Tech-savvy businesswoman Myla Villanueva is set to launch a venture known for helping fuel the technology boom in California’s famous Silicon Valley since the 1980s.
According to our source, Villanueva will unveil Wednesday a multimillion-peso venture capital outfit that seeks to help get deserving IT ideas on their feet (and perhaps eventually launch them as the country’s answer to foreign software giants).
Our source tells us that the outfit, to be called the “Angel Fund”—probably named after Silicon Valley’s “angel investors” who help struggling startups—will be Villanueva’s flagship advocacy platform.
Also known as an entrepreneur, Villanueva founded Wolfpac (a mobile app firm) and Meridian (the predecessor of Smartbro)—both of which have since been acquired by Smart Communications.
As the head of Angel Fund, Villanueva aims to scour colleges and universities around the country for people with potential big IT ideas and help them with funding.
The venture capital outfit will be funded to the tune of P111 million, all from Villanueva’s own deep pockets (although other funders may be invited to increase the funding pool eventually).
If you think that’s an odd sum to start with, consider that the project will be launched on January 11 (“1-11”), which is also, incidentally, Villanueva’s birthday.—Daxim L. Lucas
BPO foray
Construction and engineering firm Megawide Corp. is finalizing a partnership with a Chinoy group to pursue a business process outsourcing office building project in Fort Bonifacio, which will mark its diversification (from purely building high-rise condos for the likes of SM Development Corp.) into property development and leasing.
While such a plan will open a new stream of recurring earnings, it’s a capital-intensive undertaking, which is why getting a partner to share in the front-loaded expenses is crucial for Megawide.
The company’s learning curve on prospective BPO leasing begins with its new mid-rise head office along N. Domingo Street, Quezon City. This “green” building is minimalist in design, doesn’t use any paint, has sophisticated air vents that keep fresh air in circulation and employs a cooling technique that operates freezers and coolants at night (when electricity costs are lower) which, in turn, keep the building cool during the day.
The company, thus, realizes 50-percent savings on utilities and isn’t even able to use up the consumable electricity under its power plan with Meralco. Because office tenants tend to spend as much on utilities as rental charges, Megawide believes that replicating this green building concept for leasing will allow it to be competitive in the BPO property space.
And who could be Megawide’s partner for this diversification? It’s not SM (which owns about a fifth of the construction firm) but a privately held, consumer-oriented company with a strong brand (whose products can also be seen in SM malls). The deal could be finalized in a few weeks’ time.—Doris C. Dumlao
In demand: hard truths
When the business community wants to hear hard truths about the local economy for the year ahead, who do they call upon?
Certainly not the usual Palace economic managers. Everyone already knows what they think: “Everything is fine.”
No, they call upon a man who is known to be loyal to the interests of the Philippine economy, regardless of the prevailing political color.
In fact, our sources tell us that the appointment calendar of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. is already booked solid for the month of January.
The first working day of 2012 began for the head of the central bank with a speech before his home crowd where he spoke of the economic challenges the country faces this year.
On Tuesday, he spoke before the “Tuesday Club” of senior newsmen, columnists, editors and public relations practitioners. Tuesday night, he spoke before executives of the Bank of China.
Today (Wednesday), Tetangco will speak before members of the Financial Sector Forum, which brings together heads of various regulatory agencies and private sector stakeholders.
On Thursday, he will give his economic prognosis at the annual traditional lunch of the Rotary Club of Manila at the Polo Club.
This will be followed by another speech next Tuesday before a group of retirees, a memorandum of agreement signing, and another speech on Friday before BSP officers.
And that’s just for the first two weeks of the month.
Why is the BSP governor such a hot commodity nowadays? Apparently, a lot of people want a glimpse of the perilous economic road ahead for 2012… without the rose-colored glasses.—Daxim L. Lucas
Bracing for curtain raising
The Philippines usually does the honor of raising the curtains for the Asian debt market every year and is now awaiting the opportunity to do the same this year.
“We hope to raise it soon and if the window of opportunity from sales feedback is as good as expected, we launch ASAP,” said an industry source privy to the offering.
Another banker said the planned issuance of 1.5-billion US dollar-denominated bonds could benefit from global relief coming from the massive liquidity being provided by the European central bank, an initiative undertaken at the end of last year when most players were already out on vacation.
The Philippine government has Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Standard Chartered and UBS AG to arrange the offering. Spreading the love indeed is the policy these days.—Doris C. Dumlao
Doris C. Dumlao