SupportZebra: Twelve years and counting!

For over a decade, SupportZebra (SZ) has been the leading home-grown BPO Company in Cagayan de Oro City and Misamis Oriental, providing its employees and potential employees a venue of opportunity for career and individual growth.

On February 8, SupportZebra formerly known as FBC Business Solutions, celebrated its 12th anniversary with another milestone through the opening and blessing of its two new offices and its exclusive SZ Cafe.

QUADRUPLE CELEBRATION. Aside from marking its 12th-year anniversary Support Zebra also celebrated another milestone with the opening of two new offices at One Providence and the grand opening of SZ Cafe. The said ceremonial ribbon cuttings were led by Cagayan de Oro City Councilor and Trade and Commerce Committee Chairman George Goking, City Councilor Malvern “Bernie Bitokbitok” Esparcia, and joined by SupportZebra Executive Director Noelle Noreen A. Juarez, and Managing Director Dr. Niño Duran.

SZ Café offers a variety of services and amenities exclusive to its employees, located on the 2nd floor of One Providence at the Lifestyle District. Meanwhile, due to the growing demand for their services, SupportZebra expanded its workspaces by procuring an additional two new floors of One Providence. This milestone will significantly increase the workforce, services, and capabilities of the company, and in turn provide more job opportunities to Kagay-anons and Misamisnons which will greatly benefit the economic standing of Cagayan de Oro City.
This year’s theme is “GROWTH” according to its managing director and one of SupportZebra’s founders, Dr. Niño Duran. He explained that the number 12 is a significant number in business.

“12 is very important in some cultures. 12 is the number of one cycle for lunar celebration, 12 months for the calendar cycle in business, and also 12 for Greeks and Romans stand for compassion, harmony, and completeness. We have been waiting patiently to celebrate like this. We were so quiet for the past 12 years. Why? Because we were focused on our survival, the day-to-day challenges of a start-up company, sa panahon pa nga dili pa mi maka afford ug generator,” Duran said.

He recalls during the early days of the company, they could barely land any accounts due to the lack of redundancy in terms of electricity. However, looking back on where they were a decade ago, he shared: “When I come here and I walk down the aisle grabe kayo akong pride. Not just because we have grown so much, but because of my leaders who have worked so hard and are very loyal to SupportZebra.”
Duran offers his utmost gratitude to the men and women of SupportZebra and congratulated them. Acknowledging that without their help, support, and loyalty, the company would not be where it is today despite the adversity.

“The future of SupportZebra, they’re all here with me today from the janitors, drivers, the kitchen staff, ambassadors, and senior leaders.’ As Khalil (VP of Operations) said, as we grow please take care of our home that we have built from the ground up. I have been working on so many things just to scale up culture. A lot of leaders, consultants, gi-ignan ko sigurado ka sa inyong path? Lisud kayo na i-scale ang culture, maayo rana kong gamay, dawbi kong dako? But with that advocacy I have and the influence by my father who is also a people person. Ingon ko, kaya! Kong dili kaya, kayahon nako and at the same time inspire and influence other leaders,” he said.

PLANS FOR GROWTH

“For our plans for growth, as you have seen we have opened two floors, the first cycle is done. The 2nd cycle we’re just beginning it, we will be chasing bigger accounts and strengthening our brand presence globally,” he said.

Duran during his speech also urged his leaders to aid him during this time and is optimistic that the leaders of SupportZebra will inspire the younger generation in their teams.

Adding: “One of my inspirations is why I still want to grow SupportZebra, not just because of our vision and mission, but to improve the local communities through our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility),” he said.

LEGACY

“We call them legacy employees ug kalooy sa guinoo, batch 1 pagyud ni siya since day 1 he has been with us. One of my inspirations has been my employees, and one of them is Levi Baldon.

Levi Egarguin Balbon has been part of the company since 2011 and is a “Humans of SZ” awardee for his part expressed his gratitude towards SupportZebra.

“Pasalamat lang ko kang ma’am En-en and sir Niño for giving me the opportunity to work with SupportZebra, I am so thankful to them. Dili nako ma abot tanan naa sakoa karon kong wala ni nga company,” Baldon concluded.

For his part Raymond Gutual, Human Resources head also shared his thoughts on the company’s strong culture and how important it is to maintain its identity.

“Growth is a matter of culture and the way of life in our company. When we feel all of us are learning every day we feel that collective amount of growth that we share and through that we feel it is primordial to our success as an organization and company. With this 12 years of celebration I hope that we continue to lead the industry with our core values with pride and dignity in our way – the supportZebra way,” Gutual concluded.

OPTIMISM

“This is a testament to our growth and development as a family, not as a company but as a family. We are not stopping here we will continue to grow, said the VP of Operations, Khalil Rellin.

“We have maintained our company’s culture and core values while still growing and expanding. We should be proud of what we achieved and the future that awaits us,” Rellin concluded.

This has been true over the years, as the company expanded and upgraded its services and offices to provide top-notch ambassadors/customer assistants and competitive offers to its clients and its employees as well as providing a suitable and friendly work environment.

SupportZebra Executive Director Noelle Noreen A. Juarez, and Managing Director Dr. Niño Duran join together in marking SupportZebra’s 12th anniversary through a traditional cake cutting and wine toast.

Despite the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, it continued to grow as a company and create a “culture” fostering through its mission and vision. Year by year, it can be said through this paper that it has witnessed the growth and success of SupportZebra from an employee of less than 20 then it now houses over 500 employees and with its latest major expansion, the company now holds 800+ seats.

To know more about SupportZebra and its opportunities visit their website at https://supportzebra.com/ follow them on Facebook at @SupportZebra.