Local firms call on gov't to support startups
Owners of Cebu companies are asking the government to support the growth and development of Filipino startups and keep them from being swallowed by the multinational giants.
Filipino Homes founder Anthony Gerard Leuterio urged the government to support the country's startups amid the entry of foreign online capitalists.
He said that while it is a good thing to be bought-out by foreign firms, Leuterio believes it would be the country's pride to see Filipino startup innovators flourish in the digital world.
Leuterio said if the government will not give its full attention to protect the startup innovators, the country will eventually be dominated by foreign capitalists such as OLX, Lamudi, Airbnb, Uber, and Grab, among others.
He mentioned that these giants have already started to swallow smalltime Filipino developers. OLX, for instance, bought-out the successful Sulit. com. Other innovations created by Filipino developers are now also owned by foreigners.
"Filipino startups should be given extra support and dedicated attention by the government, especially in funding as the country is about to waste its opportunity to make money out of online business. I'm not only talking about the property sector, but other industries like retail, transportation, and others," Leuterio said in an interview yesterday.
Currently, internet penetration rate in the Philippines is at 55 percent, and very soon it is expected to reach a high of 80 percent, "the future is online, we could start to capitalize on our human resource. We have the talent," Leuterio said.
Leuterio's call for government support got a boost from the newlyappointed president of Innovation Council of Cebu, Michael Cubos who vowed to protect homegrown information and communication technology (ICT) players from being eaten up by foreign multinationals.
Cubos, who owns a call center chain operating in Visayas and Mindanao, said like other giant ICT players groomed abroad, the Philippines, being a fertile ground of rising money-making ICT companies, also deserves to produce homegrown success stories and eventually be recognized globally.
"One of the council's goals is to become the voice of ICT-related sectors, more than helping them link with the right people in the ICT value chain," said Cubos.
The fight to protect homegrown businesses is also seen to generate more revenues circulating within the domestic economy.
The IT-BPM industry, for instance, expects to generate $40 billion in revenues in 2022, but about 95 percent of their earnings aren't here as these BPO giants are owned by foreigners operating outside the country.
"We are happy they generate employment and pay taxes here but we would also want to generate earnings of BPOs not to go outside of the country," added Cubos.