Courses & Events
Startup Acceleration and Entrepreneurship in the Philippines
Tuesday, Apr 6, 2021
04:30 pm - 05:50 pm
Join us for a panel discussion on the current state of the Philippine entrepreneurship ecosystem with Minette Navarrete, Vice-Chairman and President of Kickstart Ventures, Inc. There have been a number of significant developments in the Philippines – more investors, more funds, more entrepreneurs, and a number of promising startups. This discussion will showcase two startups and their founders; Kumu, a mobile longform video streaming community app and a mother-baby eCommerce platform, Edamama.
Kickstart Ventures is the wholly-owned corporate venture capital firm of Globe Telecom, the Philippines’ leading mobile operator. Kickstart invests in early- to early-growth stage tech startups globally, and they serve as advisor to the Ayala Corporation Technology Innovation Venture Fund (“ACTIVE Fund”) established by AC Ventures together with various Ayala group business units.
Details
Seminars will take place on Tuesdays from March 30th – May 25th. These sessions are open to the public and registration is required to receive the Zoom login details.
All seminars will be held online via Zoom, 4:30 PM – 5:50 PM, with informal networking following until about 6:30 PM (PST).
Speakers
Mr. Rexy Dorado
Co-founder of Kumu
Rexy is the president & co-founder of Kumu, the largest livestream community app for Filipinos. Kumu has ranked among the top 3 highest grossing social app in the Philippines (and top 10 in Canada and Kuwait) with over 4 million registered users around the world. Before Kumu, Rexy founded Kaya Collaborative, a program that connects Filipino diaspora leaders to high-impact organizations in the Philippines, and supported global entrepreneurs through roles in Ashoka and Endeavor.
Ms. Bela Gupta d'Souza
Co-founder of Edamama
Bela Gupta D’Souza is the founder of edamama.ph — a digital platform for mothers in the Philippines to shop for the most trusted childcare products and services, while discovering authentic parenting content and advice. Originally from India, Bela grew up in Japan, Thailand and the US before moving to the Philippines, where for the past decade she has been an active contributor to the startup ecosystem as a founder, investor and advisor. Bela graduated with an MBA from Stanford in 2011 and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Mumbai, India.
Ms. Minette Navarrete
Vice-Chairman and President of Kickstart Ventures, Inc.
Minette Navarrete is Vice-Chairman and President of Kickstart Ventures, Inc. She is a member of the Ayala Corporation’s Innovation Advisory Council, and of Globe’s Innovation Advisory Board. She is a Senior Vice President at Globe Telecom, focusing on New Business, and a member of the Board of Directors of AdSpark, Globe’s digital advertising subsidiary. Minette has held CEO/COO positions in various industries, ranging from scrappy Philippine startups to iconic global companies.
Minette Navarrete joined Globe Telecom Inc. in July 2006 to start Business Development in what was then a pure-play mobile operator. Under Minette’s leadership, the team created Globe’s first digital strategy blueprint and put in place the foundation of Globe’s digital media, content, and mobile advertising businesses.
In 2012, Minette led her team to found Kickstart Ventures, Inc. (www.kickstart.ph) and spin it out as a wholly-owned Globe subsidiary. As a corporate venture capital firm, Kickstart invests globally, providing capital, mentoring, and market access to early- to early-growth stage tech startups. Its portfolio consists of 45 companies in eight countries around the world, investing out of its two early (2012 and 2015) funds. In 2020, Kickstart closed the ACTIVE Fund, anchored by the Philippines’ first business house, the Ayala Corporation, and subsidiaries of the conglomerate – leaders across a wide range of industries. The ACTIVE Fund tracks four investment theses; and will invest in early- and early-growth tech companies around the world.
Mr. Roland Ros
Co-founder of Kumu
Roland Ros is the founder of kumu, a social entertainment app for millions of Filipinos in over 50 countries. Since its launch in 2018, kumu has reached the #1 Grossing Social App in the Philippines. It has also cracked the Top 10 in Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Kuwait, Singapore and Norway, and Top 20 in New Zealand, UAE, Switzerland, and the United States. Prior to kumu, Ros built a career as a growth engineer, with a track record generating millions of customers for Fortune 500 and high growth tech companies in the United States.
