President Obama arriving in Africa was history in the making.
The US President, who gave a speech at the 6th Global Entrepreneurship Summit last week in Nairobi, Kenya, carried with him a vision that could be a huge turning point for African—and global—entrepreneurship. This newly spotlighted possibility paves the way for Africa to become a “center of business innovation and entrepreneurship,” which consequently would lead to creation of jobs and a more sustainable economic situation.
In many countries, Philippines included, entrepreneurship is viewed as an effective means to catapult people out of poverty, thus contributing to a better economic standing for the whole country as well.
Sari Software Solutions, a Philippine-based startup focused on bringing innovation to sari-sari stores and SMEs, has been awarded the Best in ICT (Information and Communications Technology) at the said Global Entrepreneur Summit in Kenya.
Sari CEO Ibrahim Bernardo (second from right, standing) with other winners of the GES 2015 Tech-I competition
Sari participated at the Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) Tech-I competition. As a representative of Philippines and the lone awardee from Southeast Asia, Sari championed the ICT category from out of 792 candidates from 74 countries around the world.
Now on its sixth year, the Global Entrepreneur Summit is an international gathering of entrepreneurs, start-ups executives, and Silicon Valley luminaries. It was launched by US President Barack Obama in 2009 as an annual venue for bringing entrepreneurs and investors from around the world to exchange ideas, showcase projects, share expertise, and network with each other. During the event, startups were given the chance to show how they could solve local and global problems. Attendees at the event include President Obama, recording artist and philanthropist Akon, executives from Airbnb, Uber, and m-pesa, the most successful mobile-based money transfer service. Rounding the guest lists were venture capitalists from Silicon Valley.
In a keynote speech which President Obama personally delivered at the GES, he said that the participants, including Sari, are the embodiment of “the spirit of entrepreneurship, the idea that there are no limits to the human imagination; that ingenuity can overcome what is and create what needs to be.” He further added that the GES has helped “empower hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs, giving them a boost to launch thousands of new businesses and initiatives.”
Sari CEO Ibrahim Bernardo presenting at the United Nations Headquarters in Kenya at the GES 2015 Tech-I competition
Sari, represented by its CEO Ibrahim Bernardo, delivered a presentation pitch to a panel of experts in related fields. Sari’s presentation focused on the development of SariScan, a financial literacy tool and store management application designed from the ground up for owners of sari-sari stores. In the presentation, Sari highlighted the importance of designing a tool that’s specific for the needs of microentrepreneurs both for the local and global markets.
Sari competed with other entrees from the field of health and medicine, science and technology, environment, entrepreneurship, and agriculture.
