Philippine-based “game changers” in the fields of technological entrepreneurship will be attending immersion programs and workshops in Silicon Valley, California with the support of two United States groups.
The prototype Silicon Valley immersion program is the first project of the US-Philippines Society (US-PHS) and the Silicon Valley Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC) collaboration. The program is designed for the winners of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company’s (PLDT) SMART SME (Small to Medium Enterprise) Nation “BeTheBoss” 2015 competition.
The PLDT Smart SME Nation collaborated with Philippine-based online news and information media Rappler for the very first #BeTheBoss Awards. The local project used social media to undertake a crowd-sourced search in identifying the next generation entrepreneurs at the forefront of the information and communications technology.
Five hundred nominations from across the Philippines were gathered. Fifteen strong finalists were subjected to public voting after being selected in a rigorous panel process that identified three finalists in each of five categories: 1) E-Commerce; 2) Social Media; 3) Customer Service; 4) Social Responsibility, and 5) Mobile Readiness.
The five entrepreneurs awarded as new Bosses on #BeTheBoss Awards for pioneering efforts in modern technology will be sent to Silicon Valley in 2016.
US-PHS Executive Director Hank Hendrickson and Christina Laskowski, STAC president signed the agreement at the Philippine Embassy witnessed by Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., Christina Le of the U.S. State Department, US-PHS President John Maisto and other embassy officials.
