Young entrepreneurs in the Philippines benefit from opportunities for growth
Manila: The second cohort of 12 young Philippine youth-led businesses have now joined the ARISE Plus YE! Boost Accelerator, under the ARISE Plus Philippines project.
The Accelerator is a 14-week programme that aims to accelerate the growth and development of the 12 businesses, providing them with the support needed to expand internationally.
This group of 12 businesses is the second batch to participate in the Accelerator after a first batch of 12 Philippine youth-led start-ups in 2022.
Participating young entrepreneurs from the first cohort highlighted the importance of the YE! Boost Accelerator in strengthening their linkages to global markets, their understanding of go-to-market strategies, and in providing access to international experts.
The programme will help strengthen innovative ideas and provide pathways for growth. Throughout the duration of the Accelerator, the young entrepreneurs will receive targeted support in the areas of Intellectual Property (IP) protection, investment readiness and internationalization, as well as others. Through research conducted by the ITC, these areas are often where youth entrepreneurs face the greatest challenges when building a business.
The programme will culminate in a demo day with a pitch competition, where the winners will be awarded financial prizes and access to business and investment linkages and opportunities in the EU.
Following the demo day, the ARISE Plus project will offer additional support to the top three start-ups and showcase these companies to investors in the Philippines and Europe.
The winner of the 1st cohort, Noreen Bautista, Founder of Panublix – a sourcing platform connecting designers and creatives with regenerative Philippine tropical textiles and artisan craft, co-created with nature and cultural heritage, said:
“Support from ARISE Plus YE! Boost Accelerator improved our confidence to continue what we have started. The project provided us with very helpful mentors, which is a real need at this point in our business.”
The selected businesses for the 2nd cohort joined an onboarding and networking session on the 31st of January 2023, where they partook in a variety of icebreaker activities to develop a deeper understanding of the mutual challenges and aspirations.
In the coming months, these young innovators will further support one another through peer-to-peer learning sessions, whilst also exploring the potential to collaborate.
The Accelerator’s focus on youth highlights the importance of youth in small businesses to the Philippines economy. The selected businesses include:
1. Synthillate
2. FilPass Tamperproof Tech. Inc.
3. Kahero
4. EZ Sourcing Group PH
5. EdukSine Production Corporation
6. MATA TECHNOLOGIES INC
7. Sakahon Marketplace Inc
8. MeetBit
9. Ask Lex PH Academy
10. Pic-A-Talk
11. Meron
12. Scire Technology
ARISE Plus Philippines
The ARISE Plus YE! Boost Accelerator is supporting young entrepreneurs through ARISE Plus Philippines. It is a project of the Government of the Philippines, with the Department of Trade and Industry as lead partner together with the Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, Bureau of Customs, the Department of Science and Technology, and the private sector. It is funded by the European Union with the International Trade Centre (ITC) as the technical agency for the project.
More information on the ITC’s Youth & Trade Programme can be found here.
More information about Ideaspace can be found here. While information on QBO can be found here.
