An announcement made by the Department
of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) highlighted a multi-city digital
start-up project that aims to increase the number of Filipino technopreneurs.
The DICT together with Impact Hub
Manila will launch Elevate National Roadshow, which is a multi-city digital
start-up project happening in August 2018. This initiative is in response to
the need to increase the numbers of technopreneurs in the country.
Start-ups need to be empowered so that they will be able to bring their
innovations and ideas to reality. Not only will Elevate National Roadshow be
able to do that, but it is also designed to build awareness to start-ups.
On 28 May 2018, a Memorandum of Agreement was signed by the DICT Undersecretary
Monchito B. Ibrahim and Impact Hub Manila Co-Founder & CEO Celeste Eden
Rondario to officially begin Elevate.
The DICT is the primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing,
and administrative entity of the Executive Branch of the government that plans,
develops, and promotes the national ICT development agenda.
Impact Hub Manila is an incubator, co-working, and
events space for a membership community of entrepreneurs and innovators. Impact
Hub Manila is part of the largest network of entrepreneurs in the world,
present in 102 cities globally with a membership base of over 17,000.
The Roadshow will provide the DICT with an opportunity to advance the
growth of the country’s digital start-up pipeline. It will also provide a
chance to interact with existing and potential start-ups.
DigitalPH Program Manager Emmy Lou V. Delfin shared, “We want to learn about their
ideas, the challenges they face, and the types of assistance that they need.
This will help us find areas where we can engage them as we build a start-up
ecosystem that supports ICT entrepreneurship and innovation.”
“We are excited to partner with DICT as we go beyond Manila and meet
entrepreneurs throughout the country,” said Ms Rondario.
She added, “We are committed to bringing the start-up
ecosystem to the next level, and helping entrepreneurs start, and scale their start-ups.”
Five key cities nationwide are included in the inaugural year of the
roadshow, which will take place the whole of August 2018. Clark in Pampanga, Baguio, Iloilo, Dumaguete
and Cagayan de Oro comprise the locations where discussions and mentoring
sessions in the local startup community will be conducted.
It will be a two-day event per location. DICT and Impact Hub Manila will
host town hall meetings and conduct learning lab workshops about Start-up 101
and Scaling. A social night will culminate each tour with start-up leaders
sharing their stories of failures and successes.
The objective of Elevate National Roadshow is to support DICT’s SeedPH
Program in enriching the development of communities in the countryside, which
has been crucial in the continuous spread of the start-up advocacy.
The main goal of SeedPH is to have 50 local start-ups based in the
Philippines with a company valuation of Philippine Peso (PhP) 10 Million or more
by the end of 2016.
The Department Of Science and Technology (DOST) has been incubating start-up
companies in its numerous Technology Business Incubators all of whom specialize
in ICT/Technology. The aim of which is to present ITpreneurship as a viable
career path for the youth so they will create their own ICT businesses.
Elevate also supports the Philippine Roadmap
for Digital Start-up initiative of conducting grassroots
activities that will encourage the players to focus on the quality of one
value-generating event.
The Philippine Roadmap for Digital Start-ups is a short and long-term strategic
plan for The Philippine Start-up Community and the DICT towards developing digital
innovation in the country to generate innovative start-ups that will spur
economic growth and find solutions to society’s most pressing issues.