One of the oldest business chambers in the nation (and by old we mean it was established in 1886 by a group of Spanish businessmen) is interested in further investing in the youth, mentoring young businessmen and improving the business community in the Philippines.
In a one‑on‑one interview, Ambassador Benedicto Yujuico, chair of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (and a Wharton graduate, too) after the Supercollider Startup Pitching session told SparkUpwhat makes an effective business pitch.
What should startup businesses do to give an effective business pitch?
First, they should devote 2‑3 minutes to describe exactly what they’re business is doing.
Secondly, they have to say what they need. Normally, these startups need money. So if they need money, they should say “this is what I do and this is what I need”.
Third, they need to explain what they will do with the money that they raise.
And the fourth thing that they have to explain is the exit for the investor—the potential pay‑off.
What kind of sacrifices should young entrepreneurs be ready for?
Once you go into business, it’s really a 24‑7 commitment. You sacrifice a lot of your free time—leisure time, going to the movies time, party time—because you’re going to devote time to nurture and develop your business. These are typical of the comments of even the successful startups.
Which industries have you seen the most startups?
E‑commerce and technology. E‑commerce has a big potential but doesn’t require a lot of startup capital as opposed to businesses that require factories, which require a lot of money. In e‑commerce you can just be, for example, a very talented programmer and your employees can be part‑timers. It doesn’t require a lot of capital when you start.
What programs is PCCI implementing for startups and the youth?
Through our initiatives here in PCCI, we are interested in developing the youth of the country, giving them the opportunity to become successful in business. For instance, I’m head of the group in charge of PCCI’s Young Entrepreneur’s Award. We give this award to the entrepreneur that is voted the best for a particular year. This is a nationwide effort where we secure nominations from our chambers all around the Philippines. We evaluate their past performance and future prospects to identify the businesses and young people with really great potential.
Another manifestation of our interest to help the youth is this pitching session. This is our first pitching session. Most of the people there are very young and they have a business, so we’re trying to blend in the millennials—the young people—into the conventional, established businesses, like the people here in PCCI.
That is within the context of the general program that I’m implementing here in PCCI where we are encouraging young people to develop hopefully into successful entrepreneurs. We are even encouraging younger people to be a part of PCCI itself. We are really preparing for the next generation of people that will be the directors and officers of PCCI. So that is our overall goal and this pitching session is just one manifestation of our long-term goal in getting the youth involved here in the Philippine Chamber.
What are PCCI’s future plans to help startups?
We’re doing these pitching sessions because we want to identify the businesses started by young people who have great potential. And after we identify that, we want to connect them with their colleagues in different fields—marketing, production, etc.—so that they will have the support that they need.
We want to provide funding for them. If they need extra capital for growth, we can provide them with that.
Lastly, we want to mentor and help them in terms of making their businesses grow even more or even help them list them in the Philippine Stock Exchange.
New Zealand is a pretty place. Its stunning landscapes made it the location of choice for shooting the movie adaptations to J.R.R. Tolkein’s classic high‑fantasy novels. Aware of its popularity, a tour of Lord of the Rings locations, is among the country’s tourism programs. It is also the country with the most Polynesians, the ethnic group represented in the Disney film Moana (2016), which describes a sea‑faring culture like the ancient Filipinos and the ancient Hawaiians.
Located south of the equator, New Zealand is a melting pot of cultures and sheep. Mostly sheep. Official statistics say that as of June 2016, New Zealand is home to 4.69 million people and 27.6 million sheep.
To prevent the nation from turning into a veritable ewe‑topia, the New Zealand government is offering educational programs and scholarships to students who are willing to move there to study, and perhaps choose it as their home.
“At the end of the day we’re a very small country tucked in the corner of the globe, we need to get out and experience other cultures,“ Ben Burrowes, Regional Communications and Strategic Communications Manager for South East Asia of Education New Zealand, told SparkUp at the sidelines of Food Connection 2017, a cooking contest held at the Center for Culinary Arts (CCA) where Filipino students from various culinary schools battled it out on who can cook the best meals using New Zealand products—including dairy products, wine and chocolates. “That’s a big reason why we encourage a lot of attention to New Zealand, so us Kiwis can experience other cultures.”
Mr. Burrowes said Filipinos are the fastest growing student community in New Zeland, growing by 83% in 2015. As of 2016, New Zealand is home to 3,500 Filipino students and 50,000 Filipino immigrants.
“There’s a lot of opportunities depending on what the student is looking for, program and course, but we’ve got a world‑class education offering. And I think testament to that is the huge number of Filipino students we’ve got in New Zealand at the moment,” he added.
There are three key reasons why Filipinos should study in New Zealand, the education officer said, the first one being safety. “First, it’s a safe, warm, welcoming country where different cultures feel at home. We’ve been ranked the world’s most peaceful nation eight years in a row.”
“Second is our world‑class education system,” Mr. Burrowes said. There are only eight universities in New Zeland but they are all ranked in the top three percent worldwide. “We’re the only country in the world who can claim that statistic.”
Lastly, Mr. Burrowes pointed out that the style of education in New Zealand is different than in other countries. “Innovation, analytical thinking and creativity are encouraged. A lot of the more traditional styles have a one‑way dialogue, where students listen to a teacher, taking notes. Here, questions are encouraged and you do a lot of learning outside of the classroom.”
New Zealand provides support to its international students, from helping them find the program that’s right for them, looking for affordable housing and even providing part‑time jobs and internships.
SparkUp also spoke to Kesiah Jacinto, a restaurateur, chef and alumna of the Center for Culinary Arts who continued her studies in New Zealand. She testified to the wonders of NZ living.
“The people were very friendly, and because the school knew that we were foreign students, they always tried to help us even in the smallest details, like in housing and finding us part‑time jobs while we’re studying,” Ms. Jacinto said.
She and her husband work with local farmers and food producers in Mindoro to create a variety of food products such as artisanal wild‑boar sausages and hand‑roasted tablea chocolates, precisely because of New Zealand.
“I started The Wild Range with my husband—he’s the designer in charge of community development and I’m the chef in charge of product development. When we were in New Zealand, we saw how the people there take their ingredients seriously. I had this awareness with me that as a chef, I value these ingredients, but what happens beyond the restaurant?” she said. “What happens to the food producers? I studied the most basic sources of food for us chefs to develop.”
“We invite small‑scale businesses that have been existing for decades and we want to champion our local artisans,” Ms. Jacinto said. “The problem is that these people are old and if no one continues what they do the culture of Filipino cuisine itself will die.” Some of their partners include Nanay Zeny, who has been preparing tinapa for 20 years, and Nanay Bibang who supplies tablea balls.
Just like Ms. Jacinto knew what she wanted to do with her studies, she said that the youth should take every opportunity to study and hone their chosen crafts.
“If you have the opportunity, then grab it,” she said. “If you know why you want to study, then the how and the where will come easily. But I think New Zealand really helped me be where I am today.”
For more information on studying in New Zealand, visit https://www.studyinnewzealand.govt.nz/.
Some photos are owned by BusinessWorld reporter Zsarlene B. Chua.
Imagine allowing a legion of thieves into your house to investigate possible ways on how other thieves can barge in and steal from you. And then, you reward them for doing so.
That’s sort of how companies are being urged to protect their websites from possible cyber attacks.
The continuously growing number of people online has prompted companies to extend their operations to the digital space. Brick and mortar stores are now supported—or even replaced—by online counterparts or websites. Many people use Google to check certain products and even consult online review sites like Yelp before they shop. Some skip the traffic jam and mall chaos by purchasing products through online stores like Amazon and eBay. Banking and even travel bookings are now also done online.
But utilizing digital platforms imposes certain risks on the company and even on the consumers. One of which is vulnerability to computer hacking, which can result in the stealing of classified information.
So how can companies, especially startups, opting to maximize online platforms avoid this risk?
One of the emerging solutions to this perennial problem is called “The Bug Bounty” program. Alexis Lingad, CEO and founder of Cryptors Cybersecurity, Inc., calls it the “most effective way to secure a website.”
He leads a company that boasts of being the “first bug bounty platform in Southeast Asia.” At the age of 16, Mr. Lingad already worked in U.S.‑based company Garin Technologies, as a web security analyst. And in the Philippine Army, he was a cybersecurity researcher. He now conducts cybersecurity seminars as part of his company’s missions.
He explained that a bug bounty program is a deal where companies pay “ethical hackers” to find and report bugs and send recommendations to fix vulnerabilities on their websites as a precaution for potential attacks.
Technology giants like Facebook, Apple, Google, and Yahoo! have this kind of program. Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, also launched the same program called “Hack the Pentagon” last year.
In a forum entitled “How to Secure Your Website” held last May 27 at Engine Stream Studio, Pasig City, Mr. Lingad shared with other tech geeks that many companies, especially startups, refuse to invest in cybersecurity measures because they think that they don’t have crucial information to protect yet. Often times, he added, owners believe that hackers won’t affect their businesses.
But according to Mr. Lingad, “75% of tech startups in the world don’t know that they have been hacked already until they purchased a defense.”
“There are hackers who are so discreet. They won’t tell you if they’re already inside your website,” he said.
According to Mr. Lingad, simply using popular web security software like Cloudfare and SiteLock is not enough to secure a website because these software are “limited.” The company that produce them, he said, have their own bug bounty programs, too. “They can detect just the known threats, but what if there is a new threat?”
Cryptors Cybersecurity currently has more than 300 ethical hackers—“white hat” in internet slang—in its team. It has won in local and international hacking competitions, the most recent being the WTH Hackers Game 2017 where they bested a team led by Paul Biteng, the man who hacked the Commission on Elections’ website prior to the national elections last year.
Companies wanting to avail themselves of Cryptors’ services can choose from its subscription plans and launch their websites on the platform (www.cryptors.org) to enable the company’s hackers to do the process.
Cryptors offers three packages: a startup package worth ₱5 per hour (₱3,600 a month), business package that can be availed of for ₱20 per hour (₱14,400 monthly), and enterprise package worth ₱50 per hour (₱36,000 per month). Rewards for hackers range from ₱200 to ₱90,000 depending on the chosen package.
These rates, Mr. Lingad defended, are “relatively cheaper,“ compared to those of other bug bounty programs regulated by software providers, which cost at least ₱100,000.
“This platform uses hundreds and thousands of limitless bug bounty hunters that can formulate and create new malware and strategies to protect your organization,” he said.
“One of our visions is to make a more secured Philippine cyberspace because it is one of the country’s problems at present.“
Startup incubator Launchgarage held a Supercollider pitching session on May 24, in partnership with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), one of the oldest business chambers in the country. The event was sponsored by Double Dragon Corp., whose CEO, Edgar “Injap” Sia II, is among the youngest people in Forbes’ billionaires list.
“This first‑ever pitching session is a milestone for us, to serve as a starting point and a link to the startup community,” said PCCI Chair, Amb. Benedicto Yujuico, during his opening speech, acknowledging the need for a connection between startups and long‑established businesses.
Meanwhile, Launchgarage COO Jojo Flores said: “Hopefully now in exposing our startups in the business community, we can gain bridges in order for them to be successful.“
Ten tech startups from Launchgarage were given the opportunity to pitch their businesses to representatives from different illustrious business organizations, including the PCCI, the Philippines‑USA Economic and Business Council, and the Anvil Business Club.
These are the 10 startups that have taken one step closer to make their marks in history:
If the name and the logo don’t cue you in, it’s essentially a mobile app that lets you rent moving vans (Mobile, mover…get it?). “We’re trying to solve the problem of SMEs (small and medium enterprises) who want to find a delivery van at a click,” Mober CEO Dennis Ng said, adding that there are around 15,000 under‑utilized vans in the Philippines. The company’s biggest client is SM Appliance Center, but it also provides moving services to people moving into new houses and condominium units.“We want to grow very fast, we want to have our operations franchised,” said Mr. Ng.
Travel like a local with Tralulu. A website that connects tourists in Southeast Asia with certified local tour guides, Tralulu CEO Andrew Cua is also a food guide in Binondo. Tourists have over 350 guides to choose from Tralulu, and Mr. Cua sees the market opportunity in the region to reach over $500 million. “Over the next three years, we see ourselves as the largest booking platform in Southeast Asia,” said Mr. Cua.
A delicious home‑cooked meal might be elusive for us probinsyanos and foreigners working in the Metro. Warangkana “Gear” Limsakul‑Fajardo, founder of GoodMealHunting, expanded her business from a home‑cooked Thai comfort food service to an online platform that provides a temporary cure to home sickness. “I came up with GoodMealHunting to allow home cooks to efficiently sell their dishes online, provide them with an efficient marketplace and transform them into entrepreneurs,” Ms. Fajardo said. While home cooks still have full responsibility for the safety and quality of the food, GoodMealHunting helps train these cooks and assist in establishing their businesses.
“We’d like to think of ourselves as data on demand,” said AltitudeX CEO Luis Sia. Using drone technology, AltitudeX provides detailed documentation in surveying sites for agriculture, mining and real estate. Some of their clients include DMCI and Aviso. “Our company was born from the academe, and our pilots are Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) certified. Our competitive advantage is that we come from very engineering‑centric backgrounds, and we understand the…accuracy needed for our surveys,” said Mr. Sia.
The future is paved for virtual reality (VR), and it always seems to revolve around the video games we have. But Veer provides more than just an immersive gaming experience. “We use VR and augmented reality techonology to change the way people learn and see the world,” said Veer CEO Justin Lim. “We want to inspire people to live creatively through the software that we develop.” The company has worked with Universal Robina Corporation, Dell, and Cyberzone. After the pitching session, they gave people a chance to experience one of their VR services, a training software that lets you take the role of a member of an airline crew.
You know you’re an adult when you start worrying about your taxes. Taxumo is a web platform at its free beta stage whose goal is to make it easier for small business owners to track their income, expenses and tax requirements. “Taxumo allows users to input their expenses and at the end of the month tax forms are automatically filled up and ready for filing,” said Taxumo CEO Mark Ong. “This allows the business owner to better manage their tax flow.” However, with the administration’s tax reform bill finally gaining traction in the legislature, Taxumo might soon have to do some serious re‑organization.
Bloom Solutions makes blockchain technology accessible to remittance businesses so that our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) can have another option in sending money home. With the increased global reliance on blockchains, Bloom wants to provide a service that’s easy for people to understand. “The OFW doesn’t need to worry about how blockchains work,“ said Mr. Buenaventura. “For If she sends in HK$500, this gets converted into bitcoin, forwarded to Bloom and then we convert it into peso.” Currently, they can only provide services from the foreign country to the Philippines, and not the other way around.
Another fintech startup, Magpie’s apps and tools allow anyone with a smartphone to collect payment from credit and debit cards. “We’re trying to solve the problem of millions of merchants out there who want to be able to accept digital payments,” said Magpie Founder Dominick Danao. He gave as an example someone who rents out condominium units. With Magpie, his renters can pay him through credit card without him personally having to badger them, unless they don’t pay on time, of course.
Acudeen considers itself an organization committed to the growth of SMEs. A fintech startup, Acudeen allows businesses to sell their invoices online for quicker access to finances. “The value we’ve created is that our clients want liquidity on demand, they need to grow their businesses and cash is king,” said fast‑talking Acudeen Chief Marketing Officer Miguel Alegre. “Our technology allows us to give suppliers the best rate they can possibly get for their invoices.”
Spreading the gift of a stable internet connection, AirMighty is a hotspot enabler that works with sari‑sari stores so that more people can have Wi‑Fi access. “We saw that sari‑sari stores can reach a large market, so we gave them a simple platform that allows them to sell prepaid Wi‑Fi,” said Joel Delos Angeles from AirMighty. And with the Philippines getting more and more wired to social media, wouldn’t it be nice if more people stopped browsing Facebook for free and be able to utilize all its features through a Wi‑Fi connection?
THE PHILIPPINES will continue to be among the fastest-growing economies globally, according to latest estimates of the World Bank that cited as drivers the country’s expansionary fiscal thrust that adds to the anchors of robust private consumption and “accommodative” monetary policy. Read the full story.
“Crowdfunding is an old concept, really. Pulling a small amount of money so that you can make someone’s business or dreams into reality is basically bayanihan using online platforms,” Chux Daza, one of the co‑founders of Philippine crowdfunding website The Spark Project, said during the Crowdfunding Meetup on May 17 at Penbrothers, Makati. It was a cozy meet‑up of small‑scale entrepreneurs (some with actual products in tow), curious students, potential backers, one reporter, and Spark Project alumni and co‑founders.
Set up in 2013, The Spark Project is the second online crowdfunding platform to be built in the Philippines, preceded by Artiste Connect. Since then, the company has raised ₱4.5 million for 45 projects, with a community of over 2,036 backers.
But how does online crowdfunding in the Philippines differ from the more popular American‑based platforms such as IndieGoGo and Kickstarter?
“Those are mostly online and they’re able to get money online. That’s not the case here,” said Mr. Daza.
“What we’ve learned is that in the Philippines, face‑to‑face interaction is important,” he added. “We need both online and offline campaigns.” They also learned that Filipinos are more comfortable with offline soliciting than online campaigns.
“In the Philippines the trust rating with what you see online isn’t that high as in the United States, and a lot of people don’t have online bank accounts yet,” said Mr. Daza. On the other hand, Filipinos still trust banks more, and prefer giving cash outright for the project after a pitch.
This isn’t helped by the fact that the Filipinos have a preference for knowing the story behind the project—the “drama,” if you will.
“You wouldn’t usually back a stranger just because they have a good product. Usually you’ll look at why they’re doing this, who they’re helping,” Mr. Daza said. “It’s a factor that we Filipinos look for drama, that extra wow.”
SparkUp also spoke to The Spark Project CEO Patch Dulay after the meet‑up broke into its networking session. With an undergraduate degree in Management Information Systems from the Ateneo and a masteral degree in Global e‑Business from the University of Lille in France, Mr. Dulay started the project in hopes of using his studies to give back to the community.
For a business to successfully seek funding, Mr. Dulay said it could be “at the idea stage but at a mature idea stage, when you’re ready to launch a project that already has a prototype.”
“Let’s say I want to make a bag. I don’t only need to have the design of the bag. I must already have made a bag, sourced my suppliers, know where to have it made—the only thing I’m missing is funds,” he explained. “If you do the campaign, you have to show the people what the bag looks like. They have to see something real.”
There’s also an advantage to established businesses that just need the extra funding to launch a new service or product, like in the case of Murang Liboro Online’s book subscription service. “That way, you don’t need to convince people that you can operate your business because you’re already doing it,” said Mr. Dulay.
The Spark Project has also been used to fund artistic and charity projects. “For artistic projects, the equivalent of a prototype is, for example, if I’m a film‑maker, I’ll show my films from the past or a reel to show people what I can do,” Mr. Dulay said.
