PRESS RELEASE
SFPCG-PR-56-2021
PHILIPPINE CONSULATE GENERAL IN SAN FRANCISCO SIGNS MOU WITH DYNAMICO SPACE TO PROMOTE PHILIPPINE STARTUPS
The Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco, represented by Consul General Neil Frank R. Ferrer, signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Dynamico Space, represented by its Managing Partner Cesario H. Calanoc III, on 30 June 2021 to promote Philippine startups.
The MOU, entitled “Philippines-Silicon Valley Startup Program with Dynamico,” formalizes the public-private partnership between the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco and Dynamico Space, located at the third floor of the Philippine Center in San Francisco at 447 Sutter Street in San Francisco.
Under the MOU, the Consulate and Dynamico Space shall jointly coordinate to assist Philippine startups gain exposure to the United States, and for U.S. startups to expand their market to the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia.
The MOU signing was participated in by Consul General Ferrer, who delivered the welcome remarks, Mr. Calanoc and Mr. Albert Lim of Dynamico Space, and GlobalSF Executive Director Darlene Chiu-Bryant, who delivered the closing remarks. The Consuls General of the other ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam) with posts in San Francisco attended the event in-person, along with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists and members of the Filipino community in the Bay Area. In order to maintain physical distancing measures, Post limited the number of in-person guests and only a total of 39 persons attended in-person.
Participants who were not able to attend in-person were able to join the event on Zoom, with a total of 29 attendees from the Philippines, the United States, and India. Zoom participants included Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary Rafaelita Aldaba, who delivered keynote remarks on the Philippine Innovative Startup Act and the country’s AI roadmap, and Mr Wayne Lue, VP of Engineering at Wonolo, who discussed the mentorship program at Dynamico.
The event was also livestreamed on Facebook live on the Consulate’s Facebook page, garnering 1,800 views as of today. The video may be viewed on https://www.facebook.com/PHinSF/videos/587394965981521.
In his remarks, the undersigned highlighted that the Philippines is well-positioned to be a center for growth for startups. He said that the Philippine startup ecosystem is supported by initiatives such as the QBO innovation hub, a public-private partnership that provides programs and mentorship for Filipino startups, universities and higher education institutions, which now run their own incubator programs, and local success stories, including “unicorns” or billion-dollar companies, such as TaskUs, a Philippine-reared BPO, which recently debuted at the U.S. Nasdaq with a US$2.2 billion valuation.
The country also passed critical legislation, particularly the Innovative Startup Act, to create an ecosystem that thrives and becomes self-sustaining, developing an environment that facilitates continuous innovation, ensuring the creation of job opportunities, and generating a new engine for growth for our economy.
He added that in the United States, startups from the Filipino diaspora, such as Plentina, which provides an e-wallet credit for Filipinos for their everyday purchases, and Tang App, which provides an affordable peer-to-peer payment service for phone loads in the Philippines, have found recent success.
He noted that the MOU with Dynamico Space aims to build bridges that will connect the Philippines and Silicon Valley, and that the partnership will formalize collaboration between the Consulate and Dynamico Space in the areas of training, mentorship, financing and networking.
To participate in the program, interested entrepreneurs, organizations, companies and individuals may visit Dynamico Space’s website dynamico.space or e-mail [email protected].