, bulk orders of PPE have now subsided. Nonetheless, BAYO is getting orders now from corporations such as banks for the protective wear of their employees. It is currently supplying a number of local government units with minimal margins “because we can’t have the right conscience to use it as a source of our profits.”
Back in harness
Right now, almost all workers in the production unit are back to work. Moreover, Lagon said some workers prefer to work in their homes as most of them are seniors and BAYO continues to support them.
One more amazing quality of BAYO as an employer is that it doesn’t encourage retirement. Lagon added that as long as the production workers have the agility and capability to work, they’re always welcome.
The senior work force, roughly 20 percent, are also allowed to accept orders from other clients. Lagon said BAYO is open to the arrangement because it will benefit the workers. “But they know they can always come back to us,” she said.
Responsible corporate citizenship
BAYO has tapped a third party doing carbon offsetting for United Nations-accredited companies to monitor its carbon emission. The rationale is to pursue transparency and provide the company metrics to monitor how far BAYO has gone in terms of carbon emission.
Lagon added: “We are preparing our company to do our science-based targets for our sustainability roadmap. So this is getting our baseline so when we are ready to go to the next step and accelerate our climate accelerator program, the company is ready.”
As a participant member of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), BAYO is enrolled in the climate accelerator program that can help the company on how it can achieve a carbon zero in their business.
“It’s part of the entirety of the business, not just the CSR [corporate social responsibility],” Lagon said. Our sustainability goals are inherent; it’s the core value of the company now. And that’s the direction that we encourage everyone to go because of the threats of climate change.”
Lagon wants BAYO to be a green company in the near future. Although it a huge challenge, BAYO is already taking a lot of steps towards that direction.
As a sign of solidarity and patriotism, Lagon urged Filipinos to support local businesses to help in priming the economy. “This is the time for every Filipino to support local business enterprises to prop up our economy and help generate the necessary jobs. As a homegrown brand, we continuously provide products that celebrate our being Filipinos. Providing integrity and making our products at par with higher standards assures us of the trust shared with our customers.”
