Successful Silicon Valley Fil-Ams lead 400 Startup stakeholders
Puerto Princesa, Palawan (August 23, 2017) — Yobie Benjamin and Aldo Carrascoso may not be well-known in the Philippines. But they are two Filipino-American serial entrepreneurs who have done amazing things.
Benjamin, for example, is not just into various projects that apply Internet of Things technology — he raised $40 for a Silicon Valley company before it produced its first intelligent wearable headset. In Kenya, Benjamin is involved in Wildlife Works that sells carbon credits for protecting the rainforest and wildlife from poachers. The poachers, he said, included Al Shabbab terrorists.
In Brazil, Benjamin’s company applied the same business model to mobilize the coastal population to protect mangrove forests.
Carrascoso, meanwhile, is the Co-Founder and CEO of GlycoProX Biosciences (GPX). According to www.crunchbase.com, GPX combines next generation glycomics (carbohydrates), instrumentation (LC/MS) and deep machine learning to augment cancer diagnosis, biomarker and target discovery for the development of more efficacious therapeutics.
Both Benjamin and Carrasco lead some 400 participants from government and the private sector, including successful technology entrepreneurs from South East Asia and Silicon Valley, now flocking to Puerto Princesa, Palawan for the two-day Geeks on a Beach 2017 on August 24-25, 2017.
The 5th annual GOAB happening at the Princesa Garden Island Resort and Spa Hotel in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.
Navigating startup ecosystems
The first day will open with keynote speeches by Puerto Princesa Mayor Lucilo Bayron, Department of Information and Communication Technology Undersecretary Monchito Ibrahim, Voyagers Innovations Vice President and Managing Director Dindo Marzan, and Tokien.io and ClickSWITCH.com Chief Technology Officer Yobie Benjamin.
This will be followed by the panel “How Founders Can Navigate Treacherous Seas; Path to potential Unicorns in the Philippines” where technopreneurs from Tokien.io, ClickSWITCH.com, GlycoProX Biosciences, Veem, Jukin Media & Verego, Plug and Play Technology Center, InnoVantage, Inc., StartUp Village, and MobKard will display the story of their success.
Another panel entitled “Startup Ecosystem – How to increase # of successful startups in the Philippines” will highlight speakers from the DICT, Department of Science and Technology -PCIEERD, Department of Trade and Industry, TechTalks.ph, IdeaSpace Foundation, and the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA).
An investor panel which will bring together tech, design, and startup entrepreneurs to brush shoulders with the world’s biggest venture capitalists and investors in the tech world will meanwhile feature Greylock Ventures, North Ridge Partners, Plug and Play, Hatchd Digital, Endeavor Philippines, and Anthill Ventures.
The first day will include the presentation “Startup Nation – The Israel Story” by Sagiv Massad who is Director of Technology and Cybersecurity for Business Profiles Inc. and Director of the Israel Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines”. Jojo Flores of StartupPH.org will also present “State of the Nation’s Startups: How Competitive can PH Startups Get?”
Corporate Digital Transformation
The second day will kick-off with keynotes by DOST-PCIEERD Engr. Russell Pilli, Center for International Expositions and Missions Executive Director Clayton Tugonon and Philippine Chamber of Commerce Engr. Ramon Escueta.
The first panel that day is “Corporate Digital Transformation: Becoming Victorious in a Collision between Businesses and Today’s Challenging Digital Forces” featuring Dragonpay Corporation, BlastAsia & Xamun Inc., PLDT Innolab, Philippine Chamber of Commerce, Payoneer, and the Puerto Princesa Chamber of Commerce.
The next panel is “The way of Creatives: Establishing a Sustainable Niche in a Disruptive Economy” with creatives ¬ startups GrupoMM, CreateCebu, 22 Tango Records, and Altum.
One more panel is the “Role of Incubators and Accelerators in Growing Mature Startups” with the BNEFIT, NICP, IdeaSpace Foundation, Muru-D Singapore, UP Enterprise, QBO, ASEAN Centre of Entrepreneurship, and MaGIC Malaysia.
Gaming and Animation
There are also talks on “Boosting Filipino Trailblazers in Gaming and Animation” by Synergy88 Digital Inc. Managing Diretor and Co-Founder Jacqueline Chua, “Cultivating Creativity in the Circular Economy” by Altum Director Carlo Delantar, and “Chinese Tech Investment into ASEAN and How Startups in the Philippines Can Leverage On It” by EnterPH Interviews President Atty, Rocky Chan and Kay-Mok Ku of GobiVC.com.
There are breakout sessions interspersed within the keynotes, panels, and discussion in the first and second day and would include separate breakout tracks focused on startups in the region, corporate-startup encounter, startup ecosystem, and tech for the challenging world.
First staged in Boracay last year September, GOAB is organized by TechTalks.ph, co-presented by the IdeaSpace, SMART, and SMART Bro, co-organized by the DOST-ICTO, powered by Sym.ph, branding by HappyGaraje, and public relations by PRWorks.
The Cebu-based PRworks Inc. leads public relations in the Visayas and Mindanao.
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