Two weeks ago, Rachel and I flew to Boracay to attend Geeks on a Beach, a conference open to anyone interested in the startup scene, and looking to make a difference. We jumped at the chance to be immerse with the rockstars of the scene.
And that’s exactly what we got! We met the likes of Bowei Gai, who had just competed his world tour to produce the World Startup Report, which he presented to the group. The treat for us was the Philippine Startup Report that Ron Hose and Beryl Li of SeedAsia also revealed.
It was also very exciting to hear Khailee Ng talk about his experiences, and what he’s doing now with 500 Startups.
Lucky me, I got to sit at a table with Joey Gurango, Martin Pascual, Joben Ilagan, Jack Madrid, Paco Sandejas (for a bit) and Janette Toral!
(photo from Janette Toral, from Facebook)
On Friday morning, we joined some of the women for breakfast. We got to chat a bit with Tina Amper of TechTalks.ph — without whom the whole event would not have happened. Janette Toral of Digital Filipino gave a presentation on the status of e-commerce in the Philippines today.
(group photo from Nicole Paterno, Facebook)
It’s nice to see that there are lots of wonderful women supporting the startup community!
The best thing about the conference was the vibe. Everyone was curious to learn, excited to meet, very supportive of ideas and each other — and happy to party. This is one of the best (and most fun) conferences I’ve been to in a while.
Two weeks later and back in Manila, Homegrown is still feeling the ripple effects of the conference. We’ve continued meeting people and have started collaborating with others on how best to make the world a better place in ways we know how.
Looking forward to GOAB next year!
The Homegrown Blog 
Great to meet you! 🙂