Cebu's IT developers lack fiscal backbone to survive

Information Technology (IT) developers in Cebu have the potential, however lack ample capitalization to stay afloat in the world's IT limelight.

IT expert Dennis Ramon Posadas, the author of Rice Bowl and Chips, said Cebu's booming IT industry needs help from the private sector as well as from the government, as most IT developers or engineers who have potential ideas are not experts in the business management field.

The solution to maximize the IT potential of Cebu is for capitalists to extend help to this particular sector, to fund or manage IT professionals' brilliant ideas and promote it in the worldwide market.

Posadas was here in Cebu recently as one of the speakers of the Union Bank's sponsored Economic Briefing. He said technology start-up companies are knowledge based, most of them do not know how to effectively run a business.

Venture capitalists are those businessmen who will take advantage of a good concept or IT development product and offer to fund the idea as well as market the product.

He reiterated that what is important for a location to be successful as an IT hub is the ample stories of innovation, wherein a number of success stories will be highlighted.

Without the help of wealthy capitalists, brilliant ideas for innovation may be in vain, as IT professionals mostly do not have the financial backbone to develop further programs, or good concepts and promote it to the market.

Moreover, while Cebu is bidding to be one of the largest IT hubs, not only in the Philippines but also in Asia, the government's support is badly needed.

The local government may be able to help in promoting Cebu as an IT location, through providing financial assistance to local universities and colleges in creating IT laboratories.

Already, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) has installed a multi-million telecom laboratory facility in Cebu, the Innovation Laboratory (Innolab).

PLDT's Innolab is a hi-tech telecom laboratory that will develop telecom and data based products to initially serve every need of Cebu's corporate world, both small and large scale. It will also allow an actual and real time demonstration of the diverse products and services offered by PLDT.

PLDT has inked a partnership deal with the academe in Cebu, for the free use of the Innolab.

Posadas added that the IT industry, such as in Cebu, would need a strong partnership with the capitalists as well as the academe, to forge trust and confidence of every undertaking to be pursued by the techno-preneurs.

Earlier, Cebu based software developers expressed their frustrations of the government's lack of support in terms of financial assistance.

Meanwhile, Cebu's techno-preneurs or the start-up companies are operating within their own financial capacity, while trying to market their products to the domestic market. Some have in fact closed shops and programmers or good IT innovators decided to find greener pastures abroad.

Few years back, the Ayala Group attempted to create the "idea farm" facility in Cebu, wherein it encouraged techno-preneurs to present their concepts involving innovation after which the Ayala Group would serve as the Venture Capitalist once the company sees a huge business potential from a concept. But the project was later called off.