ENTREPRENEURS BRIEFED ON ANGEL INVESTING
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Cebu is planning to create an angel investment group in Cebu to fund local startups with the help of the Cebu business community.
Last Monday, the agency, in partnership with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), conducted a seminar on angel investing for members of the CCCI and the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI).
DTI-Cebu Director Ma. Elena Arbon said the seminar was meant to make the business community understand the dynamics of startups and angel investing to help them make better-informed investment decisions.
“We target those entrepreneurs who are ready for this thinking. We want them to be more open to working with our startups,” said Arbon, adding that a startup venture is a highrisk, high-reward undertaking.
“The business community can provide mentorship for our startups or traction in their operations,” she said.
An angel investor is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business startup.
Funding remains a top challenge for local startups to flourish.
According to a study by QBO Innovation Hub and PwC Philippines in 2017, startup founders cited capital requirement (88 percent) as the number one hindrance they encountered when starting their businesses, followed by regulatory requirements (54 percent) and general economics and business conditions (50 percent).
There are now more than 300 startups in the Philippines, most of which were founded between 2012 and 2017, the study said.
Moreover, the DTI official said the creation of an angel investment group will complement DTI’s ongoing Startup Island Mentoring program, which currently mentors six homegrown startups.
“We are on our fourth session now. It’s a work-in-progress,” said Arbon.
The country launched in 2015 a roadmap for digital startups to address gaps in the startup ecosystem, encourage techno-preneurship among the locals, and attract more venture capitalists or angel investors.
Last month, the Senate passed on third and final reading the Innovative Startup Act that aims to give business entrepreneurs a better chance of succeeding in the industry by providing them with tax breaks and other forms of assistance. /