Incubating IT ventures

I have glimpsed the future.

There they stood, with all the confidence they could muster, facing a panel of six, whose experience and expertise would have totaled over a century’s worth.

Richard Rubnan Que, Melody Wong, and Abigail Go of the Ateneo de Manila University. Glorie Kristine Tongol, Angela Sabas, and Kathrina Alejandrino of De La Salle University. Jay Mendoza and Rhenan Navarro of Asia Pacific College. Eight college seniors , showing the present what to expect from the future.

Their journey, like that of almost 300 students who joined the First HSBC Young IT Entrepreneur Awards, started with a single idea. The call was for an innovative business proposition–a product, service, or a new way of doing things, which involved the use of information technology.

Long Process

We thought long and hard before deciding to bring the program to the Philippines from Hong Kong, where it started in 2000 as the brainchild of HSBC Asia-Pacific chairman David Eldon, and from Malaysia, where the competition is on its third year. HSBC has always taken an active role in education in the communities where we operate and, for a bank that has been in the Philippines for close to 130 years, we always take a long-term view. People, we believe, are the greatest resource of any company and of any country. If we get a chance to discover and develop potential, whether it’s a public elementary student leaning to read or a bright mind with a business idea that just might work, we take it.

Launch

With the help of partners such as the Asian Institute of Management and Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization, we launched the competition in October 2003. We first made the rounds of universities and colleges in Metro Manila, using the marketing savvy of a sorbetero or ice cream vendor to generate interest. Students lined up for free ice cream–which also came with a brochure on the competition. We sought young successful entrepreneurs for inspiration. It was not easy to find them as many of them shun the limelight and work behind the scenes. But we found them and their real stories of success and failure, shared with aspiring student-entrepreneurs, made all the difference.

Monchu Garcia, president of an online shopping company, e2door.com, and Jun Villanueva, whose MDi group distributes, among other products, the Palm and iPod, are both from YEO, a learning group of entrepreneurs below 40 years old. They generously gave their time as resource speakers for the workshops and as judges from rounds one to three.

What made this more than a business plan competition were the training and the opportunities for interaction with real entrepreneurs and business leaders. Before the top 30 teams were asked to submit their full business plan, they first spent one Saturday morning at AIM, where Asian Center for Entrepreneurship dean, Alejandrino Ferreria, and two others talked about their actual experiences in planning, setting up, and running their businesses. Their stories were exciting, frustrating, challenging, and inspiring all at the same.

Students worked on the business plan over the holidays and, by mid-January 2004, the top 10 were selected. These students, in the next round, got the chance to meet some of the judges such as AIM Master in Entrepreneuship graduate Raffy David as well as AIM professors Jay Bernardo and Titos Ortigas, both of whom are also entrepreneurs.

The Pitch

The students waited in one of HSBC’s hallways at the Enterprise Center in Makati like fresh graduates waiting for a job interview. They had to make a two-minute "elevator pitch" and answer questions or clarify information about their business plans.

It was at this point that I realized the value of hard work, the inconveniences caused the judges and the detailed attention my assistant, Cat Manese, had put in the project for the past three months.

As I listened to each team explain, defend, clarify–at first, nervously, and then with pride– I thought that, just maybe, we were doing something right. We had been able to bring young people together to create something productive. We were listening to bright, young, passionate minds who wanted to make a difference.

Monchu echoed the sentiments of the other judges when he said: "There was a wealth of creative ideas presented and the best part of the program was talking face to face with the students and exploring their ideas."

Final Three

From this session, the top three teams were chosen. Their final test was a formal presentation to prominent business leaders.

A week before they were to compete in the grand finals, these eight students spent their Valentine’s day in a presentation skills workshop conducted by Business Works’ Anthony Pangilinan, where they did simulation exercises which were then constructively criticized.

Any young aspiring entrepreneur would have been easily intimidated by these names: Small Business Corp. chairman Mel Alonzo, AIM president Roberto de Ocampo, Microsoft Phils. managing director Antonio Javier, HSBC chief executive officer Warner Manning, YEO president Jeremy Sy, and Ayala Corp. president Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II.

But the eight finalists found it a most inspiring experience.

"We knew we had to prepare to make sure that we did not waste their time. We were nervous but, at the same time, privileged to be able to discuss our ideas with business leaders we aspire to become," said Richard Rubnan Que, whose Ateneo team won the Gold Award for their business proposal "eLustrados", an electronic-based publishing house that they believe will aid budding Filipino writers as it brings in profits.

These three senior management students will join winners from Malaysia and Hong Kong in a study tour at the University of Washington in June. Upon their return, they will get a chance to further develop their business proposition as they make use of their six-month scholarship to AIM’s Venture in Entrepreneurship program. HSBC has also provided a self-development fund worth P150,000 for the team.

The La Salle team clinched the Silver Award and P125,000 for "Mobile Fast Food Portal" while the Asia Pacific College team bagged the Bronze Award and P100,000 for "Trip Ko, Text Mo".

Looking back, I think all the teams who took the time to think of and submit an innovative business idea have something to be proud of. They represent a new generation of business leaders who celebrate opportunity, embrace innovation, and create viable solutions to build wealth.

I have glimpsed the future–and it looks promising.