3 Start-Ups Provide Innovative Solutions On Energy

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Closing Ceremony of the Impact Hub Fellowship on Sustainable Energy Solutions in Partnership with WWF and PEF, and supported by ADB.

After over a year, the second Fellowship incubation program of Impact Hub Manila, in partnership with Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and supported by Asian Development Bank (ADB), has come to an end with a closing ceremony last April 18. The Impact Hub Fellowship program focused on addressing the need for sustainable energy solutions by looking for promising entrepreneurs who deliver innovative products or services related to renewable energy, energy efficiency, access to energy, energy systems and energy consumption reduction.

Above photo shows Impact Hub Manila co-founder Mathias Jaeggi opens the ceremony with an inspiring speech.

Out of more than 50 applicants, only three winners were selected namely, HiGi Energy, CleverHeat and Solar Solutions, and went through an intensive 2-month cohort or accelerator program called KICK, where they received training and mentorship. Moreover, they received seed funding of Php500,000.00 each, as well as access to the coworking space and community of Impact Hub Manila. 

The three start-ups shared their journeys and accomplishments in the past year:

HiGi Energy

HiGi converts water hyacinths -- commonly known as pest plants -- and agricultural wastes into cooking energy such as briquettes. Their mission is to give access to affordable, sustainable and clean energy for low-income communities. Leon Kee and Hazel Pajotagana share, “We see ourselves redefining the charcoal industry, and to date we've sold 10,000 pieces in rural areas. We launched visibility in Manila, joined by Reuters, Impact Hub Manila, and International Speakers. We were recognized for the TAYO award, as well as given the Smart Innovation award. We even attracted the attention of ABS-CBN's Atom Araullo for Atom day.” 

Solar Solutions

Solar Solutions provides solar energy facilities focused on empowering local communities by providing them lighting, water purification, mobile charging and refrigeration systems. Raffy Concepcion and Rey Guerrero share, “We were able to partner with the NGO Kasagana Ka - they'll be including the solar sari-sari store in their line of products. .... We were able to meet key partners and referrals because of Impact Hub Manila, ADB, PEF, and WWF. “

CleverHeat

CleverHeat gives access to affordable and sustainable heat-driven refrigeration for farmers, fishermen, and small businesses, significantly cutting down electric consumption and reducing costs. Brian Tan Seng shares, “In Benguet, we saw five truck loads of organic wastes produced every day. It was a chance for us to plug in our solutions such as waste management and post-harvest food waste. Since they didn't want to make use of appliances, such as refrigerators, due to the high cost of electricity, we can provide them with a solution, our solution [in collaboration with Kitchen Energy.]”

The three start-up winners with the Impact Hub Manila co-founders and WWF and PEF representatives.

Represented by WWF and PEF during the ceremony were Attorney Gia Ibay and Ding Fuellos, respectively. Both speakers thanked Impact Hub Manila and the winners for the partnership and opportunity to work on renewable energy.

“We've been looking forward to this for so long. Despite the fact that we're a country filled with conservation, a fruitful collaboration for renewable energy would not have happened without this partnership. Hopefully, the Philippines will prosper even more in this department as well as be a more weather-resilient country in the future,” says Attorney Ibay of WWF.

Impact Hub Manila will be holding its third fellowship program soon this year focused on sustainable energy solutions in partnership with WWF, PEF, ADB and HSBC. Stay tuned for updates on the application period by following Impact Hub Manila on Facebook or subscribing to the newsletter. For more info, visit impacthub.ph.

Impact Hub Manila offers coworking spaces, incubation programs, corporate innovation workshops, and a vibrant learning community. Locally rooted and globally connected, Impact Hub continues to dominate the coworking industry as the largest global network of entrepreneurs with 15,000+ members in 101 Impact Hubs around the world. In partnership with KMC Solutions, Impact Hub Manila offers 6 key locations in Metro Manila for coworking or office space. This allows flexibility and convenience to entrepreneurs and startups who are passionate in collaborating to create an impact. Members can choose their preferred homebase (location) and move around other Impact Hub coworking spaces with no additional costs.

DOTr's Statement of Clarification on New Policy for Clark Airport

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Statement of Clarification
11 May 2017


The Department of Transportation (DOTr) wishes to clarify an erroneous news report stating that the building of a new terminal at Clark International Airport will proceed without public bidding.

What transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said was that they will no longer entertain unsolicited proposals for the project first, and just bid out the operations and maintenance of the airport in the future.

Secretary Tugade also mentioned that he prefers that the government first develops Clark Airport, rather than risk delays in the event a bidding involving private sector players would lead to litigation that would eventually place the project on hold.

This “hybrid” mode of implementation means that the government will not entertain multi-billion peso offers to develop Clark airport and develop it on its own before bidding out the Operation and Maintenance component. This will enable government to fast-track projects without the risk of delay brought about by possible lawsuits filed by losing bidders.

Further, Tugade said Megawide-GMR and JG Summit-Filinvest will be informed of the new policy.

The development of the Clark International Airport now falls under the jurisdiction and responsibility of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), and remains to be one of the priority infrastructure projects of the Duterte administration. The BCDA targets to open the new terminal by 2019.

3 Selected Teams Get A Chance to Fly to Switzerland for Kickstart: The Swiss Accelerator

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Being recognized internationally for a groundbreaking business idea is every entrepreneur’s dream. And this dream may come true for three startups from the Philippines and India: Ascendant Technologies Inc. (Philippines), HDC Agri (Philippines), and Fat Cat Robotics (India), as they have an advantage to be shortlisted and fly halfway across the world to Switzerland to participate in Kickstart: The Swiss Accelerator, an 11-week program that will help scale their promising business ideas related to one of the program’s pillars: Food, FinTech, Healthcare, Robotics and Intelligent Systems and Smart Cities.

Photo above shows the start-ups, Ascendant Technologies Inc. and MachiBox Inc., get mentored by John Lagdameo (Director, JGSOM Business Resource Center, ADMU).

Impact Hub Manila, an incubator and co-working space provider, is the outreach partner for Asia of the Kickstart: The Swiss Accelerator, one of Europe’s largest multi-corporate, zero-equity technology accelerators. As part of this regional campaign, Impact Hub Manila hosted a Roadshow event where 12 teams were pre-selected to get training from three mentors and to showcase their innovative solutions to a jury panel.

“Being part of the largest global network of entrepreneurship and innovation centers, we partner with international organizations and Impact Hubs across the world to give opportunities for Philippine startups and entrepreneurs to showcase their talents,” shares LizAn Kuster, Co-Founder of Impact Hub Manila.

We believe Filipinos have the skills and knowledge to be part of the growing startup scene in a global scale and so Impact Hub creates the platform for them through collaboration,” adds Ces Rondario, Co-founder of Impact Hub Manila.

The Roadshow Event is in partnership with the Embassy of Switzerland in the Philippines, in celebration of the 60th year of Diplomatic Relations between Switzerland and the Philippines. This collaboration is born out of the commitment of the Swiss Embassy to harness creativity, and support enterprising solutions. Deputy Head of Mission Raoul Imbach represented the Embassy of Switzerland in the event as one of the judges. He is a big supporter of the entrepreneurship landscape in the country.