Passion, leadership, and tenacity, combined with technology, go a long way in overcoming startup roadblocks. Three female tech leaders shared their thoughts during the recently held #QLITAN at QBO.

The QBO Innovation Hub in Makati, Philippines was bustling with activity last October 9, 2018 as various startup founders gathered for the latest QLITAN session on overcoming barriers in tech leadership roles.

The event was hosted by QBO Philippines, an innovation hub and startup platform that aims to connect, transform, and empower Philippine startups. The venue was filled with smart and driven individuals who were more than eager to hear from Gina Romero, CEO of Connected Women, Alexandria Gentry, co-founder of Sprout Solutions, and Jocs Pantastico, CEO of Olivia App.

At the event, Gina, Alexandria, and Jocs shared their personal experiences and life lessons that were instrumental in building their respective startups. During the open discussion, the participants had the opportunity to engage the all-female panel in deep conversation and exchange insights on the future of startups, technology, and gender conversation.

The Philippines Is A Country Of Opportunity

The startup mindset has reached the country, and it is beginning to open more opportunities for Filipinos to build their careers and businesses at home. As the daughter of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW), Gina is especially passionate about giving Filipino women more job options at home. “If we can stop Filipino women from going abroad to work when they can find opportunities back home and stay with their families, who am I to say no to that? We have everything in the Philippines. All the opportunity is here,” she said.

Alexandria Gentry began her career in the publishing industry. She then shifted gears and got into software, and co-founded Sprout Solutions, one of the country’s fastest-growing HR tech startups in the country. Sprout’s mission—their ‘North Star,’ emphasizes the goal to cultivate and advance businesses in the country to create more opportunities for Filipinos. “[Sprout does] HR and payroll. It’s not very ‘sexy,’ but there is a bigger purpose for that, [which is] to impact the life of every Filipino by improving business in the Philippines,” Alex shared.

Technology Is Empowering

As the CEO and co-founder of Connected Women, Gina has made it her mission to empower Filipina women with work-from-home career opportunities while supporting the growth of women-led businesses globally. “Connected Women started with a vision of driving technology adoption by women in businesses and startups,” Gina said.

Then, Gina realized that location dependence is holding women back from growing bigger businesses. But technology is a very empowering tool for remote work and location independence, and Connected Women is pushing for women to utilize technology to continue a career and grow a business even when on the move. “If we empower women with technology, and we can get them to understand and use technology to scale without being linked to a physical space, then maybe that would help them grow,” she said.

Shift To A Technology Mindset

Jocs Pantastico, the CEO and co-founder of Olivia App, a virtual financial advisor that helps women create financial goals, match them to investment products via AI, and allow them to allocate investments to goals so they can track their progress, believes that women must buck the trend and dive headfirst into technology.

“When I was in college, taking up STEM courses wasn’t even expected. Women were expected to take the arts—the ‘soft’ courses. I think if you want your daughters, if you want your friends, if you want to succeed, just get out of your comfort zone. Take a computer science course, a coding course—even if no one around you is supporting you,” she shared.

Likewise, Alex thinks that technology today—artificial intelligence in particular—is changing the way people learn or need to learn, and we need to properly equip ourselves to keep up.

“A good story my husband always talks about when he talks about AI is, imagine you were going into the Olympics but you didn’t know what sport you’d be competing in. How would you do that? You would have to change the way you trained—focus on your stamina, agility, and all these things—so you can really compete when you get there.

“That’s how the playing field is going to be in the future, so we need to change the way we educate our kids. It shouldn’t be about memorizing stuff; it should be about fostering curiosity. Otherwise, we are going to be left in the dark and our kids are never going to know how to adapt,” Alex said.

Barriers Are Not Gender-Dependent

The one thing that the all-female panel has in common is their belief that the barriers to startup success are not dependent on gender. The roadblocks to success are the same for both men and women. Grit and courage are the keys to overcoming these roadblocks, no matter your gender. “I think oftentimes we are our own worst enemy. We label ourselves. We tell ourselves ‘No, we can’t do that,’ and we start believing it,” said Jocs.

Viewing the barriers through a different lens can lead to a shift in perspective. “Whatever you think your barrier is, if you look at the opportunities [laid out on] a different path, then you’ll think that your barrier is not really a barrier. If you’re the type of person who looks at a wall and says, ‘Oh, I can’t go that way, but there must be another way,’ then you can quickly react to that situation and solve it,” said Gina.

Alex added, “Every person has their own inertia. People who are great at inertia in motion, when faced with a boulder in front of them, they [find a way through it]! You go around it or something. A lot of people who are successful and are passionate or driven will find a way around a problem.”

Sharing Is Caring—And Growing

No man is an island—and it rings true for startups as well.

“The big barrier for startups in the Philippines is the lack of a robust community. A lot of startups here really need to foster that community where [people share knowledge more] than keeping your cards so close. Strategies are one thing, but execution is everything, so it doesn’t matter if you share that knowledge with others a little bit more,” Alex said.

The Philippines has a growing startup community, and it is important to nurture this community to grow. “Startups helping other startups is really, really important. Mentoring and coaching is also a really big thing,” said Jocs.

About Gina

Gina Romero is the founder of Connected Women. Her passion for helping young women embark on successful careers and entrepreneurial journeys lead to securing funding through the National Youth Council (Singapore) to engage and empower more young professionals. Connected Women Jobs is a social impact startup that aims to empower Filipino women with work-from-home career opportunities while supporting the growth of women-led businesses globally.

About Jocs

Jocs Pantastico is the CEO and co-founder of Olivia App, which won She Loves Tech Philippines 2018. Jocs was sent to represent the Philippines to the competition for the global finals and attended the bootcamp featuring talks and lectures from Chinese unicorns like Baidu, Bytedance, and chats from Singaporean executives of Lazada and Grab. Olivia is the Filipino woman’s Virtual Financial Advisor. They help women create financial goals, match them to investment products via AI, and allow them to allocate investments to goals so they can track their progress.

About Alex

Alex Gentry started her career in the publishing industry where she began as an editorial assistant and ended up as one of the youngest group publishers in the country. She then transitioned to (and fell in love with) software where she did everything but write code. She is currently the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Sprout Solutions, one of the Philippines’s fastest growing HR tech startups.

What is QLITAN?

QLITAN is a regular series of talks arranged for experienced startup founders and enablers to share their personal stories, tips, and business know-how to inspire explorers and other founders in succeeding with their own ventures. For more info on the upcoming QLITAN talks, visit QBO Philippines website.

Brought to you by QBO

QBO Philippines is an innovation hub and startup platform envisioned to connect, transform and empower the Philippine startup ecosystem.

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