MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Shell LiveWIRE, the flagship enterprise development program of Shell Pilipinas Corporation (SPC), recently partnered with Brainsparks Community Meetup to sharpen the competitive edge of startups through digital marketing and artificial intelligence (AI). Eight Media CEO Gerald Castillo and Creative & IP Lead of AcadArena Andrew Manliquez shared their experiences and expertise about maximizing digital marketing and AI for startups during the event.
SPC’s partnership with Brainsparks Philippines is in line with its mission of supporting startups that are on the cutting-edge of innovation while help strengthen local economies by promoting entrepreneurship and meaningful employment.
“Shell LiveWIRE supports the MSMEs producing innovative products and services. The second form of support is for the tech startups where we run accelerator programs,” Crisille Villaluna, Program Officer of Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc (PSFI), social arm of Shell Pilipinas Corporation (SPC), shared. “We were able to reach 800 startups and among the 32 who 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 also invited startups and innovators to be a part of the program that can give way to opportunities like mentorship and inclusion to the Shell Value Chain.
Digital marketing, AI for startups
Gerald talked about the current trends in digital marketing, and the channels that startups can leverage on to grow their business and accelerate their customer engagement. He focused his discussion on solving a problem through marketing for startups. His tip: to still keep the basics.
In the talk about AI, Andrew shared how machine intelligence like ChatGPT can help in a startup’s everyday tasks, specifically for content. He said that startups can use this platform to help minimize their tasks for a day and focus more on other activities.
Also present at the event was Shell LiveWIRE alumnus, Louie Villalon, CEO of Dali Innovative Solutions. He shared his journey with the program and how their product, Vortex, a global energy device particularly a wind turbine, 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,“ Louie shared. “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.”
As part of its vision to strengthen local economies by promoting entrepreneurship, innovation and meaningful employment, Shell LiveWIRE will invite applicants to register for the Acceleration Program in the next Community Meetup on May 24. To register for Community Meetup, click here.
Partnership for the future innovators
This year, eleven teams will be chosen to be part of the Acceleration Program. Among those 11 teams are three tech startups, six community enterprises, and two Shell Sponsor’s A-list that will get access to mentorship from industry experts to scale their company. Tech startups will get financial support through product development and monthly allowances plus a chance to win PHP 1,000,000. All founders of community enterprises will receive a PHP 100,000 grant after the program.
Those who are interested in becoming innovators of the future may apply in Shell LiveWIRE Acceleration Program 2023 until June 5. To register, click here.
