Startup Weekend to build community of IT players

ORGANIZERS of the three-day event Startup Weekend Davao are going to great lengths to converge all local information and technology (IT) players and build a community of enthusiastic individuals.

Dulce Rose Lada, lead organizer of Startup Weekend Davao said the community of local startups in Davao is not as predominant as the one in the country's information and communications technology and business process outsourcing (ICT-BPO) hubs.

The holding of the workshop is slated on November 9-11 at the Philippine College Technology (PCT).

Lada said they are encouraging those IT enthusiasts who are just staying at home to go out and take part of the three-day workshop. This, she said, will ignite their interest to develop their own product, even at the comfort of their home.

"The community of startups here is just small. That’s why we want to have this kind of program," she said.

Techtalks.ph founder Tina Amber added that Start-up Weekend Davao is not only exclusive for IT players but also for businessmen who do not have any technical know-how on how to develop software applications, mobile applications, and web designing.

"This is open for everybody...students, who want to have knowledge about technology, web designers, developers and business people. We help them build their ideas to actual business through assessing the viability of their concepts," she said.

The three-day event will involve an intense workshop where mentors, who are a foundation already of Davao's ICT industry, will shoot the breeze over what to do to grow their company and fine-tune their mere concepts, turning them into valuable businesses.

Lada said those who have little knowledge on technology, they are hoping to kindle interests to engage as well in website design and software development at the end of the Startup Weekend.

"Our teams at Techtalks.ph Davao are very excited to spearhead this global event in the city. Startup Weekend Davao will re-awaken the local ‘technolopreneurial’ spirit and help promote an innovative technology ecosystem," she said in a press statement.

Start-up Weekend supports the development and expansion through events worldwide that education aspiring entrepreneurs by immersing them in the process of moving an idea to market.