First regional ‘Technopreneur Bootcamp’ held in Davao

The IdeaSpace Foundation just held their first Technopreneur Bootcamp outside of Manila here in Davao City on Saturday, July 28, at the University of South Eastern Philippines (USEP). The Bootcamp is the closing event of SMART’s Jump Week here in Davao, which is part of SMART’s initiative to promote mobile web education and development all over the country.

 

IdeaSpace is a non-profit organization serves to act as in idea incubator and investor for start-up companies in the Philiipines. By helping these small companies partner up with the industry leaders in the Philippines like SMART and PLDT, these start-up companies should be able find success, compete in the global market and help establish the Philippines one of the best places for IT.

 

Prelude to competition

 

Earl Martin Valencia, President and Founder of the IdeaSpace foundation, says that this first regional leg of the TechnopreneurBootcamp is more than just part of the promotion for the first National IdeaSpaceStartUp Competition. “It’s part of our advocacy to teach to students all over the country about technopreneurship. We won’t be making much on an impact if we just focus on the top schools in Manila. But by letting students and developers all over the country learn about technopreneurship, there’s no limit to what the Philippines can achieve. By showing them what they can do and what we can do to help them, we’re easily on our way to becoming the next Silicon Valley. “

 

Success stories

 

To give students and local developers a better idea of what technopreneurship really is and what is involved in becoming entrepreneur, IdeaSpace bought in successful technopreneurs and mentors from all over the country to speak at the event. 

 

Anne VillarJacobe talked about how she was able to combine her two passions, shoes and technology, into Shoephoric, the biggest social networking site in the world for shoe lovers. 

 

“I decided to be a technopreneur because I know it's where I'm going to succeed and fulfil my passion. I encourage students to just go for it. Your success isn’t determined just by your idea. You have to launch it and let it gain traction.” And to prove her words, Ms Jacobe announced at the camp her plans to release Euphoric, the platform she used to build Shoephoric now made available for people who want to create social media networks based on collections.

 

Eric Su, co-founder of Piclyf and a son of Davao, talked about the challenges he had to face in building his start-up. Eric shares that at first glance, building a start-up seems easy. “But once you get into it, you’ll see that it’s actually freakin hard”. He gives a very candid account of the problems that had to go through building is start-up; money problems, personnel issues and job burn-out, and what he did to overcome them.

 

Good time for ICT

 

Despite the challenges technopreneurs expect to face, Bert Barriga, Executive Vice President of ICT Davao, on the other hand says that there’s no better time and place to become a technopreneur than now in Davao City. 

 

Mr.Barriga shares at the BootCamp how the Davao City Government and ICT Davao has made strides to make the city friendly to big tech companies and start-up companies alike. “Davao City now has the infrastructure to support these industries. In fact, Davao City was recognized as the next wave city in Asia in 2010. The city continues to receive nominations from IT organizations and governing bodies in Asia and all over the world for improving its IT industry. The local government has already gone out of its way to encourage start-up companies to build in Davao by providing fiscal and non-fiscal incentives for technopreneurs. The future of IT is here right now and we need more students to fill this growing demand for talent.”

 

IdeaSpace competition

 

Participants were given a glimpse of what they can expect from the national IdeaSpace competition next month with the pitching contest and mentorship they received from the speakers and organizers. The students really got into the spirit of the competition and won most of the prizes. The team MyPawn.ph won the top prize and the special Best Euphoric Award for their app which allows pawnshops alert their customers and clients on available items for sale and inventory. 

 

My Pawn.ph was composed of ConstantinoSiocon, RollyRuete, Christian Cuan, and Jay-Rodrigo Albano. The team won a P5,000 Nike GC from Shoephoric and each member received a Samsung Galaxy Pocket and SMART jackets. The 2nd prize and SMART Rocket Wifi devices went to the USEP student team SGDCC for their Dr. Banana app, an app that identifies banana diseases. Team Genre, another student teameach won a SMART power plugit for their 3rd prize entry. Team Blues Clues won the Best Student Euphoric award and a P5000 Nike GC from Shoephoric for their app.

 

The IdeaSpace Start Up Competition is a contest where the foundation selects the 10 best start up in the country and investing in them to give them the best chance possible to succeed. The winners of this competition will receive a half a million peso grant for their business, legal support, mentorship from executives of the partner companies, office space and lodging in  Metro Manila, business administration support and a possible extended investment of up to 5 million pesos six months after winning the competition. In exchange, IdeaSpace gets 20% equity to help sustain the foundation and provide funds for future winners.  — TJD, GMA News