Smart Pinoy fetes OFWs with early Xmas fair

To celebrate the achievements of overseas Filipinos, wireless leader Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) recently held the Smart Pinoy Maagang Pamasko! OFW Family Day and Job Fair at the Teodoro F. Valencia Circle (Lapu-Lapu Monument) in Manila.

The early Christmas fair featured a job and entrepreneurship fair for OFWs, their families, and other individuals, and was joined by major land- and sea-based manpower firms and government agencies. On-stage games, raffle draws, free snacks, free services such as haircuts, and live celebrity performances turned the event into a fun and enjoyable one.

“This is Smart’s way of celebrating the holidays with our kababayans who will be overseas and away from their families by Christmas. As they bear the loneliness and work hard to be able to provide for their families, we at Smart continue to design our services so we can provide them that most vital link to their loved ones back home, which is communication,” shared Elmer Malolos, head of International Services at Smart.

At the event, Smart highlighted its array of services designed to cater to OFWs and their families, such as the Smart Pinoy SIM, the prepaid SIM with pre-activated roaming service and offers roaming text as low as P2.00. Also featured in the event are Hellow international direct dialing (IDD) card, the country’s first and only reloadable IDD card, and Smart Link, the country’s only prepaid satellite communication service for seafarers, and Smart Money, the world’s first cash and remittance card linked to a mobile phone.

According to Retnaningshi ‘Retna’ Basha, a 36-year old dietitian from Sampaloc, Manila, keeping in touch with her family in Iligan, Lanao del Norte is one of the challenges she faced while working in Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 2000 to 2007. She knows it will be the same story when she leaves for the United Arab Emirates this month for another contract.

Retna, who won P75,000 from the jackpot round of the Pera o Parol game at the Smart Pinoy event, values her mobile connection as her family’s direct link to her.

“When I leave for UAE, my Smart SIM will allow me to rest assured that I am just an SMS away from my family back here, especially from my 6-year old daughter in Iligan,” said Retna.  

Of Smart’s 47.8 million subscribers, there are over 2 million active SIMs that are overseas -- the largest community of roaming users – and they benefit from Smart’s partnerships with 421 network operators in 184 countries. This worldwide network coverage gives Filipinos, wherever they are in the world, a direct line to their families in the Philippines.

“Over the years we have progressively lowered the cost of and designed our services to truly enable overseas Filipinos and their families to stay connected. Celebrating their achievements and the sacrifices of their family through a festive event like this is part of our key strategy of helping improve the quality of life of our subscribers,” added Malolos.