”Why Isn’t the Philippines Producing More Globally Competitive Startups?”
I just returned from a 5-day work trip that included Seoul, Hong Kong, and a short stop in Macau for the Beyond Expo 2025. I was traveling with TNB Aura Co-Founder, Charles Wong, to meet with existing and potential investors in the fund, as well as share our views on Southeast Asia’s early stage investing landscape.
While on one of the panels, I was asked about the Philippines and my view on investing in the country. I’m often asked why the Philippines lacks larger, more regional or globally competitive startups, when on paper it seems so promising. I reply with what I’ve observed about the Philippine context: “It’s early”. When I say that the Philippines is “early” I don’t simply mean that from a time-perspective but also from a maturity perspective.
Time-wise, in many ways, when compared to our regional peers (not to mention the global leaders), we’re late and falling behind. I won’t pretend to know the specific solutions to this, but whatever they are, they will require a greater sense of focus, discipline, and urgency if we’re to catch-up.
Maturity-wise, I’m referring to the development of our institutions and the development of our managerial and technical talent. Plainly-put, as attractive as the Philippine demographics are, as generous and as friendly as the Filipino people are, and as beautiful as the Philippine islands are, we lack the institutional structures and the professional sophistication required to attract greater levels of capital and unlock more forms of value creation.
It is my hope that all Filipinos will someday enjoy the fruit of access to the best the world has to offer in terms of opportunity and security. But I understand that high levels of opportunity and security are things that need to be achieved. They are not entitlements. They are achieved through institutional development and individual maturity. Development and maturity are not automatic. In fact, the default is entropic: things get more disorderly without deliberate ordering. This is why our leaders need to be deliberate with institutional development and is also why we, as individuals, need to be deliberate about our maturity.
This post is about my thoughts on personal maturity. I have observed that no matter where I travel in the world, pretty much everyone I meet, regardless of age, gender, or background, value the same ends, which are higher levels of joy, fulfillment, and security. The crucial difference between those who actually realize and sustain these greater levels of joy, fulfillment, and security is their readiness to capture these things because they have developed themselves. In other words, they didn’t just grow older, or get more information, or meet more people, or even make more money, but they readied their character to recognize, capture, and steward greater and greater value.
Everyone is a “Fund Manager”
One way to evaluate the maturity of a person is to observe their relationship with time and money, particularly, how they deploy these two resources and the returns they realize from the resources deployed.
Time and money are forms of capital. Capital, simply put, is another term for resources that can be used to create more value.
Whether we realize it or not, we are all capital allocators or “fund” managers, allocating our own “funds” of time and money which are precious (due to their potential for value creation), finite (due to their limited amounts), dynamic (due to their movement in different directions). We decide where and how to deploy our time and money.
A mature person is someone who is purposeful about their capital deployment. They are clear about what they want to achieve and they strive to develop themselves into the kind of person who excels at the requirements of that achievement. He or she isn’t simply envisioning a grander future. Even my 7-year old can do that. He or she understands that all great visions are achieved through the proper investment of time, money, and energy.
Personal Application
As a venture capital fund manager, part of the requirements of my job is achieving certain fundraising levels and certain levels of returns. Given the risk of the venture space, the realities of political challenges of Southeast Asia, and other nuances of multi-country investing (such as forex and tax laws), I need to have a deep understanding of all of those things, and I also need to come up with strategies and systems that allow me to satisfy investors by maximizing the strengths of the region while being prepared for its risks. An immature fund manager will simply pump up the opportunity and not pay careful attention to the risks. An immature fund manager will not understand the expectations of investors given the risks of the asset class they convinced investors to believe in. As someone who wants to excel in venture capital and believes in the potential of Southeast Asia, I need to take on the pressure of the realities of the space and the many challenges I need to overcome in order to deliver great returns. It simply comes with the job.
No one is trying to offend me when they tell me that the forex risks and capital gains structure of the Philippines makes it difficult to invest in the Philippines. No one is trying to insult me when they say they’re worried that the level of talent and the state of the current educational system prevents them from building a larger operation here. No one is being mean to me when they say they’ve had a difficult time understanding how they’ll generate good returns from the Philippine businesses they’ve invested in so far. They’re simply describing the actual challenges they face when investing or trying to invest in the Philippines.
As an entrepreneur, who has mixed bag of successful and unsuccessful businesses, I have to face both happy and unhappy investors. It’s part of the responsibility I took on when I got them to believe in my dreams. No one is being unfair when they’re upset or angry at me for not delivering. No one is being cruel for expressing their disappointment. While the communication styles of my shareholders and partners vary, at the root of our partnership is a shared vision and shared agreements that everyone must strive to achieve, especially me, if I’m CEO. I’m mature enough to understand that because someone has invested in me, their resources are trapped with me until I can achieve liquidity events or exits, and it is my responsibility to achieve that for them, and at the very least, be transparent, remain committed to them, and constantly improve my character and capabilities to be a better steward of the resources they’ve entrusted to me.
As a boss and an employer, I also have commitments I have to fulfill to team members. I also have to bear the expectations of my agreements with them even as I bear the expectations of shareholders. No one is being evil when they give me feedback on where I can improve. No one is being unsupportive when they tell me I need to be clearer, or that I’m overworking them, or that I’m pursuing the wrong strategy. I need to evaluate all these things against the agreed objectives and I need to be mature enough, which is understanding enough and ready enough to act in the right direction – no matter how embarrassing, difficult, or costly it is.
I also have responsibilities at home. My family has goals and dreams that require satisfying, that require me to be mature enough to manage my time, money, and energy rightly in order to achieve them. All these different roles (investor, entrepreneur, employer, husband, father), and the different expectations attached to these roles, don’t make it easier to achieve any of them. To be very transparent, I’ve wished for a simple setup many times, especially when the pressure builds. But I know that as I take on the requirements of maturing in all these different ways I become better at achieving my goals.
Pay the Price
Let me close with a simple definition of a mature person. A mature person is someone who understands that his or her desires have a cost, and is willing and capable to pay the necessary price.
Successful individuals, institutional leaders, companies, and countries don’t seek to escape the pressure and challenges of great expectations. They seek to become better. They seek to mature.
I said earlier, that it is my hope that all Filipinos will someday enjoy the fruit of access to the best the world has to offer in terms of opportunity and security. But there is a price to pay to realize that hope. It’s a price, if not paid, and not paid fully, will lead to more of the falling behind we are currently experiencing.
Wishing, hoping, and praying is a cute title for a song but is insufficient for growth, progress, and development. If it were, the Philippines would be a global leader, as we are experts on wishing, hoping, and praying. Mere sentiment, feelings of entitlement, and words of affirmation are not what success requires.
Hopefully, we choose to pay the full price of our dreams because they’re worth it.
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. – James 1:4
Photo Credit: Morgan Housel