What is stopping the big conglomerates in Philippines from getting their skin into the startup game?

Southeast Asia has long been dubbed the next hub for startups in Asia Pacific with its big-name unicorns going more rapidly global—like Grab and Go-Jek. And yet, the Philippines, despite being the region’s second largest with more than a hundred million citizens, only has one unicorn, Revolution Precrafted, a startup that produces premade homes.

The Philippine startup community has pointed to the lack of funding sources and government support in the country for its slow growth. In the 2017 Philippine Startup Survey conducted by accounting firm PwC Philippines, majority of startup founders cited capital and regulatory requirements as major challenges when starting up.

Also Read: Women-focused startup competition ‘She Loves Tech’ comes back to Philippines

For one, the startup community could have enjoyed support from the country’s big businesses earlier, as major partners. In Indonesia, the country’s largest conglomerates took a bet on startups early on in the game, setting up venture capital firms of their own as they sought companies who were poised to become the region’s next unicorns.

The country’s darling startup, Go-Jek, is even funded by two of the country’s biggest conglomerates: Astra International, which has interests in automobiles, and cigarette manufacturer Djarum Group.

With that kind of capital support, it is no wonder the country now has four unicorns. And it’s not like Indonesia is far more advanced than the Philippines. The archipelagic countries both struggle in financial inclusion and suffer from poor infrastructure. If anything, Indonesia is even more susceptible to risk and challenges with more than 260 million citizens spread across more than 18,000 islands. The 100 million Filipinos based in the Philippines’ 7,700 islands suddenly pale in comparison.

So why did Philippine business institutions hesitate to embrace the digital revolution?

One cannot help but be reminded of  the “innovator’s dilemma.” In the seminal book by  Clayton Christensen, the business professor bared that most successful businesses struggle to invest in disruptive technologies until it’s too late, for fear of hurting the very systems that make their enterprises work and flourish.

It’s a sentiment recently echoed by Talino Venture Labs CEO and co-founder Winston Damarillo at e27’s recently concluded Echelon Asia Summit 2019 in Singapore. “Big institutions grapple with [serving the next half of the population] because in order for them to survive long term they have to serve the down market. But in order for them to serve down market, they have to scale down what they are very comfortable with,” he said.

Lucky for the country’s conglomerates, no startup has completely disrupted their core businesses yet. Still, the decisions most of them have been making in recent years show that they too are keeping their backs in check for the next big disruptor who might swoop in and acquire their market shares.

Last May, Ayala Corp., and JG Summit Holdings both announced fresh capital worth $200 million in total to invest in early-stage startups in the region. The announcement came after two to three years’ worth of investments made by the two companies in different startups both here and abroad either through their sister companies or subsidiaries.

Also Read: [In Photos] IGNITE wraps up Philippines tech conference with more collaborations to come

Ayala Corp. has technically long been an investor in startups, but only through Kickstart Ventures, a subsidiary of Globe Telecom, which is also under its wing. Kickstart Ventures has made 38 investments since its inception in the early 2010s, a healthy mix of local and regional ones, including a stake in Philippine-based Coins.ph, which was more recently acquired by Go-Jek.

In recent years, even Ayala’s other more traditional subsidiaries, like its health arm, AC Health, also invested in startups that eventually supported its current businesses. In 2017, AC Health invested in MedGrocer, an on-demand delivery service for medicines. In the next two years, it bought majority shares on two other health startups, health tech solutions developer Vigos, and health care platform AIDE App.

JG Summit made similar moves in the same year when it invested in Garena Interactive Holding, the company which operates e-commerce platform Shopee. It has since expanded its startup portfolio, even as far as launching its very own fintech firm, Cashalo, in 2018.

The fresh funds from the two conglomerates affirm what Damarillo similarly described at the Echelon Asia Summit 2019 in Singapore as “Corporate VC 3.0”.

“Corporate VC 3.0 lends itself very well to engaging family-run corporations, in particular, the third generation who are tasked with growing the businesses given technologies available to them now,” Damarillo said. “It involves creating startups from within, not as a side-venture but to further develop and expand their core business.”

Saphron, an insurtech startup driven to make insurance “radically accessible through seamless technology” is one example of a Corporate VC 3.0 innovation. Backed by Talino Venture Labs, in cooperation with Sage Capital, Saphron aims to bridge the gap between the low-income markets to affordable insurance products through its two main offerings: micro and modular insurance.

The startup’s first partner is the Pioneer group, a leading commercial insurance provider in the Philippines that caters to Filipinos from socio-economic classes A to D. It is also the top provider of coverage for migrant workers and the low-income sector in the country.

“Saphron is a prime example of Corporate VC 3.0 at play, where large corporates support startups to bring their own core services, in this case insurance, far and wide,” said Damarillo.

“In the case of Saphron, what we need is to demystify insurance, remove its barriers, and make it attractive especially to the people who typically run away from it—but who actually need it most. We need a massive education and a shift in mindset. How will we do it? By meeting consumers where they are, through technology that they’re already familiar with.”

The country’s big businesses may count themselves as fortunate in the midst of this big startup revolution brewing in the region, for now. But with the number of startups mushrooming across Southeast Asia, ready to solve the biggest hurdles and challenges facing its biggest markets, the conglomerates’ long-term success will depend on their quick eye for the next big innovator in the space and in keeping them motivated under their wings.

Also Read: Lazada, Shopee and Zalora are most visited e-commerce sites in Philippines

Because talent and ideas are no longer scarce. The battle is now in keeping innovators and startup founders satisfied with their partnership and the joint impact they are making. And with that kind of problem, the real winners are no longer just businesses, but the markets set to enjoy the services and products they have long desired.

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Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

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The Singapore-based venture capital said it plans to raise US$200 million blind fund in 2020

Singapore’s Golden Equator Capital (GEC) has announced that it has raised two private capital funds totalling US$90 million, aimed for the growth capital of a public-listed company in the region.

The funds were backed by institutional and accredited investors in Singapore, Japan, and Korea.

The private capital funds will cover private debt and mezzanine financing to provide growth capital for acquisitions and business expansion purposes, for companies and projects in Southeast Asia.

GEC said that the private capital funds, led by its Managing Partner Jacob Jiwon Kim, primarily focus on the infrastructure, energy, and financial sector. In the past, Kim has worked for various government and financial institutions in the region as a corporate strategy and acquisition specialist with a background in managing multiple hedge funds and a private equity fund covering Asian markets.

“Asia has historically been a market financed by Western banks, but with these lenders scaling back in Asia in the last decade, the gap in the much-needed growth-financing for Asia’s emerging economies has been growing,” said Kim.

“At the same time, there is a lot of capital in developed Asian markets such as Japan and Korea that’s looking for investments with stronger returns than their domestic markets. I believe our regional network and market expertise are well poised to curate investment opportunities in Southeast Asia for investors from developed Asian markets,” he added.

Also Read: Bridestory co-founders’ AI photography startup SweetEscape raises US$6M funding

Next, GEC said it targets to raise a blind fund in the range of US$200 million next year while the fund manager continues to work on additional projects and may potentially launch a few more project funds.

With a growing preference for Asia-focused private debt funds, more than 900 institutions are increasing their exposure to private debt strategies, looking to diversify their private debt portfolios while finding less competed opportunities. According to Preqin, 30 per cent of investors believe that Asia presents the best of opportunities for investing in private debt.

GEC is a Singapore-based fund management company holding a Capital Markets Services (CMS) licence, a business under Golden Equator Group. GEC currently has five funds: two private capital funds and a prime currency income fund, besides its two venture funds.
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Using cryptocurrency provides a high level of encryption and drastically reduces the chances of fraud

The popularity of cryptocurrencies has never been higher, as more and more people across the globe look to invest in these markets and capitalize on their growth. At the same time, it’s important to remember that cryptocurrencies also function as a wallet utility that can be used in day-to-day transactions.

Bitcoin and Ether remain two of the most common cryptocurrencies used today, but the market continues to expand as more digital options are made available. Anyone looking to get started with crypto investing or transaction management has the option of buying from literally hundreds of choices.

But you also need a way to store it and spend it.

New companies that allow you to easily do both are popping up like flowers in the spring. One such service, CoinPayments, allows you to group all of your currency balances into a single account and use it on different online shopping platforms. Here are some key reasons to use cryptocurrency.

Blockchain security

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether are fundamentally different than how most average consumers use cash, checks, or credit cards today. These new currencies are built on a purely digital technology called blockchain, which boasts robust security features through encryption.

All cryptocurrencies rely on a financial ledger system, similar to how a checkbook or online bank account works. Each transaction is recorded in the ledger in order to track which entities own which parts of the blockchain. However, unlike checking accounts, cryptocurrencies do not have any central bank or authority to manage these transactions.

Also Read: ‘The Age of Cryptocurrency’ is a must read for anyone who wants to go from zero to one in blockchain

Because the blockchain ledger is distributed across the world through a number of computer networks, there is a very low risk of fraud or transaction interference. All of the systems on the network run computational algorithms to maintain the integrity of the blockchain and process new transactions. This type of infrastructure is known as a peer-to-peer network.

When you first open an account, you can register for a digital wallet of Bitcoin, Ether, or one of the many other publicly available currencies. By doing so, your wallet will be assigned both a public and a private encryption key. These work together to keep all transactions secure, similar to how a virtual private network (VPN) uses encryption to maintain your online privacy.

And like a VPN encrypts your internet connection and reroutes your IP address to keep hostile entities like hackers from finding you online, blockchain works to protect your cryptocurrency from the same bad guys. Each time you initiate a new crypto transaction, a new block is added to the global blockchain with the transaction details encrypted by your private key.

The desired recipient must be able to use your public key in order to accept the request and process the rest of the transaction. While this happens, all of the nodes on the blockchain network use their algorithms to validate the exchange.

Conversion to international currencies

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether don’t care where you are physically located. A share of the blockchain is worth the same whether you live in the United States or in Africa. In this way, cryptocurrencies act as global financial solutions that require minimal overhead or account requirements.

Though there is a growing list of major retailers who accept crypto payments, it’s not exactly easy to operate your entire financial life around blockchain technology yet, so you will likely need to maintain an investment in traditional cash and credit systems. Fortunately, there are crypto management solutions that let you manage deposits and withdrawals with external accounts.

Also Read: Implementing cryptocurrency and blockchain in the cybersecurity space

In order to add credit to a digital wallet for use with Bitcoin or Ether, you’ll first need to fund the wallet through a normal checking or savings account. After that, you can choose to begin making crypto transactions or else simply keep the credit in your account as a financial investment.

At any time in the future, you have the ability to sell your stake in the digital currencies and withdraw the money into a bank account with US dollars or a number of other international currencies.

Minimal transaction fees

When considering making an investment into Bitcoin, Ether, or one of the other cryptocurrencies on the market today, ponder more than just the exchange rate with your traditional currency. You need to keep in mind all of the benefits that come with blockchain technology, including the low transaction and account fees.

In the traditional financial world, large companies that manage your money are constantly charging you for their services. Some of these are obvious, like the account fees that brokerages and mutual funds require, while others are less transparent, like the credit card transaction fees that are factored into many merchants’ prices. These sorts of charges may feel like a requirement in today’s economy, but thanks to the cryptocurrency boom they don’t have to be.

Because of its peer-to-peer infrastructure design, the blockchain has no central authority that takes a cut from investments and transactions. You are only responsible for paying fees to the company that you use for exchanging money between cryptocurrencies and external accounts. If you shop around, you can find rates as low as 0.5 per cent.

Web and app integrations

Considering that the blockchain is a completely digital-based technology, it makes sense for it to have a wide range of integrations across the internet. Customers have the ability to pay with crypto wallets through platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento.

Also Read: What’s in store for blockchain and cryptocurrency?

Another key advantage of cryptocurrencies is that online transactions are settled immediately, compared to credit card purchases which can take days to complete.

Final thoughts

If you are a small business owner who wants to jump onto the blockchain bandwagon, you can add support for cryptocurrencies to your existing website or mobile application. Services like CoinPayments offer a full application programming interface (API) and shopping cart plugins to make Bitcoin, Ether, and others available to your customers. Shoppers can either log into an existing account or else use their own blockchain wallet to complete a transaction.

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Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

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It isn’t just about putting in the hours, but also doing it smartly

We’re faster, smarter, stronger, more emotionally-intelligent and artistically-gifted than ever before.

Take a look at any profession in the world today.

From music to maths to track running, the previously-impossible is being achieved every day.

Where does this continuous, steep upswing in the standards of excellence come from?

No, there hasn’t been a surge of extraordinarily talented people being born.

The myths of mastery

How long does it take to become a master of your craft? 

Is talent something you’re born with, or something you acquire through learning? 

And what do highly-skilled people do differently from the rest of us mortals?

Researchers have been searching for answers to these questions for decades. And recently, they made a surprising discovery.

The crème de la crème — or ‘expert performers’, as they’re officially known — all have something in common.

(And it’s not 10,000 hours.)

Debunking 10,000 hours

In Malcolm Gladwell’s 2008 book, Outliers: The Story of Success, he pinpoints 10,000 as the ‘magic number’ of hours a person needs to devote to their craft to become an expert.

He cites people like Bill Gates and the Beatles, who famously invested vast amounts of time to sharpen their skill-set.

His theory is based on the research of Dr. K. Anders Ericsson, a professor of psychology who has pioneered the study and science of peak performance.

But Ericsson does not entirely agree with Gladwell’s conclusions. In fact, he calls them:

“… a popularised but simplistic view of our work … which suggests that anyone who has accumulated a sufficient number of hours of practice in a given domain will automatically become an expert and a champion.”

Also Read: This is how we scaled up the Bukalapak engineering team

According to Ericsson, becoming an expert in something isn’t just a matter of clocking up thousands of hours. What distinguishes a virtuoso violinist or an Olympic athlete from the rest of us is how they spend these hours.

Enter deliberate practice.

Deliberate practice is focused, consistent, goal-oriented training. It favours quality over quantity. It knows not all practice is created equal.

Natural talent is overrated

There’s a common assumption that talent is something we are, or aren’t, born with.

But Ericsson believes that genetics play less of a role than we think.

Take Mozart. Almost anyone would consider him to be a musical genius. But according to Ericsson,

“If you compare the kind of music pieces that Mozart play at various ages to today’s Suzuki-trained children, he is not exceptional. If anything, he’s relatively average.”

He claims that Mozart achieved mastery, not due to inherited talent, but because he practiced long and hard from a very young age.

“The belief that one’s abilities are limited by one’s genetically prescribed characteristics….manifests itself in all sorts of ‘I can’t’ or ‘I’m not’ statements.”

So is a conviction that we lack the necessary talent the only factor holding us back from being the next Steve Jobs?

Not quite.

There is significant evidence to show that working memory is heritable, and that cognitive ability as a child plays a role in adult achievement.

But no matter a person’s genetics, expertise can’t be built without working hard — and smart — over many years.

Why regular practice isn’t enough

Typically, repeated practice takes us up to a medium level of success. After an initial spike, progress stalls, plateaus — then grinds to a halt.

Because when you reach an average level of competence, your ability stops being a work-in-progress and starts being a reflex.

That’s why repeating a skill regularly over many years alone — cooking, driving, exercising — doesn’t lead to expertise.

Also Read: How to best adopt successful macromanagement practices

You’re maintaining a skill, not building on it.

And for most areas in our lives, a baseline level of skill is enough. But if we want to truly excel, we have to push past this complacency and out of our comfort zone.

People who continually improve never slump into auto-pilot.

Instead, they keep taking apart the pieces of their skill and putting them back together to create something better.

Rather than treading water, they take their practice to the edge of their ability, and then step (or leap) beyond it.

The five-hour rule

Author and entrepreneur Michael Simmons discovered a common denominator that ties in with Ericsson’s research.

Simmons refers to this as the ‘five-hour rule’: one hour, each weekday, devoted to highly-concentrated learning.

And it’s these consistent, intense bursts of effort that sets them — and other highly-accomplished people throughout history — apart.

Benjamin Franklin kept a strict daily schedule and set aside time for focused learning, reflection and reading. He tracked his progress and set small goals.

Theodore Roosevelt devoted a couple of hours each day to intense study, a habit he started at university and continued into his US presidency.

Elon Musk is known for his deep commitment to learning and self-improvement, and often reads two books a day.

Sounds a bit more manageable than the 10,000-hour rule, doesn’t it?

But it’s not always easy.

Deliberate practice makes perfect

Performing skills you already know is satisfying — but this won’t enhance your skill level.

So, deliberate practice isn’t just about continued repetition.

It’s structured. It’s thoughtful. It’s strategic.

You aren’t just mindlessly practicing. You’re intensely engaged. You’re teetering on the edge of what you are and aren’t capable of doing.

It shouldn’t feel comfortable.

Like a rubber band, you’re constantly stretching yourself to your outer limits. There needs to be constant pressure and impetus for change.

And if you aren’t clearly moving forward with one technique, you go back to the drawing board.

In other words, if you achieved something yesterday, you must do more than achieve it again today.

There’s no standstill.

That’s how growth happens.

Deliberate practice in 4 steps

Developing proficiency in any skill is not always fun, or even enjoyable.

I’ve learned this firsthand over the 12 years (and counting) it took me to build my company, JotForm.

I’ve been with my product, fed up with myself and fed up with grappling with yet another issue.

Also Read: 5 winning practices to lead the business/life you want

What’s made me hang in is visualizing where the time I spend developing a new or greater understanding will take me.

And by listening to my resistance instead of fighting it, I was able to grow JotForm to almost 4 million users without any outside funding.

Still, to push through these feelings, day in, day out, you’re going to need to build smart systems to support you.

Here’s how to get the ball rolling.

1. Set small goals

You need to keep your eyes firmly on the prize to keep up momentum.

That’s why wishy-washy goals like ‘getting better’ won’t be compelling enough to propel you past your current abilities — on their own, at least.

And as I’ve written before, lofty goals will intimidate — and throw you off track.

The alternative? Bite-sized, clearly-defined, achievable steps in the right direction.

Small goals are the foundation of deliberate practice. They should take into account your current knowledge and push your limits, little by little, towards meaningful change.

This means distilling your general, long-term goal — improvement — into a series of concrete building blocks.

Long-term goal: become an expert runner

Medium goal: run the 2019 marathon

Small steps to get there: reduce your running time by 5 minutes every week.

Identify the main areas for change. Write them down. Make a checklist. Rooting goals in specificity will encourage action. Once you have a clear system in place, everything else will slot into place.

2. Be consistent

Prolonged, sustained effort is often uncomfortable or frustrating. And that’s the whole point.

Deliberate practice isn’t necessarily enjoyable: you’ll need to sacrifice short-term pleasure for long-term success.

This dilemma applies to most things in everyday life. Take me as an example.

When people ask me how I was able to grow JotForm to a company of 110 employees without any investment, many of them want me to talk about passion or tell inspiring stories.

The truth is, I’ve never been super passionate about building forms. I didn’t follow my dreams.

I just showed up and put in the boring work every single day over the last 12 years while I watched countless competitors enter & leave our market.

It wasn’t always fun, especially when you try to build your startup in one of the most competitive industries around – online forms. Even Google Forms stepped into the ring and remains one of our toughest competitors.

Also Read: 7 ways to increase productivity at work

But it’s pushing through this frustration that leads to significant improvement. It’s getting on with it especially when you’re too tired and can’t be bothered.

Deliberate practice is only effective because of its regularity.

So commit to your hour per day, and protect it at all costs. Soon, action will become a habit and there will be no decision left to make. That’s where the magic happens.

3. Track and measure

To progress in any area, you need to pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses to identify problems and solutions.

How many stories are you publishing per week?

How many miles are you running?

Be methodical, and keep track of your progress every day.

It’s also crucial to seek out regular feedback: from existing experts and peers as well as through self-assessment. An honest perspective is essential for gaining a realistic view of your progress.

Write it down. Record it. Measure it. Repeat.

4. Recharge

Deliberate practice requires your full, undivided, 1000 per cent attention. That’s why it can only be sustained for short periods.

Experts have capped optimal practice time at one hour per day, three-to-five days a week, with reduced benefits after two hours.

So keep it short and sweet, however tempting it might be to push on when you feel like you’re nailing it. Set an alarm, and be strict with yourself to duck out when the hour is up.

Why? You need to recharge.

Extreme focus is a tough mental workout, and you’ll only feel its benefits if you give yourself time to recover. Counteract the intensity of deliberate practice by doing nothing at all.

Your body, and your brain will thank you.

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Originally published on JotForm.com

Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

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The Singapore-based cross-border payments startup is the first company that confirmed its intent to apply for a digital banking license released by the MAS

The cross-border payments startup InstaReM announced it will apply for a digital banking license in the city-state, as learned by Bloomberg. The startup is said to be in the middle of a discussion with potential lending business partners to create a joint venture.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) released a statement on Friday, June 28, saying that it will grant as many as two digital full-bank licenses and up to three digital wholesale bank licenses. Following the announcement, companies like Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Grab, and Razer have only expressed their interests to apply, making InstaReM the first one to say yes to the opening.

InstaReM was founded in 2014, and it is already regulated in the US, the EU, Singapore, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Australia, and Malaysia with the backing of investors such as Vertex Ventures, Fullerton Financial Holdings, Rocket Internet, and MDI Ventures.

Also Read: Golden Equator Capital secures two capital funds valued at US$90M

Prajit Nanu, CEO of InstaReM, also expressed that it is actively seeking partners. “InstaReM’s limited ability is in lending, where it’s a key aspect to be able to have the license. We will be looking to partner to create the lending experience in the same technology stack,” said Nanu.
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