Investment experts reveal secrets in 'catching capital'

by Upspring December 08, 2011

More than 50 business owners and managers gained insights on the challenges, best practices, trends and practical approaches in getting working capital for their pet projects during the recent Enablement Seminar offering from the PSIA, the premier organization representing more than 150 software companies in the country.

Part of PSIA's capability development initiative, the forum on "Access to Capital for Growing Firms" held at the AIM Conference Center in Makati was keynoted by Beng Coronel, Director for Capability Development of PSIA.

Featured speaker Alexander 'Sandy' Gilles, Chartered Financial Analyst and lecturer for the Securities and Exchange Commission & Philippine Stock Exchange, shared his experiences on how to gain access to working capital for companies to undertake high-margin projects to improve profits and cash flows in their businesses.

One of the highlights of Gilles' lecture is on the advantages and disadvantages of getting Angel Investors, Venture Capital, Private Equity and Equity Capital as sources of funds. He also cited case studies on how some Filipino companies are able to get seed money from foreign investors.

More insights were shared during the open forum, which followed after the highly-informative talk. Both Paco Sandejas of Narra Venture Capital and Carlo Florendo of Astra Philippines gave attendees an overview of how and why investors are giving their funds to upcoming technology companies with fresh ideas.

Edwin Moran, Board of Trustees of the Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines (HIMOAP), moderated the open forum where panelists also discussed why companies with great ideas are losing grants and investments over companies with great business plans.

The forum was concluded with a question and answer portion and a closing remarks from PSIA President Noya Terrado.

The PSIA Enablement Seminars, which started in 2009, are half-day sessions for company owners, managers, and developers who seek to beef up competencies of IT resources and their companies' growth.

Topic for the next Enablement Seminar will be "Competency Framework and Performance Management: How do we transform our organizations to High Performance Centers" on November 24 at the AIM Conference Center in Makati.

Featured speaker will be Professor Benjamin Sandoval, an Assistant Professor of Strategic Management at the University of the Philippines College of Business Administration.

He is the Director of the Masteral Programs of the UP College of Business and also the Executive Director of the Development Center for Finance.

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