Businessman Manny Ayala Optimistic About PH Startup Ecosystem, Lauds Geek on a Beach

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Businessman and Investor Manny Ayala is optimistic about the prospects of the growth of the Philippine ecosystem of tech startups or innovation-driven enterprises.

“It is very heartening to see so many talented people with great ideas pursuing their dreams. It seems like I come across a new startup every few days,” said Ayala.

He said that entrepreneurs should seriously think about redefining success not only as a matter of personal financial outcomes but rather in terms of the positive impact one makes on fellow entrepreneurs in the ecosystem.

“What we have found across the growing, studying, a number of tech ecosystems, is that it only takes a handful of ‘pay it forward’ entrepreneurs who mentor and invest in other entrepreneurs to get an ecosystem to become big and robust,” he said.

Ayala is Rappler Board Chairman, Hatchd Digital Chairperson, and Managing Director of Endeavor Philippines, non-profit organization dedicated towards empowering entrepreneurs.

In spite of his hectic schedule, Ayala made time to grace last year’s Geeks on a Beach (GOAB) tech startup confab held at Moevenpick Hotel, Mactan Island, Cebu.

During this event, Ayala gave his regards to the organizers, saying he had a great time and that there should be more productive events like GOAB.

For the past three years, Geeks on a Beach has provided an international platform for startups, tech entrepreneurs, and designers to engage in a laid back yet production interaction on technology, entrepreneurship, and real business opportunities.

The confab will return to the world-famous Boracay Island, the site of its maiden-staging last September 2013, come August 21-22 this year.

“We are very happy to have a host of seasoned entrepreneurs, businesses, and even the government backing us up in making our dream of building a robust and vibrant Philippine startup ecosystem a reality,” said Tina Amper, GOAB lead organizer and Founder of TechTalks.ph.

Amper said that the GOAB organizers have taken Manny Ayala’s “pay it forward” approach to heart and are committed to broadening the reach and influence of Philippine tech startups.  

She said that twenty tech champs in the world have so far confirmed to speak before hundreds of participants from across the globe.

Some of the speakers include IdeaSpace President, Earl Valencia; Monk’s Hill Ventures Managing Director, Kuo-Yi Lim; Rappler CEO, Maria Ressa; SMART Communications Developer Evangelist, Paul Pajo; Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communication Technology Office (DOST-ICTO) Deputy Executive Director, Mon Ibrahim; and 500 Startups Managing Partner, Khailee Ng.

TechTalks.ph and the DOST-ICTO have partnered once again with Sym.ph, Happy Garaje, and PRWorks for the third GOAB, with major partnerships with SMART Communications, Smart Bro, SMART DevNet, IdeaSpace, PLDT Innolab, AirAsia, Globaltronics, Amazon Web Services, Monk’s Hill Ventures, Plug and Play Tech Center, Salarium, Microsoft, USAID-STRIDE and Islands.

To register, sponsor, or inquire about GOAB, visit the website, www.GeeksOnABeach.com, follow @GeeksOnABeach in Facebook and Twitter @GeeksOnABeach, or email hello@GeeksOnABeach.com.

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