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Traditional education and focus on the job market has been focused toward the service industry rather than entrepreneurship, which, when combined with combating prevalent cultural concerns and customs, feeds into the challenging end of the startup ecosystem.
Fremont, CA: The Philippines has the highest internet usage rate globally, with people spending an average of 10 hours each day online. It's a significant increase over the previous year's 9.5 hours. This quick expansion rate indicates that the country is primed for new businesses, particularly those that employ mobile technology to engage clients.
In that they are both archipelagos with substantial rural populations, the Philippines and Indonesia share many demographic parallels. However, Indonesia boasts several unicorns and decacorns in its startup portfolio, but the Philippines only has one unicorn startup. Here are three challenges facing the Philippines startup ecosystem:
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Cultural Concerns
Cultural norms concerns may appear to be of a lower priority than financial issues, yet they are, in many respects, the more challenging to address. You must be able to blow your own trumpet, declare potential triumphs, and generate a bit of a commotion around your business idea to succeed in the startup industry. Inciting this level of attention and putting oneself in the spotlight is not part of the Filipino cultural ethos. It is, in fact, in direct opposition to their societal norms.
Individuals inside this ecosystem may face difficulties if they regard a startup as a status symbol rather than a viable business opportunity. Seeing other firms fail might be disheartening for a dedicated startup entrepreneur who is in it for the long haul. This will continue to be the case unless there is an initial test case or success story to build their hopes and desires.
People are looking for role models, and because the Philippines has yet to create one, they are turning to other countries for inspiration. This has its own set of issues because mimicking and transferring ideas from a foreign business may result in ideas that aren't suitable for transplantation.
Harnessing the Best
Traditional education and focus on the job market have been focused toward the service industry rather than entrepreneurship, which, when combined with combating prevalent cultural concerns and customs, feeds into the challenging end of the startup ecosystem. While it may be thought that the fact that English is the official language in the Philippines gives it an edge because children learn it from a young age, this does not appear to be the case in the startup world.
Funding Issues
The current shortage of external capital is creating a "post-series A" financial gap, into which many entrepreneurs are unfortunately disappearing. While the founders' need to bootstrap their idea is understandable at first, this cannot be sustained permanently. The venture will eventually require more funding to realize its full potential. However, that nearly impassable chasm is currently suffocating initiatives that should be feasible. To narrow the deficit, funding is required.
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