JFDI opens office in the Philippines, gives startup ecosystem a vote of confidence

JFDI.Asia’s team in Cebu, Philippines, with CEO Hugh Mason

Singapore-based Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI), which boasts one of the longest-running and most successful accelerator programs in Southeast Asia, opens its first international office in Cebu, Philippines today.

JFDI says its new office marks its region-wide expansion planned for this year, and will perform the following:

• manage the growing community around JFDI’s startup support programs;
• attend to inquiries from entrepreneurs, investors, and mentors around the world who are interested in the Southeast Asian market; and
• deliver the remote startup induction program JFDI Discover worldwide.

It says it doesn’t plan on replicating what it already does in Singapore. Rather, it will “add value by connecting talent, capital, and opportunities for entrepreneurs across the region.”

JDFI.Asia co-founder and CEO Hugh Mason explains: “Our belief is that there never will be one central ‘Silicon Valley of Asia’ that prototypes technologies ready to replicate like a cookie cutter across a continent. Our region is just too diverse for that. But entrepreneurs share a common bond over the world and we see again and again that community is our secret sauce. So the opportunity for JFDI is to link people who should be working with each other in a network of trust and partnership that gives all its members access to a bigger league in which to play.”

Founded in Singapore in January 2010, JFDI was the first accelerator in Southeast Asia. It has supported startups from around the world through hundreds of open house events, its flagship JFDI Accelerate program, and startup education courses such as JFDI Discover and MSC Malaysia Accelerator Lite.

Mason cites two factors for choosing Cebu to set up its first overseas office: the city’s talented workforce and exciting startup ecosystem.

“Community organizations like Techtalks PH and the local authorities have done a lot of heavy lifting in Cebu and we couldn’t do what we are doing now without them. Over the last five years JFDI has worked with a string of great startups from the Philippines that combine both technical competence and unusually strong interpersonal skills. So it seems a natural place to base our community management and outreach operations. With staff visiting regularly, we hope to support what others are doing in the city to build the startup ecosystem of Cebu,” he says.

Asked why they picked the Philippines over neighboring markets such as Thailand and Indonesia, the JFDI team replied: “We’re familiar with the people in the Philippine ecosystem and have always admired the friendly and warm attitudes they had for everyone. Language-wise, it’s easier for us to hire native-English speakers.”

Philippine startups welcome JFDI’s arrival in the Philippines. Anthony Noel of Lenddo, which developed an algorithm that checks consumer identity and character, says JFDI’s move puts the Philippines on the global startup map. “Having a JFDI.Asia presence in Cebu and the Philippines is good for the local startup community. With JFDI’s community management team here, it reinforces the fact that there is talent available for startups,” he says.

See: The Philippines’ highest funded startups in 2014