FROM humble beginnings, multi-awarded Filipino executive Raymund Cauilan Berja has been appointed as the new regional Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and regional head for Tax, Compliance and Procurement at AirAsia Super App.

Berja is the very first Filipino to be appointed as the Regional CFO of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) super app, which is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In his new role, 42-year-old Berja will oversee the management of the AirAsia Super App’s finances in all of the territories it operates in, namely: the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, and tech support operations in India, and expansions in Vietnam, Singapore, and South Korea.

“We at AirAsia are not strangers to facing giants. Two decades ago, we started disrupting the ASEAN aviation market with our low fares and value-for-money service. Today, our goal is to disrupt the tech disruptors and truly bring more value into the lives of the millions of people in the region through our suite of everyday services,” Berja said.

Currently, AirAsia Super App has a healthy base of 50 million users that use the platform to book flights, hotel stays, experiences, land and sea transfers, rides, food deliveries, and online retail, among other services. AirAsia Super App is Asean’s fastest-growing travel app.

“I see this opportunity to bring in work ethic, values, expertise and collaborative mindset in influencing our five-year business plan and strategy in terms of growth and expansion. My goal is to provide a strong foundation for AirAsia Super App to sustain growth momentum and positive EBITDA, as well as to implement stronger finance governance and compliance, a disciplined fiscal management through the efficient and effective allocation of resources across the line of businesses while balancing new product launches and expansion to new markets,” Berja said.

Berja will also continue with his role as the Managing Director and Country Head of AirAsia Super App Philippines, which has reached nearly 1 million monthly active users to date. AirAsia Super App Philippines is on a momentum of business growth quarter-on-quarter, netting a gross book value of 86 percent, with net revenues rising by 98 percent and transaction count increasing by 174 percent.

A native of Piat and Solana, Cagayan, from the northern part of the Philippines, Berja grew up in the public market assisting his mother in their carinderia and sometimes working as a street vendor during fiestas and important occasions in his hometown. His early exposure to labor encouraged Berja to strive harder to excel in life.

In his teenage years, Berja took his high school from the University of St. Louis of Tuguegarao and then was enlisted as a cadet in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), but later on, he decided to pursue management at the Philippine School of Business Administration as a working student. Berja holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration which he earned from both the Ateneo de Manila University Graduate School of Business and Regis University in the United States. He is taking his Ph.D. in Business Leadership Studies at Ateneo De Manila University on leave of absence status.

He also has a Diploma in Financial Technology from Saïd Business School-University of Oxford. Furthermore, Berja has secured certifications from here and abroad, being a Certified Management Accountant and a Certified Financial Consultant with the Institute of Certified Management Accountant of Australia and the Institute of Certified Financial Consultants of Canada.

Prior to joining AirAsia Philippines as its CFO in 2019, Berja was at the helm of finance units from different industries for 15 years. These include large domestic corporations and other multinational companies such as entertainment giant ABS-CBN Corporation, the largest fast food chain Jollibee Foods Corporation, leading telco provider PLDT Global Corporation and the country’s number one fintech company Globe Fintech Innovations Inc. (Mynt). His expansive experience in finance gave Berja a unique multi-sectoral perspective crucial for any strategic business disruptor.

“I would like to thank the leadership of Capital A Berhad, especially our CEO and co-Founder Tony Fernandes, Group CFO Pattra Boosarawongse, Group CCO Colin Currie, and AirAsia Super App Regional CEO Amanda Woo for the trust and confidence given to me as a Regional CFO of AirAsia Super App. Together, we will be pushing for growth and expansion, as well as leading the company to new heights,” Berja said.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Jun I. Legaspi