Palestinian startups in Chile: from the diaspora to the investments
Back in the late 1910’s and early 1920’s, the collapse of the Ottaman Empire generated waves of mass migration from Palestine to some friendlier place. Chile was chosen by many of the migrants, mostly from Belen, for it has a similar climate to Palestine and its locals are rather welcoming to foreigners. 500 000 Palestinians […]
Open-data in the Philippines: best practices from disaster relief and transportation mapping
While attending Geeks on a Beach last month, we also spent some time in Manila to visit a few labs and agencies, and had several discussions on the state of open-data in the Philippines. Quick reminder: open-data is a recent trend for government, companies and institutions to release their datasets freely, so that users, developers, […]
A visit at Awesome Lab and By Implication, two creative agencies in Manila, Philippines
After the Geeks on a Beach conference in Cebu Island, I took some time to visit Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, and meet a few creative agencies there. Not expecting anything in particular and leaving wide open my radars, I visited two creative agencies – for sake of a better word – which […]
Coins.ph, a Bitcoin startup to reach the unbanked in the Philippines
While at tech conference Geeks on a Beach on Cebu Island, Philippines, we’ve met with Coins.ph founder Ron Hose, as well as a few other players of the local digital currencies scene. Even flying in to Cebu, a geek on the next seat was coding on his own bitcoin project. Light financial regulation + remittances […]
The Philippines and Social Enterprises: a future global hub?
A common trait of emerging markets lie in the high share of people living in the “base of the pyramid” (BoP), with less than $8 per day. Social enterprises are usually defined as “organisations that applies commercial strategies to maximise improvements in human and environmental well-being, rather than maximising profits for external shareholders” (Wikipedia), and […]
How South-East Asia startups fare on the global stage?
Some people often compare South-East Asia to Europe, in the way it’s an easy regional shortcut which embraces in reality countries with very different languages, cultures, habits and levels of development. And, just as in Europe, startup ecosystems wonder first what’s the strength of the local regional ecosystem, and then how it fares at a […]
The Philippines startup ecosystem: the tipping point of the "island frontier"
This first day of Geeks on a Beach 2 provided a lot of insights on the state of the Philippines startup ecosystem. Several panels addressed the topic of the country itself, and its position in the broader ASEAN region. Overall, speakers and discussions in the audience agree that it’s the right place and the right […]
Corporate innovation series #3: MEST incubator in Ghana
During the Mobile West Africa conference in Lagos, we’ve met with Neal Hansch, the managing director of the MEST incubator in Ghana. The program is a 24-month incubation for African startups, and its history is quite interesting as we explore the different forms of corporate innovation. MEST Incubator: training West Africa’s entrepreneurs on the long-run […]
Corporate Innovation series #2: the Coca-Cola Accelerator Network
A common joke when you talk about emerging markets is that even in the most remote and dire places, you will find a bottle of Coke. The logistic empire built by the Coca-Cola company around a single product (Coca-Cola or Coke products still account for 78% of their sales) is amazingly efficient, as it controls […]
Corporate innovation series #1: GE Garage in Lagos, Nigeria
What General Electric is doing in Nigeria with its GE Garage is not your typical corporate accelerator or even makerspace. It’s not an incubator, in the sense that there is no funding for younger entrepreneurs or a stake from GE in a startup’s equity. It’s more like an open Fablab, with GE employees around to […]
