US techpreneur starts Cebu relief campaign

California IT entrepreneur Bowei Gai, who made his fortune with a calling card application that was sold to LinkedIn, has his own relief operation for typhoon Yolanda victims.

In an interview over the weekend, Gai, who is visiting Cebu, said he was offering an hour of one-on-one coaching for startup entrepreneurs who would donate a thousand pesos to the campaign.

Gai set the IT world afire with his visit of 29 countries this year to research on startup enterprises and released his initial World Startup Report in an international conference in Boracay called “Geeks on a Beach” last Sept. 27.

“While I’m here, I think that is the best way I can help typhoon victims at the same time help out local startup companies,” he said.

Gai visited the Cebu campus of the University of the Philippines.

Gai said that he would stay in the country for six months, mostly in Cebu, to finish writing his world report.

Interested startup entrepreneurs can e-mail him at [email protected] and set an appointment with him in a coffeeshop in the city.

“I can make myself available for one session everyday while I’m here,” he said.

After leaving his Silicon Valley job following the sale of “Cardmunch” and traveling around the world, Gai is looking for new opportunities to develop IT and business talent.

He said the startup community in the country is still very young and needs an environment or an ecosystem that encourages its growth and is not afraid to try new ideas that is relevant to a community.

“Say for Cebu, a tool that integrates all jobs posted in all major job websites in the country,” he suggested.

SMALL MARKET

Gai said the Philippines is among the least invested countries in terms of venture capitalists and angel investors coming in.

He said the country is still a small market but is located in Asia, a region that’s expected to grow fast and where opportunities are found anywhere.