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MAOI ARROYO

The Philippine Evolution

Prior to the pandemic, the Philippines was the world’s 2nd fastest growing economy after China. But it was also the 2nd poorest country in ASEAN.

How can we be poor when we are the 3rd in the world for diversity on land, and #1 in marine biodiversity on the entire planet? Why are we still a third world country when we have so many great resources? The most common answer is because of graft and corruption. It’s simplistic, because many other countries also have this problem. Korea was a backwater after the war, and it has had many corruption scandals. Now we buy our mobile phones from them. The difference is that, despite the concerns about government corruption, Koreans invested in Korea. Taiwanese invested in Taiwan. Indians invested in India.

Unfortunately, Filipinos trust each other the least  — and you don’t invest in people you don’t trust.

But why shouldn’t we trust each other? Filipinos power the world. 9% of engineers and teachers worldwide are Filipino. 20% of sailors in the world are Filipino. 25% of nurses in developed countries are Filipino. We are already world class. The whole world trusts us to build and maintain their infrastructure, to provide education, to trade their goods, and to care for the most important people in their lives.

If we look back on our history, we’ll see so many chances where we could have built trust in each other after the revolution against Spain and after the EDSA revolution. We’ve had too many revolutions — and all of them are unfinished. Maybe it’s time for us to put the hard work and patient capital into an evolution. Maybe our problems are so complex and so grave that there isn’t a quick fix. Maybe we deserve more than the quick and easy solution.

Investing in our own country is the one thing we haven’t tried. What are we afraid of? Failure? There is no dishonor in failing in the pursuit of doing what is right and what is good. This is why I founded the Ignite Impact Fund. My team and I believe that the bad behavior of the few does not outweigh the integrity and track record of the Filipino people. We’re investing in the Philippines because we believe in the Filipino people and we’re putting our money where our mouth is. Post-pandemic, our goal is not for the Philippines to go “back to normal”. Normal wasn’t working. We want to evolve. If you’d like to be part of building a better normal for the Philippines. Find out more at igniteimpact.fund.

Rebuffing Buffet

By Maoi Arroyo • June 18, 2021
Warren Buffet is the last person to whom I ever thought I’d retort “Okay, boomer” to. After all, he’s the kindly grandpa of capitalism who pledged to donate 85% (about $37.4 billion) of his wealth to charity. However, he’s also the gentleman who has adamantly opposed two proposals for annual reports on climate change and diversity initiatives , despite the push of some of his top investors. These include BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) , the world’s biggest asset manager; the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which is the largest U.S. public pension fund; and Federated Hermes Inc (FHI.N) , an investment manager with $625 billion under management. He recently spoke to the Financial Times about “why corporations cannot be moral arbiters” saying “If they asked [the fund investors], ‘Do you want the board of directors and the managers of your companies to spend time and energy on environmental, social, and governance issues or do you want them to spend all of their time and energy on increasing the value of your shares?’ I’m rather sure that an overwhelming number of them would choose the latter.”

The 2021 Ocean Challenge

By Maoi Arroyo • June 8, 2021
Today we celebrate World Oceans Day 2021. It’s a UN holiday that celebrates the major role the oceans have in everyday life. The UN hopes that the celebration can help inform everyone of the impact of human actions on the ocean and unite the world in its efforts for sustainable management of our important resources. This year’s theme is “The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods”.

How the Innovative Startup bill is good for #StartupPH — if it gets signed

By Maoi Arroyo • March 12, 2019
As a companion piece to Maoi’s blog article on the Philippine startup ecosystem , we want to take a closer look at the Innovative Startup bill which we spent a lot of time working on. The bill *should* have been passed into law as of this writing. Maoi speculates on possible delays towards the end of this post.

PH startup ecosystem primed for growth

By Maoi Arroyo • March 4, 2019
Innovations don’t grow in a vacuum. Like any living thing, their growth is dependent on what the ecosystem can support. To fully capitalize on the opportunities for growth in the Philippines, we have to deepen existing partnerships both within the country and abroad. Many technologies are simply born in the wrong place — and many Filipino startups do not have the resources to scale and benefit others. The Philippines is the 10th fastest growing economy in the world and was the best country for global investment in 2018 according to a recent study by Wharton . Yet the same study ranked our entrepreneurship 51st out of 80 countries, and we have plateaued in the 70s in the Global Innovation Index . The Philippine growth story is neither inclusive nor powered by innovations.
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