From local roots to regional reach: GESG sets its sights on Southeast Asia

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December 28, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Executive search firm Global Executive Solutions Group (GESG) plans to expand internationally over the next three years as it enters its third decade in the headhunting business.

Marking its 20th anniversary this year, GESG is setting its sights on Southeast Asia, aiming to broaden its services to cater to international companies in the region.

“In the next three years, I am looking for a foreign partner. I want to go regional,” GESG president and CEO Ray Canilao told The STAR.

Canilao said he is keen on forging a joint venture with a foreign firm to scale GESG’s headhunting services internationally.

The idea of going international stems from GESG’s experience in bringing in talented Filipinos to fill executive positions in local firms and conglomerates, who eventually climbed the corporate ladder to hold regional positions.

“I have seen that trend wherein Philippine companies are expanding regionally now, setting up offices in other countries in the region like Vietnam, Indonesia and even China,” Canilao said.

“We have supported conglomerates and local companies as they expanded across the region,” Canilao added.

And what is GESG looking for in a foreign partner? The same values it upholds: integrity, a strong sense of ownership, relationship management, continuous learning, rigorous research, confidentiality and trustworthiness.

Of course, the foreign partner must also share the core values of the prospective clients, Canilao added.

The past 20 years

GESG has risen to become one of the preferred headhunters in the country, spanning across various industries, including fast-moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, power and utilities, retail, real estate, financial technology and information technology.

GESG has also been a partner of the country’s major conglomerates and banks.

The firm’s headhunting services cover various corporate levels, from managers and senior managers to directors and C-suite executives, as well as general management and board levels.

“Our secret was to study the nature of the businesses of our partners - the industry they are in, their organizational structure, and their culture. And then we match it with the career path trajectory of the prospective employees, including leadership and financial stability,” Canilao said.

At the core of GESG’s rise to its current stature is its people. “Our key competitive advantage is our people. We brought in people who have various expertise across different industries,” Canilao said.

“And our strategy in the last many years is to really deal directly with CEOs, country heads and human resource managers and make it a point that we understand the company’s leadership structure and its overall set-up,” he added.

Domino economic effects

According to Canilao, placing the right people in the right positions not only drives individual success but can also act as a catalyst for the growth of both the company and the broader economy.

“If you can place good leaders, then you see them grow as well as the company to another level. It leads to the creation of new jobs and makes the industry more competitive,” he said.

“And when the industry and the economy grow, you see companies expand. You begin to see foreign companies coming in, investing in these companies through joint ventures,” he added.

Canilao said even the top conglomerates in the country, especially those that have been run by families for decades, have begun to professionalize their leadership structures.

“They will grow, generate profits, and reinvest these to create new jobs, thus industries grow,” he said.

This professionalization, Canilao pointed out, is something that is missing in the public sector, especially in government bureaucracy.

Canilao explained that professionalizing the managerial positions in the government may create the economic benefits that companies have been enjoying all along.

“Our government leaders must possess integrity and accountability,” he said.