Japan Tobacco International Philippines (JTIP) is eyeing Manila as the site of a Global Business Service (GBS) Center at Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig.
JTIP general manager John Freda told the Manila Standard recently that the GBS Center will employ up to 350 people within the next three years, bringing the total number of JTI employees in the Philippines to 5,000 including those in a manufacturing plant in Batangas province.
The Geneva-based company hopes the facility, like its factory in Batangas, can help soften the recessionary impact of the ongoing COVID-19 which resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs over the past six months.
Freda, who arrived in the country in time to experience a “baptism of fire” courtesy of the twin crises of the Taal volcano eruption and the COVID19 pandemic, explained that the center will provide solutions, consulting and analytics to satisfy operational challenges in the areas of finance, marketing and sales, people and culture, procurement, global supply chain and information technology.
JTI is a global tobacco company based in Geneva, Switzerland. In the Philippines, it manufactures and distributes the popular cigarette brands Winston, Camel, Mevius, Mighty and Marvels.