Global opportunities in the palm of entrepreneurs’ hands

This is a press release from Impact Hub Manila

MANILA, Philippines – Being recognized internationally for a groundbreaking business idea is every entrepreneur’s dream.

Impact Hub Manila (Impact Hub), an incubator and coworking space provider with a global network of 15,000+ entrepreneurs around the world, lives up to its motto of being “locally rooted and globally connected” and makes this dream come true.

In the first week of April, Impact Hub held two events – “eSkills4Girls Workshop” and “Kickstart: The Swiss Accelerator” – that gave startups and entrepreneurs an opportunity to be sent to Berlin, Germany or Zurich, Switzerland, respectively.

Impact Hub also recently launched its Global Passport, which gives members a free 3-day coworking pass to any Impact Hub abroad every year.

Women techpreneurs go to Berlin

Digital technology has empowered users in many ways that affect their everyday lives. However, in reality there is a gender divide in digital, wherein participation of women in digital technology are limited especially in developing countries.

The eSkills4Girls, a global initiative by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) supported by Google and in partnership with Impact Hub, aims to increase the participation of women in the digital economy.

Startups, social enterprises, or non-government organizations run by mostly women were selected from Accra (Ghana), Odessa (Ukraine), Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Manila (Philippines) to present at the prestigious Women20 Summit in Berlin this April, which will be attended by G20 President and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Winning teams received an all-expense paid trip to Berlin from April 21 to 26 to participate in a two-day hackathon. The top 3 finalists will receive mentorship from Google Entrepreneurs and a grant worth up to 15,000 euros!

“We need to continuously support and empower women today to get to a gender-equal world. Thus, we are thrilled about the outcome of eSkills4Girls and the women who participated. We will be having more initiatives like this in the near future,” says LizAn Kuster, co-founder of Impact Hub Manila.

Out of the 6 teams invited to pitch to a panel, Jeepneed and Aurelia & Amelia from Manila were selected to go to Berlin.

Advantage to compete in Zurich

At least 3 startups from the Philippines and India, Ascendant Technologies Inc. (Philippines), HDC Agri (Philippines), and Fat Cat Robotics (India), have an advantage to be shortlisted and to fly to Switzerland to participate in Kickstart: The Swiss Accelerator, one of Europe’s largest multi-corporate, zero-equity technology accelerators.

The teams that will be further shortlisted will meet over 15 corporate partners and mentors in September in Switzerland such as Swisscom, Credit Suisse, and Ernst & Young, who will do a ‘Proof of Concept’ trial to evaluate the feasibility of the pilot project and potential for working together.

The event will conclude with a Final Demo Day in November, where each team will pitch their business ideas to potential investors. The finalists get the chance to win $25,000 of zero-equity funding.

As part of the regional outreach campaign, Impact Hub, in partnership with the Embassy of Switzerland in the Philippines, hosted a Roadshow event where 12 teams were pre-selected to receive mentorship and showcase their innovative solutions to a panel.

This collaboration was made out of the commitment of the Swiss Embassy to harness creativity and support enterprising solutions, and in celebration of the 60th year of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and the Philippines.

The event was graced with the presence of Raoul Imbach, Deputy Head of Mission of the Swiss embassy and a staunch supporter of the entrepreneurship landscape in the Philippines.

“Innovation is one of the main ingredients of the success of Switzerland’s entrepreneurial system from its SMEs to its multinationals. Promoting innovation in the Philippines through this event is, we believe, a good way for us to share something valuable and meaningful with the Philippines and its young entrepreneurs on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two countries,” Imbach said.

“We believe Filipinos have the skills and knowledge to be part of the growing global startup scene and so we create the platform for entrepreneurs through collaboration with international organizations and Impact Hubs abroad,” Ces Rondario, co-founder of Impact Hub Manila said.

Free workspace abroad

Impact Hub announced that coworking members have a FREE 3-day pass to any Impact Hub abroad through the Global Passport. So what does this mean? If you want to stop by Impact Hub Singapore for three days, then jump over to Impact Hub Tokyo for 3 days and then to Impact Hub San Francisco for 3 more days – you can! And you can do it every year!

The Global Passport makes overseas business meetings or vacations for entrepreneurs more convenient and exciting, as they get exposure to different Impact Hub communities around the world. – Rappler.com

Visit impacthub.ph to know more about Impact Hub Manila and their services. Follow Impact Hub Manila on Facebook or Twitter to get real-time updates on events and announcements.