Philippine Entrepreneurs Blossom With Help From Startup Support Network

The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean

MANILA- Aisa Mijeno had her “Eureka” moment one day in a remote village in the Cordillera Mountains of the Philippines’ northern Luzon province.

Ms. Mijeno’s SALt Corp.-short for Sustainable Alternative Lighting-is one of a number of promising Philippine startups, many of which address the everyday challenges of people in developing countries.

“The Philippines can become a leader in using technology to address emerging-market problems,” said Earl Valencia, president and founder of the IdeaSpace Foundation, a Manila-based incubator that has helped back Ms. Mijeno’s lamp.

The Philippines simply didn’t have a startup scene.

The turning point came in 2012; when two Philippine telecommunication companies set up incubators-organizations that foster startups-to breathe life into Manila’s technology sector.

Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., founded the nonprofit IdeaSpace.

Ms. Navarrete said Philippine tech is poised for its first big breakthrough.

Philippine startups faced a lonely struggle for survival, as they lacked California’s refined ecosystem of investors, venture capitalists, cheerleaders and incubators, 32-year-old Mr. Rivera said.

Kalibrr received $100,000 from Kickstart for a 4% stake and then became the first Philippine company to participate in the prestigious Y Combinator incubator and investor program in Silicon Valley, raising $1.6 million in second-round funding.

Now, with venture capitalists from Japan, Singapore and the U.S. eyeing Philippine tech companies, expectations of local entrepreneurs are higher than ever, Mr. Rivera said.

Alongside Filipino returnees in Manila’s cosmopolitan tech community are foreign entrepreneurs who aim to use the youthful, tech-savvy and English-speaking Philippines as a springboard to jump into other emerging markets like India and Indonesia.

Among the Manila-based, foreigner-led startups following this playbook are Lenddo, which uses social media to build credit scores for people with no credit history-in the Philippines, about 80% of people don’t have bank accounts- enabling them to get bank loans for the first time.

Then there is mClinica, which provides discounts on medicine via a network of 1,500 Philippine pharmacies, while gathering market data for drug companies.

(Credits to Dow Jones)

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