Kickstart and Pollenizer seek hidden entrepreneurs in the Philippines

The Philippines startup scene has been out in full force recently to raise awareness about the country’s ascendance as a tech business hub. This is understandable and necessary, given that the ecosystem is more nascent than their equivalents in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

Their enthusiasm was most evident at Echelon 2013, a recently-concluded Singapore startup conference which had the largest contingent of Filipino startups ever in the history of the signature event.

Paul Rivera from Y-Combinator startup Kalibrr and Peter Bithos from Globe Telecom took the stage in panel discussions, while Zap and MyLegalWhiz pitched to an audience in Echelon’s startup competition. Seven startups from Philippine  accelerator Kickstart‘s portfolio attended the conference.

The publicity blitz did not end there. With much pomp, Kickstart held a press conference with Australian incubator Pollenizer to announce a partnership that will bring the latter’s unique incubation model to the Philippines.

It’s the latest in a string of local-foreign initiatives for Kickstart. As a part of SingTel Group’s global network, it has close ties not just with the telco but with Innov8, SingTel’s very own venture capital firm. It announced a partnership with Plug and Play Tech Center,  an incubator in Silicon Valley that was founded by Filipino Jojo Flores.

But while these moves could benefit the country’s startup ecosystem, wizardry alone won’t attract investors without compelling startups to work with in the first place.

Which makes Pollenizer@Kickstart particularly compelling. Christian Besler (LinkedIn), vice president of Kickstart, says that the initiative complements its existing Launchgarage program by drawing a different crowd.

The region’s accelerators — like Launchgarage, JFDI.Asia in Singapore, and Hong Kong’s AcceleratorHK — provide small seed funding for startups to get off the ground, typically drawing the younger set with less financial commitments.

On the other hand, Pollenizer’s model provides funding, a monthly salary, a structured incubation process, and a work space in exchange for more equity and control. This makes it potentially more attractive to mid-career executives with mortgages to pay and families to care for.

“These professionals might actually have the experience and willingness to build something awesome — we just need to balance the risks for them,” said Christian.

Kickstart’s two-prong approach of building bridges overseas and boosting the talent base locally could be what the Philippines needs to create a vibrant startup scene.

The country has a sizable population of 94 million, significant enough for startups to establish a strong home base while expanding to other markets with similar profiles.

Some unique problems remain to be solved, and Pollenizer@Kickstart has identified eight areas — ranging from healthcare, remittance, and overseas Filipino workers placement — on its application page.