The very first Philippine Rice Bowl Startup Awards 2016 named iVolunteer Philippines’s Go Volunteer expo last March 5-6, 2016 as this year’s Best Campaign, which is a breakthrough award for iVolunteer.
The awarding was held at A SPACE Greenbelt, Makati, Philippines last July 15, 2016
The Philippine Rice Bowl Startup Awards
The Philippine Rice Bowl Startup Awards is the local version of the ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards, which is part of a larger award-giving body–the Global Startup Awards that aim to connect startup ecosystems across different nations.
For this year, the Philippine Rice Bowl Startup Awards acknowledged exemplary entrepreneurs to further inspire more communities of start-up enthusiasts, serial entrepreneurs, and diverse mentors.
The Categories
The Philippine Rice Bowl Startup Awards featured eleven (11) categories, namely:
Startup of the Yea
Best Newsletter
Best Disruptor/ Gamechanger
Best Professional Investor
Founder of the Year
Developer Hero
Startup Journalist of the Year
Best Social Media Influencer
Best Campaign of the Year
Best Social Enterprise of the Year
Startup Enabler of the Year
The Nominees
iVolunteer Philippines, represented by co-founder, JB Tan, was nominated for the Best Campaign of the Year category. It bested other startup organizations such as the Satoshi Citadel Industries represented by John Bailon, Zipmatch by Chow Paredes and Zalora, with co-founder Paolo Campos III.
iVolunteer Philippine’ co-founders expressed how the nomination was totally a surprise, and winning was beyond any expectation.
A First for iVolunteer Philippines
iVolunteer co-founder JB Tan happily shared that it was the first award won by iVolunteer since it started in 2009. Humbled and honored, he admitted, “Yes, it is the first time we got to win something… something unexpected especially for an NGO.”
iVolunteer Philippines co-founder Bel Padlan also remarked, “Definitely, it’s a pleasant surprise. All the hard work for the Go Volunteer expo were well worth it. We hope this win will help us reach more Filipinos and encourage them to be volunteers.”
With the slogan “Every Filipino, A Hero”, iVolunteer Philippines’s mission of empowering volunteers to icespread the passion of volunteerism in building a better Philippines has just been validated and made stronger through this recent recognition.
What’s Next?
After the Philippine Rice Bowl Startup Awards, the upcoming ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards in Malaysia this August is definitely something to look forward to. iVolunteer will now vie to win the award for the same category, where it will compete with nine other countries.
A regional award for iVolunteer Philippines will be nothing short of amazing, but with or without this, iVolunteer is more impassioned to reach out and develop more volunteers now more than ever.
by Kaye Marcelino
iVolunteer Philippines 