In 2005, Alec Pettigrew founded Link as a provider of promotional goods for the consumer brand market. Today, rebranded as Link in 2023, the company is is a leading marketing services business, sourcing marketing materials on global scale for the world’s biggest brands. Servicing 200+ markets, Link now has 59 offices in 53 countries, developing, sourcing & executing marketing activations worldwide.
To support this continued growth, in November 2017, Link established a new service support hub in the Philippines. Initially, this team included a group of product designers working on new product concepts. Since then, Link has built a substantial shared service team to support its global operations in the key areas of Procurement, Finance, Sales, Technology and ESG reporting. In 2018, Link Philippines successfully opened its first dedicated office in Manila.
Alec Pettigrew, Chairman of Link commented on the initiative, “This Centre of Excellence in the Philippines is an important element of our strategy to support Link’s rapid growth plans. By employing highly skilled local talent, we can provide our clients around the world with the best possible levels of service. It is very important that we have the right people in place who can help drive the business towards our future growth aspirations.”
Emma Pomeroy, Link’s Chief Sustainability Officer, explained how the growing service hub is also encouraging diversity and inclusion “We are building something special here, a sustainable support hub that can grow with our business. But not only that – as a women-owned business, we are committed to encouraging young, talented Filipino women into professional roles with a clear career path. Today, we have over 50 people in our Philippines team, 84% of whom are female. These capable women are carving out opportunities for themselves in what can be a challenging environment and we are delighted to support and nurture their talent”.
Since its establishment in 2017, Link’s Philippine team has been growing steadily. Amid the global pandemic, many local businesses were facing staff layoffs and retrenchment to control costs. Unemployment in the country reached 17.7 percent in 2020, its highest point in over 20 years. Against this background, Link re-committed to its Philippines operation by opening a second office in Clark, Pampanga.
October 2022 marked the 4th year anniversary of Link’s Philippine Office, with yet more growth planned for the next 3-5 years.
Alec Pettigrew explains “We needed a bigger space to accommodate the growing team, so recently moved to an office twice the size of our original space. This is just the beginning. We believe that when it comes to work-life balance, there’s no such thing as “too far.” Our vision is to build a state-of-the-art working environment that not only has the best amenities for our employees, but also offers recreational facilities for their families.”
Emma Pomeroy expressed her pride in the Philippines team “In October we celebrated four years of growth and opportunity for a talented team of people with a bright future ahead of them. We are grateful to have such engaged and dedicated employees who have made this possible for us. I am very proud of the team we are building here.”