How This Startup in Makati is Helping Other Startups in the Philippines

Words by Vann Vicente
Graphics by Andrea Chan

Our beloved Philippines is starting to become a rising force in the world – home to a ton of talent, youth, energy and potential, which makes it a great place to build startups. Anyone who’s been watching the startup scene for the last couple of years can tell you that this is a great time to be in this kind of environment.

As more locals make startups and as more foreigners bring their startups here, it is also a great time to share knowledge and resources with a wide network of people. New businesses thrive better with a support system that helps them leverage on a wide array of connections with other people who have various capabilities, and help them solve the roadblocks that they face.

The biggest problem that every startup faces is cost. Along with the basic expenses it takes to form a business, there are a bunch of other things that can eat up precious capital at a time when it is most needed to grow. It costs a lot to rent an office, pay for the internet, hire a lawyer to navigate local labor laws, engage in months-long talent hunts, and the like – especially when you have to do all of these alone.

One company in Makati – a startup itself called Penbrothers – is helping other startups solve these problems so that they can lower costs and optimize their growth. Here are some of the ways they help other startups grow in the Philippines:

Co-Working

Penbrothers is part of a new movement of working environments called co-working spaces. They provide companies with collaborative offices that allow you rent out seats for your company and share in the resources, including high-speed internet, round-the-clock security, unlimited coffee and beverages, meeting rooms, and prime locations in the heart of Makati. By allowing businesses to co-work, they cut down a lot of the most difficult costs – which is why coworking is the core component of Penbrothers.

Payroll

For both new local businesses and newly entered foreign businesses, one of the most daunting parts of the formation process is understanding local tax law and salary policy. If you want to do it yourself, you have to go through mounds of paperwork, learn tons of specific rules on things like 13-month pay and understand the nuances of the pay scale. When you’re a young business, you definitely have better things to do than that. That’s exactly why Penbrothers provides a solution to those problems. They will organize your payroll structure for you – ensuring that you are compliant with the law and that your team gets all of they payments at the right time.