1982 Ventures invests in Lista, the MSME book-keeping app for the Philippines

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Lista is empowering millions of MSME businesses in the Philippines move from pen and paper to digital says Herston Elton Powers of 1982.vc.

Lista is a bookkeeping app for MSMEs based in the Philippines. Through its financial inclusion app, they offer Filipinos a free and secure way of managing finances such as tracking debts, recording transactions, and even issuing invoices.

Lista raised an oversubscribed round from 1982 Ventures, East Ventures, Saison Capital, Alternate Ventures, Monde Nissin Family Ventures' Willy Arifin and prominent angel investors such as former Grab Philippines President and co-founder Brian Cu, Pinelabs CEO Amrish Rau, CRED Founder Kunal Shah, Jupiter Bank Chief Executive Officer Jitendra Gupta and Google APAC Senior Execs Aurelien Pichon, Alap Bharadwaj. 

Lista was founded by Aaron Villegas, an experienced entrepreneur with product experience, and Khriz Lim, a former Grab executive that led GrabFood's expansion into the region. Since its launch in September, Lista has helped collect close to US$1.5 million in receivables of MSMEs all over the Philippines.

Aaron Villegas, co-founder of Lista, stated, "Helping Philippine MSMEs was an advocacy close to my heart. Growing up, I saw the challenges my family endured in running a sari-sari store (community store)." Continuing, "I spent almost a year just talking to various MSMEs in the province and trying different ideas to help them grow. And that's when I realized that the first thing to do to really help them grow is through digitization and replacing pen and paper with easy-to-use tech."

As the pandemic struck early last year, digitization of business processes proved to be pivotal in ensuring the continuity of business operations. Micro, small and medium enterprises or MSMEs were among the most affected during the prolonged quarantines - 74% of these businesses halted operations due to the lockdowns according to the country's Department of Trade and Industry. MSMEs are vital to the Philippine economy as they comprise about 99.51% of business establishments in the country and employ around 63% of the country's workforce, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Khriz Lim, former Grab executive and co-founder of Lista stated, "MSMEs are the backbone of the Philippine economy and it's time we stop leaving them behind. Through this app, we want to revolutionize the way MSMEs operate and provide them with a reliable digital partner for small businesses in the country."

Using digital tools can help fill this gap and allow them to record transactions and track their growth more easily. Lista aims to help MSMEs, including freelancers, logistics operators and riders, and other small businesses, digitize their business and provide a free and secure way of easily managing their finances.

Herston Elton Powers, Managing Partner of 1982 Ventures stated, "Lista is empowering millions of MSME businesses in the Philippines move from pen and paper to digital. The bookkeeping app space in the Philippines is wide open and Aaron and Khriz are the right founders to capture the opportunity. Lista's product and strong traction have put them in pole position to win the market."

Lista will use the funds to grow their team and expand their product offering to reach more MSMEs in the country.

Law group hits Locsin for 'dirty ashtray award' during WHO conference on tobacco control

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Public interest law group ImagineLaw criticized Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Teodoro Boy Locsin, Jr. for what they call a ‘blatant disregard of the position of the Department of Health (DOH) and the medical community against vapes and e-cigarettes’.

Locsin as head of the Philippine delegation to the ninth Conference of Parties (COP9) of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) being held this week touted vapes and e-cigarettes (novel tobacco products) as ‘less harmful’ as part of the Philippines’ Statement on the WHO FCTC Global Progress Report. The secretary also praised tobacco companies for their ‘innovation in creating products that deliver satisfaction but with far less harm’.

“Secretary Locsin’s statements in the COP 9 echo the false narratives peddled by tobacco companies,” according to ImagineLaw Executive Director Atty. Sophia San Luis. “These narratives go against overwhelming medical and scientific opinion on the real harms of vapes and e-cigarettes,” she added.


Dirty Ashtray Award


The Philippine government on Tuesday was also awarded the ‘Dirty Ashtray Award’, a lampoon award given by international watchdog Framework Convention Alliance (FCA) to companies and governments seen as peddlers of tobacco industry interests.

Together with Guatemala, the award was given to the Philippines on the second day of COP 9 for “insisting on amendments with unhelpful and often confusing wording which wasted valuable COP time,” according to the FCA.

“It is a great misfortune and an example of supreme irony that tobacco interests are represented in the Philippine delegation to an international platform for tobacco control, while public health interests are sidelined,” said San Luis. “This is a big insult and a shameful setback in the Philippines’ efforts to curb the rising number of deaths caused by the tobacco industry in the Philippines,” she added.


Locsin urged: listen to DOH


ImagineLaw urged Locsin to withdraw his statement and allow the DOH to take the lead in advancing public health interests in the COP9.

“It is a public health conference of parties by the World Health Organization. Secretary Locsin famously said before to leave the matters of foreign affairs to him. In the same light, he should also leave public health matters to the DOH,” said San Luis.

She also urged the Philippine delegation to listen to health experts and ‘commit to curb the harms of vapes, e-cigarettes, restrict access to these novel products and dispel unsubstantiated harm reduction claims.’

“Physicians and the medical community have been clear about the danger of vapes and e-cigarettes to people’s health. They are not a viable smoking cessation nor harm reduction tools but a way for tobacco companies to secure their profits.

Event Highlights Solutions to Reduce Plastic Waste in Rivers and Coasts

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Around 11 million tonnes of plastic enter our oceans yearly. This is equivalent to an entire garbage truck’s worth of plastic every minute,” said World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Global Plastics Policy Coordinator Mr. Huy Ho during a webinar on replicable models on marine plastic pollution monitoring held on 9 November 2021. “The economic damage of plastic to Earth’s marine ecosystems is estimated at USD13 billion, severely affecting 1,500 species,” Ho added.

Organized by Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) Resource Facility under the ASEAN-Norwegian Cooperation Project on Local Capacity Building for Reducing Plastic Pollution in the ASEAN Region (ASEANO), the event highlighted regional efforts to stem the flow of plastic waste into our oceans.

“One of the main challenges for Asian countries is the prevalence of tingi culture, where people prefer to buy small, disposable goodie sachets instead of buying in bulk,” explained Dr. Edwin Lineses of De La Salle University Dasmariñas (DLSU-D), Philippines.

A 2004 study by Prahalad explained how sachets enabled the global poor to procure goods that well-off people consume, albeit in smaller amounts. This practice has spurred millions of tonnes of single use plastics that are choking Asia’s rivers and coasts. The global COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem. “In 2020, the Philippines alone was using an estimated 49 million disposable facemasks daily,” added Lineses.

The ASEANO project aims to develop and promote sound and sustainable measures to reduce the impacts of plastic pollution and their implications on socioeconomic development and the environment. The project focuses on the city or municipal level, with Cavite’s Imus River and Indonesia’s Citarum River as project sites.

One of Cavite’s six major river systems, the Imus River originates in the highlands of Tagaytay and wends through the cities of Dasmariñas, Imus and Bacoor before emptying its contents into Manila Bay. “Cavite alone generates well over a thousand tonnes of solid waste daily,” said Cavite Provincial Government Environment and Natural Resources Officer Ms. Anabelle Cayabyab. “What we need is to change the attitude of people in both generating and managing their solid waste because they think the government will always clean up after them. There is no magic solution. We need everyone’s cooperation.”

The webinar’s experts highlighted the dangers of marine pollution, particularly buoys and nets from the fishing and aquaculture industries. “Ghost nets abandoned by fishing fleets kill marine life, which is why fishing vessels should register their nets upon purchase,” recommended Oceans Asia Operations Director Mr. Gary Stokes. “We need more accountability from the fishing industry.” 

NIVA’s Dr. Marianne Olsen highlighted the need to harmonize and standardize sampling, monitoring, and reporting systems to get a clearer view of how much plastic flows into our oceans.

Funded by the Norwegian Development Program to Combat Marine Litter and Microplastics, ASEANO is led by the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) Indonesia in close collaboration with the PEMSEA Resource Facility and ASEAN Secretariat under the purview of the endorsing ASEAN sectoral body, the ASEAN Working Group on Coastal and Marine Environment (AWGCME).

The results of the project will be synthesized into a local government training manual, toolkit, and best practices handbook of policy, monitoring tools, and technologies for plastics management that can be used as a reference by local government units in the ASEAN region. The webinar is a run-up to the upcoming East Asian Seas (EAS) Congress, slated for 1 and 2 December 2021.

“We must step up the monitoring of riverine and marine plastic litter to make informed and effective decisions,” concluded Deputy Secretary-General of Association of Southeast Asian Nations for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Ekkaphab Phanthavong. “This event promotes solutions for healthier rivers and coasts in the ASEAN, which is vital because millions of people depend on them for their lives and livelihoods.”