By Therese Martina Buntua
Business Development Manager
Domestic Sales
ONE STEP AT A TIME
“He would always say the longest journey starts with a single step. When you have a dream or an ambition and it's so high up, it can be overwhelming. But when you look at it one step at a time, one day you’ll look up at your feet and you’ll be at your destination.” (Catriona Gray, 2020)
This was the quote that I lived by when I first started my journey here in Century. When I was a fresh graduate from college and I was searching for potential jobs, I just knew that I’ve always been interested in the FMCG industry. After being accepted into CPFI, I was very excited to become a Business Development Manager and handle WalterMart Supermarket, Inc. However, my Century journey was not always a walk in the park as I struggled with my self-confidence especially when I had to do business reviews with my account and negotiate trading terms with higher level executives.
It was overwhelming at times with my lack of experience, but the support from my teammates and mentors allowed me to embrace the process. Being surrounded by very hard working and relentless individuals who go out of their way to serve our customers inspired me to learn more about the business so that one day I could also contribute to the wins of the team. This was one of my main motivators to embody our core value – Passion for Excellence.
Then moving on to 2021, I wanted to take all that I’ve learned during my training period and apply these in the different decisions that I make. Despite having doubts with myself, I took leaps of faith to help the team achieve our KPI’s. These efforts and hard work came into fruition once the team was able to hit our year-end targets and navigate through the “different and difficult 2021”. This was already a big win to celebrate, but to top it off, I was also recognized as the MT Elite Warrior for 2021 during this year’s Kampilan. This award is not just a recognition of our sales numbers, but a symbolism of being brave enough to start somewhere even if you will make mistakes since these experiences will help you become wiser, tougher, and more empowered with yourself. It was a symbolism of my journey here in Century.
I would like to thank the Executive Committee, Sales Mancom, Domestic Sales Teams, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain and Logistics Division and the entire CPFI family for all the support and guidance these last two years. Excited for us to reach more milestones in the coming years.
