In Year 191 of Ayala Corp, the Zobel De Ayala Cousins are Stepping Up

Every year, Ayala Corp throws a big appreciation event for the country’s top media companies. It’s a way for the conglomerate, one of the country’s oldest companies still existing today, to thank the reporters and editors who cover and spread the news about itself and its many subsidiaries.

This year, the event happened at the Space at One Ayala events hall in Makati City. And, in addition to the company’s top brass led by president and CEO Cezar “Bong” Consing, in attendance were two of the young scions of the Zobel De Ayala family that founded and continue to run Ayala Corp—Jaime Urquijo and Jaime Alfonso Zobel De Ayala.

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Who are Jaime Urquijo and Jaime Alfonso De Ayala?

Jaime Urquijo is the son of Beatriz Zobel de Ayala and Juan Urquijo Fernandez de Araoz, which makes him the grandson of Jaime Zobel de Ayala and Beatriz Miranda Zobel de Ayala.

Jaime Urquijo and Jaime Alfonso Zobel de Ayala talk during a short Q&A session at the Ayala Corp meid appreciation dinner

Jaime Urquijo holds the title of chief sustainability and risk officer at Ayala Corp and also holds a directorship position at ACEN, one of the country’s leading renewable energy companies.

His cousin, Jaime Alfonso, meanwhile, is the CEO of AC Mobility, the automotive arm of Ayala Corp., and one of the largest automotive groups in the Philippines. AC Mobility is the official distributor of world-renowned vehicle brands like Kia, Volkswagen, and BYD and also operates dealerships for the Honda and Isuzu brands. 

During the media appreciation night, which carried a sports theme bannered by the title The Real Score, the cousins took the time to go up onstage and answer questions fielded by host Boom Gonzalez. The initial line of questioning focused on both gentlemen’s background in sports—Jaime is a former member of the Philippine national rugby team while Jaime Alfonso is still a current member of the touch rugby national team. Both gave glowing compliments to each other as sportsmen.

“Jaime was always a phenomenal all-round athlete, even sort of growing up,” Jaime Uquijo said about his cousin. “He was always extremely, extremely athletic, very fit, very fast. I mean he’s been sort of wrestling in his backyard since he was a kid. And he’s an amazing basketball player, an all-around great athlete.” 

“You showed the photo earlier of the runner up team to the men's national championship,” Jaime Alfonso told Gonzalez. “Jaime was supposed to be featured there. Because he's a strong contributor to the team there. He does a lot of the dirty work very well. He doesn't do a lot of the flashy plays. He's often not scoring, but he plays a lot of good defense. He's a great communicator. Often when he's on the field, he's the captain.”

Jaime Urquijo explained that both he and his cousin are involved in a campaign within Ayala Corp called Atletang Ayala that give Olympic hopefuls the opportunity to work within the conglomerate. The program initially had about eight athletes at launch, and became so successful it now has about 20 athletes that are offered full-time pay for part-time work as well as job placements within the company. 

“The programs are great example of how we value athletes and the ability to transition those capabilities to the workplace setting,” Jaime Alfonso said. “I think, you know simply when you're a kid, you're in a team, you're forced to confront conflict. You're supposed to provide solutions to relationships that have conflict. You're aligned with teams that have a single goal in mind. And very often you have to learn how to use different strengths from the team members around you, so I think that translates very well into the corporate world.”

Cousins Jaime Urquijo and Jaime Alfonso Zobel de Ayala answer questions from host Boom Gonzalez

Sustainability and transformation

Later, talk turned to their own contributions within Ayala Corp. Jaime Urquijo, as the company’s sustainability chief, spoke about how the word “sustainability” isn’t just a buzzword but something that lies at the very core of the conglomerate’s purpose, which is building businesses that enable people to thrive.

“As we look across the Group, it's incredible the impact that we are very, very fortunate to be having. I think of GCash, 90 million users,” he said. This has moved the needle in terms of the banked population of this country. Roughly about 30 percent pre-pandemic and now sort of close to 70 percent post-pandemic.

“When it comes to sustainability, very, very often we think about some of the negative externalities that we as a company are having,” he added. “We know that we have an impact on the environment, on individuals around us, and so we spend time thinking about how we can try to really minimize that. So in 2021, we made this Net Zero commitment, which we now spend a considerable amount of time trying to figure out how we can ultimately get to that goal.” 

Jaime Urquijo also spoke about philanthropic capital, or funding causes that are high-risk and that may not generate traditional returns.

“And so that can mean that the guardrails around it sometimes are not really there,” he said. “When you have are a for-profit business, whether the company makes money or not is a great sort of guardrail. In philanthropy because that's not there, some of those guardrails might be a little sort of looser and so we spend a lot of time thinking about certain communities which really need some of this philanthropic sort of capital and help and how we can really sort of deploy that to have the greatest impact for the money that we're ultimately deploying there.”

The thirtysomething executive acknowledged the intense pressure companies are under regarding their sustainability initiatives and how they are following through with their promises, but said this hyper-focused attention is valid.

“Honestly, I think it makes a lot of sense for people to be asking a lot more questions,” Jaime Urquijo said. “Ultimately, how will these things be financed? What is the actual impact of these? And that's something that's always been very, very important to us. This increased rigor, we actually think is very good because this allows us to really explain how we think about things and how we can sort of defend it. And I think ultimately as a whole, it's very, very good for the industry this increased rigor and increased questioning that's coming along with it.”

For his part, Jaime Alfonso also recognized their relative youth compared to others within the conglomerate that have far greater experience and skill sets. He did, however, made a point that the company needs to change adapt in accordance to real-world issues and situations.

“We haven't seen the cycles that a lot of the experienced executives have seen throughout this market,” he said. “But what we can tell is that in the world—there's not a lot of answers right now. There's a lot more volatility. There's a little bit more uncertainty. Geopolitical relationships are changing. Supply chains are changing. In an environment like that you want options. The choices we're making right now with the portfolio, we're doing so in a way that provide us with those right options.

“Consumer behaviors are changing, and the organizations need to evolve with that largely,” he added. “But I think when you look at where we're deploying capital, even in locations geographically we're doing, it’s cognizant that we're in an environment that's a little bit uncertain. And that we need some options and that's the kind of how the portfolio is evolving." 

The two Jaimes with host Boom Gonzalez

An exciting decade ahead

Ultimately both young executives seemed to be extremely aware of the enormous weight placed upon them and their unique position to effect a lasting impact as next-generation stewards of a nearly 200-year-old company. Along with other next-gen leader Mariana Zobel De Ayala—who now sits as vice president of Ayala Land and head of its leasing and hospitality division—the two cousins are at the forefront of Ayala Corp’s push to become even stronger ahead of its bicentennial in 2034.

“(W)hen we take a little bit of a step back and look at the 190-year history that this company has had, and we use that as a lens to look at the next 10 and 20 years, we're in a unique country that has huge potential,” Jaime Urquijo said. “If we look at how the country is growing, there is a very, very, very good chance that the whole economy will double in size in the next 10 years. I mean, that's mind-blowing to consider. A lot of opportunities that that will unlock. And so, we're very, excited to play our part to help the country in this journey and so on the whole we are very, very bullish about that.” 

“What an exciting period ahead of us,” Jaime Alfonso agreed. “It's about a decade of execution on the planning that we've had. We're excited to fulfill the potential of the Ayala brand and what the institution means to a variety of different stakeholders. We've got frankly the tools to deliver on that proposition. How exciting to do it in a time when there's a lot of services and a lot of different kind of products that are needed in this evolving state. So, I think it's just really an exciting decade ahead.”