Wednesday, July 11, 2007 Robillo: Peso challenge in Davao By Oliver Robillo IT Talks
ATTENTION college students in Davao!
Do you have a bankable IT business idea? Do you have an e-commerce vision that could potentially become a sustainable business? Do you want to acquire the necessary skills to formulate a sound business plan?
The Peso Davao Challenge, launched last June 20, 2007 at the Ateneo de Davao University, is the perfect venue for enterprising young Dabawenyos who'd like the chance to see their ideas transformed into real businesses.
The Philippine Emerging Startups Open is a nationwide business plan competition that was initiated by Filipino graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
This "brain gain" initiative was inspired by the MIT US$100,000 Entrepreneurship Competition, which is 17 years running. This prestigious contest has facilitated the creation of more than 60 IT companies to date, with an aggregate value of US$10.5+ billion.
The Peso Challenge is a unique undertaking in that it offers participants a mentoring program, as well as progress monitoring, so that they will be equipped with the proper tools for creating a world-class feasibility study. Furthermore, victors of the competition are provided access to funding windows in order to convert their winning ideas into established companies.
In Davao, the Challenge is a project of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCCII), and supported by Peso, PAHRDF, PSITE, and CDITE. It is an offshoot of the DCCCII-PAHRDF teachers training in technopreneurship late last year. Essentially, the professors who underwent this training program will be the mentors for this business plan competition.
The Challenge aims to connect academe, industry and the investment sector, thereby encouraging technology-based entrepreneurship. With this holistic synergy in place, it is envisioned that a viable atmosphere of business-mindedness among college graduates will be espoused here in the Philippine South.
The following are the qualifications for business plan entries:
Technology application in product design or innovation in value proposition; business concept meets criteria of tech/business innovation matrix.
Addresses concerns in:
IT/Telecom
Agriculture and Aquaculture
Life and Biosciences
Energy and Environment
Services
Process technology and Engineering
Technology idea owner must be identified and be a member of the team; nature of intellectual property rights must be clearly stated.
According to Peso, teams must be comprised of 3 to 5 members, with at least one member in undergraduate (or higher) level. The others may be faculty or professionals. As mentioned above, teams will be guided by mentors.
Team members may also be part of one other team at entry level. However, at the finals (after eliminations), participants must exclusively belong to only one team.
Currently, the Challenge is being promoted to the various colleges and universities. Submission deadline for application (in other words, the concept paper) is set on 20 August, which will be followed by the "participant enrichment series" (the mentoring phase). Submission of the business plans is on 23 October. Other inclusive dates will be announced later.
Aside from receiving awards and recognition for the Peso Davao Challenge, winners here will also be automatically entered in the nationwide Peso Challenge in 2008.
For more information, please contact the Davao Chamber, or send an e-mail to pesodavao@gmail.com.
