Spark Fest is the annual community conference hosted by The Spark Project. It’s the only conference that brings together under one roof people from the world of startups, social good, and creative capital. It’s a space for inspired learning and meaningful interaction with creative founders, thought leaders, and fellow entrepreneurs. 

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Happening on Saturday, 23rd of March at the Globe Tower in BGC, Philippines. #ConnectedWomen are giving away 15% discount to our readers and community members, scroll all the way down to get the offer code.

Meet #SparkFest2019 full line-up of hosts, speakers, panellists, consulting entrepreneurs and experts!

Patch Dulay

Founder and CEO of The Spark Project. Patrick “Patch” Dulay is a startup enabler. He is the founder and CEO of The Spark Project, an online crowdfunding platform for community for creatively conscious ventures.

As a lifelong learner and teacher, his passion for education and entrepreneurship inspires him to serve entrepreneurs by providing them access to tools that help accelerate their business ideas to reality.

Guido Sarreal

Co-Founder of Trail Adventours and Kawil Tours

Guido is a passionate social entrepreneur primarily working in the space of sustainable tourism. He is a managing partner of the travel company Trail Adventours, allowing people to experience the beauty of the Philippine outdoors. He is also the co-founder of a community-based tour operator, Kawil Tours in Culion, Palawan. This enterprise raised over 350K when they did their crowdfunding campaign at The Spark Project in 2013. Kawil aims to reconnect the once forgotten island of Culion to the Philippines and the world.

Also a musician, Guido has been playing the trumpet since the age of 7 and has competed and won in various music competitions including the National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA). He has performed with different musical groups such as the Sarreal Brothers wind quartet, Jack VS the Crab and the Ateneo Blue Symphony where he was also Assistant Conductor.

Lynn Pinugu

Co-Founder of She Talks Asia and Mano Amiga

Lynn Pinugu is a multi-awarded social entrepreneur, international speaker, and advocacy communications expert. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of Mano Amiga Philippines, a nonprofit focused on providing quality education and sustainable livelihood to low-income communities. She is also one of the minds behind She Talks Asia, a conference group and media platform focused on female empowerment.

Bianca Gonzalez-Intal

TV Host and Author of Paano Ba To?!

Bianca Gonzalez Intal is best known for her 13 years as a TV host and advocacy for education. As a writer, she is a columnist for the lifestyle section of The Philippine Star, was previously Editor-In-Chief of Meg magazine, and is a published author of the best-selling book #PaanoBaTo, which she recently turned into an online video series on YouTube and Facebook. Bianca’s latest adventure is that of being a wife and a mom.

Kirk Damasco

Co-founder of Worship Generation

Kirk Damasco is a passionate young entrepreneur and the co-founder of Worship Generation, a Christian-themed merchandise brand. Worship Generation’s aim is embodied in its tagline: “Make worship a lifestyle.” Since launching it 2013, their brand has now expanded to over 20 retail stores nationwide. During his college days, finishing his Management degree at the Ateneo, Kirk co-founded Get Blued, which is now the most prominent Atenean merchandise brand and a staple in every UAAP game. A proud Ilonggo, he loves communicating with people of varied interests and backgrounds.

Anna Oposa

Chief Mermaid of Philippine Seas

Anna Oposa is the Executive Director and Chief Mermaid of Save Philippine Seas, a movement to protect the Philippines’ rich but threatened marine resources. SPS began as a social media campaign that grew into a non-profit organization, leading projects on reducing marine debris, shark conservation, and stakeholder empowerment. In addition to her love for marine conservation, Anna is also deeply passionate about the correct use of punctuation marks, puns, and lipsticks.

Enzo Pinga

Chief Farmer at Earthbeat Farms

Enzo Pinga is the chief farmer of Earthbeat Farms, an organic farm in San Pablo, Laguna, growing high-value and specialty crops, that serves the Manila market. He believes the way to attract the youth into farming is proving that it can be big business!

Anya Lim

Princess Ant at ANTHILL Fabric Gallery

Anya is the Princess Ant at ANTHILL (Alternative Nest and Trading/ Training Hub for Indigenous/ Ingenious Little Livelihood seekers) Fabric Gallery, a social and cultural enterprise that works to preserve and promote our Philippine weaving traditions by applying them in contemporary design for everyday essentials to attract younger generation of weavers and weave wearers and provide sustainable livelihood to partner communities.

Christian San Jose

Founder of CSJ&Co

Having a background deeply rooted in design, Christian San Jose has firmly established himself as a trailblazer in creative leadership and tech entrepreneurship.

Christian is currently a UX consultant, working with global companies that include Make Technology Inc., NBA Asia, Metrobank, and Security Bank.

Until most recently, he served as the Co-founder and Managing Director at Make, a UX and technology subsidiary of Ace Saatchi & Saatchi. He led a user experience team composed of 25+ designers, researchers, product managers, and full-stack engineers, that leverages and deeply integrates with the 130-people operation at Ace Saatchi & Saatchi. Make handles UX research and strategy, interactive design, development and technology-focused initiatives for clients such as Cebu Pacific, Carrier, Vimeo, Livestream, Smart, Sun Cellular, and SMDC.

He previously served as the Head of Digital at MullenLowe Group, and Head of User Experience and Design at Jump Digital Asia, working on local and international end-to-end digital campaigns for clients such as Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Nike Foundation, 7-Eleven, NutriAsia, Asia Brewery, Japan Tobacco, Solaire Resort & Casino, and Metro Pacific Investments.

At 21, he bootstrapped his first digital startup, Create.ph, and worked on the official branding, website design, and development for some of the biggest clients in the world, including Usher, Kanye West, Kobe Bryant, Usain Bolt, James Harden, Dwyane Wade, and Big Sean, among others. Five years after its inception, Create was successfully fully acquired by Jump Digital Asia.

In the past, he has been an award-winning illustrator, getting the top prize in the Design By Humans $10,000 competition at the age of 19. A year later, his commissioned artwork titled “Rise Together” was included in every commercially released copy of Adobe CS5. His art and merchandise designs have been featured in CNN, CBS, MTV, Computer Arts Magazine, and Nickelodeon.

Judd, Julo, and Edsel of @pereastreet and WYD Productions

 

The Bloomfields

Musicians/Band

The Bloomfields, comprising of Louie Poco (Bass), Lakan Hila (Lead Guitars), Rocky Collado (Drums), and Dino Pascual (Rhythm Guitars), is one of the country’s staple bands for authentic 60’s and 70’s rock and roll music with their signature suit and tie look and old school rock and roll energy. The band made its splash in the Philippine music scene in 2005 when they released their version of “Ale” and have since built a 15-year career playing both OPM and covers at music festivals, corporate events and at various venues across the country and abroad. Having this long-spanning career has given the band a unique vantage point on the evolution and progress of the local music industry.

This year the band will be coming out with a fresh new look and an all-original album titled “A Drop into the Blue”. Fans can expect the new originals to have that signature Bloomfields sound with vocal harmonies and well thought out instrumentation that borrow from various brit pop and local influences. All the new songs are self-produced with the band having full creative control in recording, mixing and mastering each track.

RJ Ledesma

Co-founder of Mercato Centrale

RJ is the co-founder of Mercato Centrale – the biggest night food market and food business incubator hub – in the Philippines and EnterPH – a consultancy firm that helps foreign businesses expand their operations to the Philippines.

He is an anchor for Bloomberg TV Philippines where he hosts ‘Bright Ideas’ – a show that features start-up companies, and is one of the hosts of ANC’s Philippine Realty TV. He is an entrepreneur mentor and frequent host for the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (GoNegosyo). A sought after professional emcee and inspirational speaker, RJ is a two-time awardee for Best Male Emcee at the Aliw Awards.

He is also the best-selling author of six books and a two-time National Book Awards Finalist. RJ serves as the Honorary Consul of Monaco to the Philippines and holds a Masters Degree in Real Estate Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

Lester Cruz

Co-founder of Serious Studio

Lester L. Cruz is the co-founder and head of corporate sounding affairs for Serious Studio, a global brand identity & business strategy group. Lester works with collaborators and founders to develop brands and businesses that Make Sense & Look Good. In his 7 years of branding and strategy experience, Lester has handled brand strategy and consultancy projects with publicly listed corporations like Ayala Land Inc., Aboitiz Power Corp., Ortigas & Co., KFC, among many others.

Lester graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a BFA in Information Design, and is currently taking up his Master in Entrepreneurship from the Asian Institute of Management. He is also a recipient of the Loyola Schools Awards for the Arts in 2012, an award given to creatives who have done outstanding work in the arts during their time. Lester was also recently a speaker for Graphika Manila 2018, the biggest creative conference in the Philippines.

Sherill Quintana

President and CEO of Oryspa Spa Solutions

Sherill Ramos Quintana, CFE, is the founder and president of Oryspa Spa Solutions, Inc. Oryspa is the number one maker of 100% natural rice bran based health and beauty products in the Philippines.

Oryspa won the ASEAN Business Awards for Excellence in Healthcare at the ASEAN Business Summit 2016 at Vientiane, Laos. Also, named as Outstanding Filipino Franchise and Best in Corporate Social Responsibility Program 2017.

Sherill was named Outstanding ASEAN Woman Entrepreneur 2016 in Hanoi and recognized as one of the Most Inspiring Filipina 2016. Her mentorship has paved the way for Filipino microentrepreneurs to scale up, partner with government for mentoring programs and spoke at World Trade Organization Public Forum on Levelling up MSMEs. Awarded as one of the Most Influential Filipina Woman in the World “Innovator and Thought Leader” award category in London, U.K. last September 14, 2018. Recently, recognized as the first Filipina awarded at the 2nd Asia Pacific Women Entrepreneur by the Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) in Çırağan Palace Kempinski last November 24, 2018.

Sherill pays forward to fellow MSMEs in the country through mentorship and inspiration that a homegrown brand can level up to greater heights and compete in the international business platform.

Artie Lopez

Co-Founder of BrainSparks

Artie Lopez is a start-up coach, the Ambassador of Seedstars – Manila, and co-founder of Brainsparks, the first and only “founder-focused” incubator in the Philippines. Brainsparks’ vision is to “Turn Dreamers into Founders”. He has over a decade of experience in the tech startup industry and is a passionate advocate of using technology and innovation to improve people’s lives. Through Brainsparks, #StartupCoachArtie has supported countless startups develop their ideas, accelerate their growth, and raise funding from investors globally. #StartupCoachArtie and Brainsparks is happy to have successfully helped several PH Startups close their seed funding. In his spare time, he likes to mentor small businesses and social enterprises that support local communities.

Tiago Arnaiz

Editor of SparkUp.ph

Santiago Arnaiz is the editor of SparkUp, BusinessWorld’s multimedia platform for the Philippine startup community. Before joining BusinessWorld, Tiago got his master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where he garnered honors in photojournalism and deadline writing. As a multimedia journalist, he specializes in reporting on business and emerging tech.

Denise Subido

Managing Director of MUNI

Denise graduated cum laude from Ateneo de Davao University with a degree in International Studies, and has always had a passion for development work and social enterprises. Formerly the Executive Director of SEDPI Foundation, she developed and delivered various training programs nationwide, tackling leadership and social entrepreneurship. A teacher by heart, she uses that same energy to encourage MUNI’s community and corporate clients to adopt a more sustainability-oriented mindset, infusing her own brand of mindfulness as a yoga teacher, and humor as a nominated stand-up comedian by her friends and colleagues.

Antonette Mendoza

Content and Communications Manager of ECCP

Antonette is the Content & Communications Manager of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP). In 2014, she was part of the group of individuals invited to form the ECCP Young Professionals Committee (YPC). As the YPC Co-Chair, Antonette was responsible for promoting the inclusion of the youth in business and connecting future leaders with opportunities within the EU-Philippine business community by creating and executing events for young leaders and entrepreneurs. She has a masters in International Business from ESSCA – France and graduated from De La Salle

University-Manila with a degree in Entrepreneurship. Outside of her day job, Antonette is the Co-founder and Chief House Elf at Big Baby Studios, an audio production house and recording studio. She also plays bass for local shoegaze act Sleepwalk Circus.

Diana Santos-Ferrer

Owner and CEO of The School of Satchel

Diana is the strong-willed, roll-up-your-sleeves, feet-on-the-ground owner and CEO of The School of Satchel. She used to work for Unilever, L’Oreal and Fonterra Brands before relaunching the brand in 2016 after a 2-yr hiatus. The School of Satchel wants to raise the bar of the local market in its quest for high quality, stylish and functional leather goods. The brand aims to strengthen its advocacy in influencing people to have the courage to choose local first, to know ethical, and to learn about local leather craftsmanship.

Gina Romero

CEO and Co-founder of Connected Women

Gina is an unconventional entrepreneur and community builder. She runs Connected Women Jobs a social impact startup that provides technology skills training and online job matching for Filipino Women.

Bianca Cruz

General Manager of Acceler8 by UnionSPACE

Bianca Cruz is the General Manager of Acceler8 by UnionSPACE, a local coworking brand with a regional presence. She was a student-athlete since high school at St. Scholastica’s College and then later on at the University of Santo Tomas where she took up Entrepreneurship. Bianca loves involving herself with groups and projects driven with purpose and finds fulfillment in the simplest things like, bringing people together.

Alea Ladaga

Managing Director of Techtonic Summit

Alea is the current Managing Director of Techtonic Summit. Previously, she worked as the Program Associate for Community Growth at QBO Innovation Hub, Philippines’ first innovation hub and startup platform, pioneered as a public-private initiative to help Filipino startup companies grow. As a tech enabler, she is a part of a global network of community builders through Techstars Startup Digest Philippines, and has worked in 200+ community events with over 10,000 attendees. Part of her portfolio includes working as an organizer for Startup Weekend here in Metro Manila. Her end goal is to bringing awareness towards the role of the youth in helping the Philippines adapt towards the tech revolution in order to become globally competitive. In her spare time, she also likes travelling, surfing, and beers. She believes life is all about proactive and sustainable learning.

Kylie Misa

Co-founder of WVN Home

Kylie’s experience working in both the public and private sector for seven years has honed her expertise in public relations, government relations, and strategic communications. She was part of the Communications Office of former President Benigno S. Aquino III, has worked in a global communications firm in Singapore, and has now shifted to the entrepreneurship space as one of the Co-founders of WVN Home Textiles, where she works with weaving communities in the Philippines to co-create home and beach products for the contemporary lifestyle.

#SparkFest2019 takes place on Saturday, March 23 at the Globe Tower in BGC, Philippines. Find out more about SPARK Fest Asia.

For full conference schedule and tickets, click here.

Use the code: CONNECTEDWOMEN for a 15% discount off the ticket rate.

#ConnectedWomen are proud supporters and media partners for #SparkFest2019. We hope to see you there!