PESO Philosophy:

Our Vision
A Philippine entrepreneurial environment that fosters the creation of new and innovative business ventures that will not only create jobs, but also elevate the knowledge and skill base of Filipinos to ensure their place in an increasingly technology-savvy world.

Our Mission
To establish PESO, an entrepreneurship program and competition in the Philippines, modeled after the MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition, the most successful and prestigious of its kind in the United States. We believe that a program such as this can play a major role in realizing our vision of a rich entrepreneurial environment.

PESO has the following objectives:

•  To stimulate powerful new ideas and identify ideas with potential for successful incubation and commercialization

•  To promote productive interactions between academic, industry, and investment sectors

•  To inspire and empower young people to take the path of entrepreneurship by giving them access to proper resources, role models and mentors

•  To foster innovation, excellence and professionalism in the entrepreneurship process

Our Beliefs

•  Technology and i nnovation, animated by an entrepreneurial spirit and backed by financial, legal, marketing, PR, organizational and management discipline, are drivers of growth for the economy

•  An entrepreneur is someone who takes calculated risks and who has the technical skills, the initiative and the character to establish a high-growth business

•  Entrepreneurs can be trained

•  Entrepreneurship is a team activity

PESO: more than your average business plan competition

PESO is the only business plan competition that:

•  Is organized by a bi-continental team with diverse backgrounds and expertise

•  Is oriented towards technology- and innovation-based businesses

•  Offers skill-building and attitude changing workshops for free

•  Provides mentors for idea generation and business plan writing

•  Introduces teams to potential investors, funders and other expert assistance to accelerate start-up formation

•  Ensures that teams own the intellectual property rights of their business plans

•  Provides a post-competition support system

How You Can Help

We firmly believe in the value PESO will bring to the Philippine business scene. With your help, we can turn it into a powerful catalyst for entrepreneurship in the Philippines . Here are some of the ways you can work with us -- either in the Philippines or from abroad -- on this initiative:

Sponsorship : Recruit sponsors; provide financial support; provide in-kind sponsorship such as event venues, materials, and services

Services : Provide consulting or legal services

Advisory : Be a mentor for competing teams; a competition judge; or a panelist

Events : Organize and run fundraising events, workshops, and panel discussions

Recruiting : Recruit potential participants

IT : Help us expand and manage the PESO website

For more information, contact us at:peso-info[at]mit[dot]edu