Wazzup Pilipinas!
"Sadly, there aren’t much readily available spaces for Filipinos to start-up and get the support they need to pursue their passions. In the areas of entrepreneurship, design, arts and culture, education, health, social advocacies, and causes; these initiatives fail to start, or in some cases scale, because they lack one of the most basic and crucial resources, funds.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have people and organizations capable of funding potential projects but are not adept with the logistics of reaching out to these initiatives.
Although existing forms of funding like venture capitalists, angel investors, grant giving bodies, and banking institutions are present; they are not readily available year-round and sometimes cater only to a specific niche. At the end of the day, only a few among hundreds of equally compelling ideas get the funding they need.
The Spark Project aims to change all of these and address the country’s need
for more entrepreneurs and change-makers by democratizing the
disproportionate distribution of funding capital.
The community that aims to showcase Filipino talent and ingenuity through an online crowdfunding platform where they can campaign to fund their creative, innovative, and passion-driven projects.
The team believes in the Filipino and its ability to create something awesome. It’s about time that we have our own crowdfunding platform in the Philippines."
Below is an interview with Patch Dulay, one of the founders of The Spark Project. Get to know more about him, his team and the "project" and be inspired to get involved as well.
The community that aims to showcase Filipino talent and ingenuity through an online crowdfunding platform where they can campaign to fund their creative, innovative, and passion-driven projects.
The team believes in the Filipino and its ability to create something awesome. It’s about time that we have our own crowdfunding platform in the Philippines."
Below is an interview with Patch Dulay, one of the founders of The Spark Project. Get to know more about him, his team and the "project" and be inspired to get involved as well.
1.
Can you tell us about your humble beginnings as a social innovator and
how you setup/got involved in your organization? Why did you choose to
play an active role in this organization?
Back in the university where I
studies, in Ateneo, we were always challenged to give back to the
greater community. And that orientation towards social "good" has been
in my consciousness as I moved on after graduation. My experiences
studying and living abroad for my masters degree has also opened my mind
to the world and the realities our Kababayans experience there. With a
renewed sense of purpose, I went back to Philippines and was introduced
to the local social innovation scene. It was from there where I mustered
the strength to pursue The Spark Project.
2. What exactly is your
organization all about? What are you trying to promote or lead by
example and what made you choose this social innovation among others?
The Spark Project (TSP) is an online crowdfunding community that aims
to showcase Filipino talent. It is a way for us Filipinos to raise
funds for and support creative, innovative, and passion-driven projects
of fellow Filipinos. Leveraging on web technologies like social media
and ecommerce provides a good alternative to these enterprising projects
needing that extra boost to get things off the ground.
3. Who are the other core team members
or individuals responsible in running your organization? Please
elaborate on their roles or functions.
We
are 6 in the TSP team. Basically we have a tech team in charge of the
crowdfunding platform and a community development team who plays a more
external role in building that crowdfunding community we envision. We
play with our strengths and share these roles among the team. Just like
any startup, we need to be all around.
4. Do you have partners from private companies, NGOs, the government, and/or other organizations? Who are they and what are their contributions to your organization? Are you open to more partnerships? How can they partner or join your organization?
4. Do you have partners from private companies, NGOs, the government, and/or other organizations? Who are they and what are their contributions to your organization? Are you open to more partnerships? How can they partner or join your organization?
We don't have official
partners. We collaborate a lot with other groups, like The Dream
Project. We help each other out. Cross promote. Strengthen each other's
bottomline.
I have a lot of part-time
jobs that I keep. There are times when juggling all of them can become
challenging. I just remind myself and go back to my WHY. This get things
back to perspective.
6. What is success to you? Can you say
that your organization already made a significant contribution to
society? In what way was your social innovation beneficial to the
country or the people? Please share your accomplishments/achievements so
far.
I am happy with how TSP has
grown and has created impact with the projects we had on our site. These
are victories for us. But this wont stop us from wanting to create the
same impact for our future projects. We have to keep on innovating and
finding ways to do this.
We have had 18 projects so far and raised more than 1.5M for all these projects combined.
7. What do you think you will need to explore or work on to improve your organization and its products/services?
Looking into how we can reach to more backers and build that backer community.
9. What keeps you motivated to continue running/joining this
organization? Do you have a specific task or objective in mind that you
want your organization to accomplish in the near future? Do you have any
plans to expand or offer other/alternative products or services, or
specific groups or organizations that you want to reach out to and
partner/collaborate with?
8. Please share your memorable moments and success stories as
part of the organization that personally touched or affected you. Were
there any personal disappointments, failures, or regrets?
Projects that we've had have become friends to
us as well. It's so nice to build that good relationship with them even
after their projects are over. Like Ann and Louie of Goache, Guido of
Kawil Tours, and Tal of Risque, we continue to support each other.
See our spark projects take
off after their campaigns is what keeps us going. We need to have more
if these. If TSP can make help create more of those, then we are doing
our job right. We shall be launching an online store soon where they can
buy products for our "sparked" projects.
10. What can you share or advise to all aspiring
Social Innovators/Entrepreneurs who plan to setup their own
organization/business? Please share some tips on how to effectively get
started and sustain the dream.
Just go for it, don't be afraid to try. Be open to learning from your customers and continuously improve.
When the going get's tough, always go back to your WHY.
Contact information below:
A. Twitter: sparkprojectHQ
B. Facebook: sparkprojectHQ
C. Instagram: sparkprojectHQ
D. Blog site: tumblr sparkprojectHQ
E. Website: thesparkproject.com
F. Organization Mailing Address: patch@thesparkproject.com, info@thesparkproject.com
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
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