Back Story: The APEC session of Aisa Mijeno with Barack Obama, Jack Ma

Who invited Aisa Mijeno to the APEC  panel session with Obama and Jack Ma? 

 

Filipina engineer and entrepreneur Aisa Mijeno, CEO of environmental tech-start up Sustainable Alternative Lighting (SAlt), revealed on Thursday that it was The White House that invited her to a session moderated by no less than President Barack Obama at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit. 

 

In an interview with Howie Severino on GMA News TV's News To Go, Mijeno said that her team got an "unexpected" call on Monday. 

 

"Noong Lunes, nakatanggap po kami ng tawag. Akala nga po namin na prank call ito dahil ang tawag po ay galing sa White House mismo. In-inform po kami na kailangan daw po ng isang female entrepreneur na makasama si President Obama sa stage para malaman o maihayag kung ano po ang pwedeng suportahan na gawin nila sa startup community dito sa Pilipinas," she said. 

 

The session happened last Wednesday. 

 

 

 

 

Mijeno said The White House learned about Sustainable Alternative Lighting (SAlt) online.

 

"Nag-search po sila ng articles sa internet. Sabi po nila na nakita raw po nila ako sa Google kasi medyo marami na rin po ang aming publications online," she said. 

 

Mijeno said that she felt really nervous before going up on stage. But Obama made her feel at ease.

 

During the dialogue, Mijeno said her SAlt device needs more support for it to take off.  Obama joked that she should get help from Chinese e-commerce businessman Jack Ma. 

 

In an interview with Raffy Tima on GMA News TV's Balitanghali also on Thursday, the entrepreneur revealed that Ma offered to help them but she did not give any more details.

 

"Nag-offer po siya na i-mentor kami para maging successful po ang aming pagde-deploy para makapunta po kami ng maayos sa mass production stage," she said.

 

During the interview, Mijeno said that after the dialogue with Obama and Ma, her company has received tons of email inquiries about the salt lamp.  — Trisha Macas/ELR, GMA News