PUSHING for entrepreneurship and strengthening local economies, Shell Pilipinas Corp. (SPC), through its flagship enterprise development program Shell LiveWIRE, has tied up with Brainsparks Community Meetup to boost the competitiveness of start-ups via digital marketing and artificial intelligence (AI).
“Shell LiveWIRE supports MSMEs [micro, small and medium enterprises] producing innovative products and services. The second form of support is for the tech start-ups where we run accelerator programs,” said Crisille Villaluna, program officer of Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc (PSFI), social arm of Shell Pilipinas Corp. (SPC). “We were able to reach 800 start-ups and among the 32 that went into the acceleration program, there were 12 who were integrated into the value chain of Shell and Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc.”
The Community Meetup, likewise, invited start-ups and innovators to join the initiative for mentorship and inclusion to the Shell Value Chain.
Eight Media CEO Gerald Castillo gave updates on the current trends in digital marketing, and the platforms that start-ups can tap to grow their business and accelerate their engagement with customers. He also delved on solving a problem through marketing for start-ups. His tip: still keep the basics.
Talking about AI, AcadArena Creative and IP Lead Andrew Manliquez discussed how machine intelligence like ChatGPT can help in everyday tasks, specifically for content. According to him, they can use this channel to reduce their tasks for a day and focus more on other activities.
Dali Innovative Solutions CEO Louie Villalon shared his journey with the program and how their global energy product, wind turbine Vortex, evolved and progressed.
“When we joined Shell LiveWIRE, we did not have this design and this certain ambition that we are trying to target now,” said the program’s alumnus. “With the help from Shell LiveWIRE, we’ve already been able to do several community visits and reached four communities with the help of Shell. They led us to these communities to talk to them and validate our market. We’ve been able to be part of three potential projects; we are now part of one project in Mindoro.”
For those who want to become future innovators, the Acceleration Program 2023 is open until June 5. To register, visit https://tinyurl.com/27tnn9jc.
Eleven teams will be chosen for this year, of which three are tech start-ups, six community enterprises, and two Shell Sponsor’s A-list that will get access to mentorship from industry experts to scale their company. Tech start-ups will get financial support through product development and monthly allowances, plus a chance to win P1 million. All founders of community enterprises will receive a P100,000 grant after the program.
