TEN women-led enterprises vied for a chance to compete with other start-ups globally. Among them, sex education app Unprude and farming assistance Tech Farmtri were declared the representatives of the Philippines for the She Loves Tech start-up competition.

Unprude and Farmtri would join the regional round for Southeast Asia in Singapore. The sole winner from Southeast Asia would compete globally for a chance to win a $20,000 equity prize, sponsored by She Loves Tech.

Unprude co-founder Rica Cruz offers culturally grounded solutions to make sex therapy accessible, affordable and shame-free by offering online and offline products. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO She Loves Tech 2024 Philippines winners Unprude and Farmtri will represent the country in the competition’s Regional Finals in Singapore, competing against other women-founded start-ups from Southeast Asia. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Farmtri co-founder Marini Fernandez pitches her business-to-business platform that connects farmers to food businesses all while harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to minimize waste and revenue losses. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO She Loves Tech co-founder Leanne Robers shares the importance of women-led innovation and championing women in male-dominated industries such as tech. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Fireside chat members, namely (from right) Connected Women founder Gina Romero, Imaginable Impact co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Niña Terol, Accelerating Asia Program Manager Bettina Gamboa and She Loves Tech co-founder Leanne Robers discuss breaking barriers in the tech start-up ecosystem and supporting women-led businesses, moderated by QBO Innovation Manager Shor Macalbe. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Safe and healthy sex education

Unprude co-founder Rica Cruz recalled the story of her unpleasant relationship with sex as a young adult and how she was shamed for it. Living in a conservative country, finding answers to her questions related to the sexual self was not easy.

Now a certified sex therapist, Cruz had been empowered to help all people understand their sexual selves, using her knowledge to bring safe and curated sex education to Filipinos through the digital platform, Unprude. The app has been offering products, modules, exercises and a community for people who were seeking to nurture their sexual selves.

Compared to sex education content online, Unprude ensured that it would be a safe platform that anchored on accurate science as proven by studies, and multiple psychologists and academics. Therefore, it was considered free from misinformation and harmful sexual rhetoric, especially for the youth.

"We help people embrace their sexual selves on their own terms. Using technology, we found a way to make sex therapy affordable, accessible and shame free," Cruz said.

In the future, Cruz planned to integrate artificial intelligence to better make sex education personalized for each user, recommending educational materials that would be based on the user's feelings and problems encountered. She also planned to integrate intimacy advice and train more sex therapists in the Philippines.

Cruz expressed excitement to represent Filipino women and tech in Singapore, and spread the advocacy of fostering a culture of respect for sex instead of weaponizing it against others.

Cruz also encouraged aspiring female entrepreneurs by letting them know that it was a hard task, but it was something that they could overcome if they put dedication and work.

"Anyone can do it as long as you have the mission, motivation, passion and drive to help more women and use technology to do that. Anything can happen," she said.

Quality food, quality life

Marini Fernandez, co-founder and chief operating officer of Farmtri, brought her advocacy of elevating the food space by increasing the income of farmers and improving the quality of food.

Fernandez said despite playing a crucial role in the economy and quality of life for every person, farmers were still one of the lowest earners, bringing home P50 a day.

There had been a myriad of reasons behind this such as low productivity, food waste and outdated practices.

"Agriculture has so much [space] to innovate, and right now, the farmers are just earning over $1. These farmers are the ones [who make] our food. Farmers people are producers, and my co-founder always told me that farmers have a PhD: they're poor, hungry and desperate, and that's very sad and why we don't have the quality of food produced."

Farmtri's deep tech solution has increased farming productivity by 100 times, preventing food waste and helping farmers earn as much as P2,000 per day.

Farmtri has been using precision agriculture technology and internet of things or IoT sensors to measure soil quality and recommend crops that were optimized to grow in the soil. It also used crop production and predictive models to anticipate market demand.

Fernandez shared how some tomato farmers were able to prevent losses and grow quality crops through their predictive technology, particularly in informing farmers of the upcoming drought.

Currently, Farmtri has offered it services to 2,600 farmers in Cebu and has been coordinating with 1,000 food distributors and 300 restaurants. It has also started to expand nationwide, starting from Cebu and expanding in Negros, Bohol and Bukidnon. Fernandez said they have been planning to tap the Manila market by next year.

Aside from nationwide expansion, Farmtri also planned to license its hardware and sensors in order that other countries could also adapt its technology.

"There's so much more potential not just with the Philippines and the farmers but helping the world eliminate waste altogether," Fernandez said.

Fernandez was honored to represent the Philippines in Singapore, and invited others to support the other start-ups as well.

She advised female entrepreneurs to embrace a learning mindset and to pursue entrepreneurship to make a difference in the world.

"You don't [need] to have all the skills. You just [need to] be you. You have something that you can bring to the table whether it's tech, marketing or business development. Just be you and just take that leap to start. Try to find a problem that needs to be addressed right now," she said.

Helping start-ups grow

The eight other start-ups that presented were MedsGo, offering affordable and accessible medicines; Bonanza benefits, enhancing employee health and wellness; Collo, digitalizing property management; Rezbin, redefining waste management; Remotify, democratizing work from home jobs; Kazam, matching household help to those who needed them; Terpcap, making sign language interpretation accessible; and Alerto PH, bringing a new emergency response technology for disaster prone areas.

Leanne Robers, co-founder of She Loves Tech, emphasized the need to create spaces, where women were not overlooked and misdirected. She Loves Tech aimed to close the funding gap between male and female founded companies.

"That is why we are here today. The 10 start-ups that you are going to hear [are] not just building cool technologies; they are reshaping the whole landscape of what it means to be a tech innovator," Robers said.

Grace Magno, vice president for Corporate Marketing of SM Supermalls, highlighted how SM — in the same manner as She Loves Tech — was a Southeast Asian institution that had been believing in creating safe spaces for everyone.

Magno said: "So, [Rober's] focus on supporting and launching women-led businesses into the mainstream [also] aligns with SM's desire to support micro, small and medium enterprises, and we love to create jobs that are empowered by technology, sustainability and community building. We have start-up markets in about 15 of our malls nationwide."

Carol Cruz, managing partner of Equitrust Holdings Inc., recognized the importance of the women-led start-ups that pitched their work, saying: "By developing solutions that are enhancing disaster response as well as promote convenience, comfort and sustainability, you are not just building businesses; you are also fortifying communities and safeguarding our environment for future generations to come. Your ideas are the seeds of resilience that our nation needs now more than ever. Your innovative solutions can break down barriers and foster connections that drive productivity and collaboration."

Butch Meily, president of Ideaspace and QBO, addressed the participants, saying: "Today's event goes beyond your gender. Ideally, starting your own business is crucial for Filipinos. It offers a path to wealth that shows that you don't have to follow the traditional avenues of going abroad or working for a big company to do well, and that's been my message for many years. You can start your own business and create wealth for yourself and your family."