Kristine Bañez and Pauline Guanzon join Embiggen’s corporate venture building team as its first two venture architects.
As venture architects, they will be envisioning and spearheading the creation of new ventures with forward-thinking corporations, together with Embiggen Digital Ventures.
“As we solidify Embiggen Group’s commitment to expanding from a consulting firm into a corporate venture and innovation powerhouse, we are proud to announce the onboarding of our venture architects. This signifies our readiness and capability to lead the corporate venturing space. These rockstar professionals embody the grit, tenacity, and passion that are crucial in building, testing, and scaling up ventures. We hope to continue and grow the team and continue to solve more pressing problems, one venture at a time,“ said Rolan Marco Garcia, Founding CEO & Managing Partner of the Embiggen Group.
Bañez and Guanzon are fulfilling Embiggen’s mission of defining the future of trailblazing corporations by unlocking innovation-led growth for corporations worldwide through corporate venture building.
Together, Bañez and Guanzon hold over 3 decades of experience in operations, product development, and management with both multinational corporations and startups in the Philippines.
Bañez is concurrently the Chief Experience Officer of Mediclick Health, an e-commerce healthcare startup.
Bañez was previously the Associate Regional Business Lead, and head of the Market Access and New Business Development unit of Johnson & Johnson in the Philippines. Bañez also has experience working for Janssen, Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson and Johnson as a Senior Product Manager for multiple product portfolios.
“I think innovation is quite similar to being a dancer. You tend to begin somewhere of interest or need or something that seems to be within your capability. Then you start exploring. I was finance and economics trained with my eye set on development, then investment banking work, but then spent most of my time in strategic and commercial corporate roles before startups and tech. Eventually, you find your ‘style,’ like a company’s core. You get known for, or comfortable in it, and it serves as your foundation,” said Senior Venture Architect Kristine Bañez.
“At some point though growth, both in the arts and in business, would mean a combination of pushing the limits of your signature style and exploring unchartered territories. It’s always uncomfortable to start moving your body in ways that you aren’t used to. But it’s important to stay relevant. You can reduce the risk of injury by making it a lifestyle, say 70% of your training on your style and 30% on something new. The mix evolves. You literally dance with the details and the big picture while keeping your eye on the why. In this lifestyle, I think it is important to be comfortable with change, in pace, in ‘the norm,’ in ‘the results.’ Progress and success as you’ve defined it for your style won’t be the same in new ventures,” added Bañez.
Besides being a Venture Architect, Guanzon is also the Chief Operations & Information Officer of the MMGI Group, Co-Founder & CEO of Innovable, Mentor at Abot Tala, and Process Improvement Consultant at InvestEd.
Prior to these, Guanzon was an Operations Manager at M. M. Guanzon and was an Associate Publishing Specialist for Legal Editorial Operations at Thomson Reuters.
“In my experience and with my formal education, innovation is really all about the value we can offer our customers and stakeholders. Providing and designing the right solutions that will ‘fit’ with the overall vision and core values of the customer; solutions to their problems; in alignment with the needs and wants of the customers and stakeholders, both internally and externally. Sustainable growth through shared resources, innovation, continuous learning, and continuous improvement is key,” said Venture Architect Pauline Guanzon.
Embiggen Digital Ventures: Co-creating the next big thing
Embiggen Digital Ventures is Embiggen’s corporate venture building (CVB) arm. It co-creates new ventures with corporations worldwide, backed by our team of innovation experts and venture capital leaders.
Typically, newly built ventures create new revenue streams for an organization while operating independently of the core business. These ventures also allow corporations to access untapped markets, cater to consumers’ unsolved problems, and diversify their offerings.
Learn more about the work Embiggen does here.