In Cebu, the youth are at the forefront of startup community

CEBU, Philippines – At 22 years old, Jan Dale Catalonia started a virtual assistant agency in January 2023 with five of his fellow Gen Zs following a harrowing experience with a company he used to work at.

Little did he know that only a year after resigning and making the big leap, his startup would eventually grow to cater to more than 200 international clients with an expanding team of 50 homegrown employees.

Catalonia started working as a virtual assistant in 2016 when he was still in junior high school. In college, he took up subjects in accountancy before shifting to marketing when the pandemic hit in early 2020.

“It helped me understand businesses more because from the accounting background, I know how to read financial statements and from the marketing side, I’m able to manage the business in terms of all aspects,” Catalonia told Rappler.

When it comes to running a startup, Catalonia admitted that it’s a lot of learning by doing.

“Your service or product is equally as important as your processes. That’s what I learned over the past few years doing freelancing and virtual assistance,” the startup owner said. 

Catalonia explained that most businesses fail to provide services when the proper processes like onboarding clients are not implemented effectively. This is why, he said, a large amount of their company’s expenses goes to training their employees and teambuilding.

When it comes to hiring, the startup owner shared that they’re after helping young students who are trying to make a living — something that Catalonia knows all too well.

“I wanted it to be a way to give back because I know a lot of students, breadwinners who are trying to earn money. So, from the team perspective, the problem we’re trying to solve is that lack of opportunity to earn,” the young entrepreneur said.

“Majority of the money we receive from the clients goes to our [employees]. There are agencies that give only 30 percent to the virtual assistant but with us, they get 70 to 80 percent,” he added.

In the community

Catalonia’s story is reminiscent of the tales of other young entrepreneurs who make it big. For Walter Cang, it makes sense considering the abundance of fresh talent in the startup community.

Based on a 2024 Startup ecosystem report from global innovation economy research platform Startup Blink, the Philippines is 6th on the list of Southeast Asia’s best countries for setting up a startup.

In terms of best cities in Southeast Asia for startups, the report said Manila placed 5th while Cebu City beat Myanmar’s Yangon for the 10th spot.

“When you have a congregation of young minds coming together and they begin to share their ideas, that is often the beginning of most startups,” Cang told Rappler in an interview.

Cang is vice president of education-tech startup accelerator DOHE Philippines. Throughout his career, he has witnessed and helped coach multiple startups led by young Filipino innovators, especially in Cebu.

“When we started in late 2021, it was a foundational stage, meaning we had some talent but we still had not made a lot of inroads in terms of growth,” the startup expert said.

Compared to the startup scene in Manila, Cang added, there was a lot of community-building to be done due to a lack of activities in Cebu. Since then, DOHE has been holding workshops and meet-ups to help connect Cebu-based startups with the rest of the Philippine startup community.

At present, Cang said, the number of startups attending their events has grown from less than 20 to more than 50 every month.

Challenge and opportunity

Cang shared that the same 2024 startup ecosystem report noted that the Philippines has steadily decreased in the rankings for three consecutive years. From the 52nd rank in 2021, the country has dropped to 60th in 2024.

“The Philippines has five ranked cities, with Manila leading by a score 12 times greater than the second-ranked Cebu City, showing a strong degree of centralization,” the report said.

The startup expert cautioned the business sector from investing most of the funding in Manila. Cang hoped that more attention would be brought to the startup community in Cebu.

Kristine Lara, a community manager at global startup accelerator Hyper Accelerator and a startup founder, told Rappler that most startups struggle with managing their resources.

“Most [young] founders are bootstrapping or at a proceed-or-cede level and people just have bills to pay…they can only do so much through months without profit,” she said.

Despite this, Lara affirmed that as the Cebu startup community continues to see younger founders over the years, investors have become more confident in investing in the youth. 

“This is compared to before where they think the younger generation don’t have the necessary experience. I think it’s because technology like AI is where the youth have more edge,” Lara said.

Similar to Catalonia, Lara explained that young entrepreneurs took advantage of the access to technology to specialize and adapt to market demands which usually come in the form of digital solutions like website publishing and online marketing.

“The youth know what they want to do and they know they want to be part of a community that helps the community,” she added. – Rappler.com