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New Zealand companies that are on the path to expanding their export potential abroad lack potential if they neglect the Philippines, says a New Zealand entrepreneur.
Rachel Strevens, co-founder of Cryptocurrency The Invsta Investment Platform says that few New Zealand companies exploit the potential of the Philippines
Strevens was part of a directed cohort by the Asia New Zealand Foundation, which brought five technology entrepreneurs to the Philippines to learn about technological disruptions in Southeast Asia.
"The biggest revelation for me was that the Philippines has a huge potential market for financial services," says Strevens.
With a population of over 100 million people, an extensive mastery of English and a growing middle class. She believes that the Philippines is a huge market opportunity for her business.
"On top of that, the population is tech-savvy and very young, with a millennials are eight times more likely to buy Bitcoin than baby boomers, so it's an incredibly large market and attractive to us. "
Cryptocurrencies, Strevens says, are here to stay – and beyond transactions, the underlying blockchain technology has many different uses.
One of these uses is the ability to rationalize traditional lethargic financial systems. Strevens says that many Filipinos abroad send large amounts of foreign wages to the Philippines.
"Crypto and blockchain technologies accelerate money transfer times around the world and this has a huge impact on the remittance industry, but she thinks New Zealand companies should not consider the Philippines as a place of outsourcing.
"The Philippines will remain a great country outsourcing technical work because its employees are among the best in the world and have much lower payroll costs than the New Zealand. "
" In addition, with a growing middle class throughout the region, Southeast Asia should be increasingly seen as a place of provenance and sales. The market is definitely there.
Invsta is currently raising a seed fund to support its growth plans, particularly in Asian markets, including the Philippines.
Invsta recently participated in Kiwibank FinTech Accelerator, which is the second Kiwibank- sponsored Lightning Lab Business Accelerator-focused FinTech companies.
"The Asia-New Zealand Foundation's trip has allowed me to begin to establish crucial links with local market players," concludes Strevens
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