LBC Powers SMEs with Innovative Business Solutions

Mercato Centrale wins SME of the Year at the 10thAsia CEO Awards

The Philippine entrepreneurial scene is growing, with many business-minded 

individuals seeking to sell their products and services through online tools or by 

participating in high touch-point events to reach a wider market. With its bigger 

portfolio of services, LBC is reaching out to the proprietors of these Small and 

Medium Enterprises (SMEs), powered by its innovative business solutions and its 

legacy of reliability within its nationwide network of services.

LBC has always been a partner for the Filipino enterprise, providing them scalable
tools such as COP/COD, Warehousing, and other logistics solutions that are custom-
fit for their needs as they grow their business and achieve their dreams.
Since company has always been about moving passions and businesses forward, it
continuously seeks to promote excellence among the country’s SMEs. LBC Express
recently sponsored the SME Company of the Year category of the Asia CEO
Awards, which is open to any profit-making independent company employing
between 10 to 500 employees that have achieved important success.
This year, Mercato Centrale was chosen as the Asia CEO Awards SME Company of
the Year from among other nominees that included Ask Lex PH Academy, Bote
Central, Go Virtual Assistants, Innoveterra Properties, Sante Barley, and Sprout
Solutions.

RJ Ledesma, Mercato Centrale co-founder says that they are honored with the
recognition of their mission to help grow the Philippine food scene and empower
more Filipino food entrepreneurs. The company has had to pivot within its nine
years, to reach a higher goal, he shares. More than a food market, it has grown to
become an incubator for food businesses. They have since started to engineer an
ecosystem designed to help small food entrepreneurs grow their business with
assistance in the more technical aspects such as microfinance, marketing, or
logistics and e-commerce. “We are happy to grow with them through partners such
as LBC that have personalized solutions for small vendors, and these are logistics
solutions that are ideal for this scale.”

Mercato Centrale, Ledesma says, is a business model that helps other businesses
grow. “We hope that with this award, we can have more vendors come on board, so
we can help more people to grow their business ideas and become the next big
success story.” Their next big step is to set up food halls in malls and mixed-use
properties as their way of offering more food businesses a place to sell their
products.

LBC’s Chief Marketing Officer, Javier C. Mantecon says that being a part of the Asia
CEO Awards, through its SME Company of the Year is a way for the company to

reach and inspire more Filipino entrepreneurs. The goal is to partner with them
through the reliable and scalable services of the logistics company.
“Our participation for this annual event is one of the many ways to stay in touch with
entrepreneurs inside and outside of our country, no matter how big or small they
are,” adds LBC’s President, Miguel Angel A. Camahort. “We would like to
congratulate all of the winners and the nominees for this event. We believe that
everyone who was part of the 10th Asia CEO Awards is moving the Philippine
economy forward.”

With a growing network of over 6,400 locations, partners, and agents in over 30
countries, LBC is committed to moving lives, businesses, and communities and
delivering smiles around the world, and it has expanded, digitized, and scaled its
services to support SMEs, as a partner that is present at every step of the way.
For those who are interested to become food entrepreneurs and be part of Mercato
Centrale, send a private message at https://www.facebook.com/mercatocentrale