Raju Gidwani, Executive Director of Shankar Trading and West Zone Group and Parvez Naqvi, Business Development Manager has ran down the opportunities and challenges in investing in Philippine projects and products during the Philippine Economic and Investment Summit (PEIS) in the 9th edition of the Philippine Property and Investment Exhibition (PPIE) 2023.
Gidwani and Naqvi joined the panel discussion with the topic “Investing in the Philippines from the point of view of institutional and individual investors,” wherein they shared their experiences and insights as top importers and distributors of Filipino products.
According to Gidwani, there is a lot of potential in the Philippines and there is a huge number of investors awaiting in the United Arab Emirates. He noted, however, that there should be more transparency, clarity, and swift process for projects.
“There should be a more transparent law and clarity of information, and of course expedite the process…if you really want to develop your country, you should be more flexible, more transparent, and the exchange of information should be on a frequent basis,” Gidwani shared during the panel discussion.
“Time is money for us and every single day counts, nobody wants to move their money, from that point of view, the institution should be very prompt,” he added.
Moreover, Gidwani bared that there is many opportunities in the Philippines in terms of agriculture and manufacturing which can produce “world-class products” but the country has to come “out of the box.”
On the other hand, Naqvi backed Gidwani mentioning some of the “hurdles” they face as a business powerhouse looking to invest in the Philippines.
“Investors don’t wait…this is one of the biggest hurdles we face that the pace of movement is very slow…we need to move faster if we want investors in the Philippines,” Naqvi explained.
“Network is an issue, what is the government doing about improving your network…we’re looking for things to change,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr. Karen Remo, CEO and Founder of New Perspective Media Group and Chairman of the PEIS and the PPIE, served as the moderator of the panel discussion.
“The message is clear there is a lot of investors willing to invest in the Philippines and we’ll get that message across the government,” Dr. Remo said.
The panel discussion during the PEIS held on May 12, offered first-hand experience of top and large-scale investors that gave an actual glimpse of understanding on the economic, political, and social conditions in investing in the Philippines.
The recently concluded PPIE 2023 is the largest and longest-running property and investment exhibition in the Middle East and has gathered thousands of attendees from different emirates with a notable presence of high-level delegates from the Philippines and the UAE.
