Three Philippine Teams Named as Finalists to the Alibaba GET Global Challenge 2020

Alibaba Business School, in partnership with The Royal Beijing Language and Culture Center, names the Top 3 Finalists for the Global E-commerce Talent (GET) Programme in the Philippines. The Makati-based language center also recently teamed up with iAcademy, the first Philippine educational institution that will be implementing the Alibaba GET Program. The competition simultaneously takes place in over a dozen other countries such as the African Region, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Philippines, Colombia, France, Serbia, Russia, and Mexico.

This year’s Alibaba GET Global Challenge 2020 theme is “Digital Solutions During and Beyond COVID-19.” The “GET Global Challenge 2020” event aims to discover solutions that can be used during this pandemic and even after. The challenge wants to identify those innovative digital solutions that pass criteria and will be of help to many people, businesses, and institutions as everyone needs to adapt to the new normal.

Applications were opened in April with a deadline of submission set on May 4. Developers and entrepreneurs were challenged to come up with digital solutions for everyone that would promote inclusive development and empowerment for the youth.

The vision of this global challenge is “To inspire, inform, and enable." Students and universities have been encouraged to join and present their ideas that will hopefully reduce day-to-day struggles, combat the virus, and improve work efficiency and quality of life. During the competition, the teams were able to take advantage of everything the Alibaba GET Network offered, from individualized 1-on-1 coaching to different resources (case studies, industry reports, etc.) and live-stream sharing and training sessions.  More than a hundred teams have entered the challenge from over ten countries and regions.

Filipinos’ Response to Social Innovation Challenge

Three teams have been chosen from the roster of participants to represent the Philippines. They will be competing with 52 other teams from 14 different countries.  These three have been selected out of the 12 teams that showed their creativity and initiatives and response to social responsibilities. The top three shortlisted teams are as follows: NEIGHBOURLY, CHECKMADE (Las Chicas), and SYMLIFY.

NEIGHBOURLY

Neighbourly is an e-commerce platform for residential neighbourhoods that promotes “bayanihan” by empowering community building and commerce. Due to the pandemic, there has been a rise in community commerce as Filipinos seek a safer way to purchase their needs and earn income.

The Neighbourly experience is designed specifically to make buying and selling more convenient for you and your neighbours by solving the challenges faced when doing this through messaging apps and social media platforms.

CHECKMADE

CheckMade is a startup that aims to create a fraud-free online marketplace in the Philippines. The e-commerce industry has grown exponentially the past several months due to the pandemic and a common problem now is finding businesses or sellers that are legitimate.

With CheckMade, small businesses can further increase their market reach by enhancing their reputation. Beyond fraud, it is CheckMade’s goal to help create a better and more secure eCommerce ecosystem.

SYMLIFY

Symlify is a single platform that helps online sellers manage their businesses. Social network selling is now standard but it still has more room for improvement.

Symlify is an order management system designed for small business online sellers that depend on social media. It serves as a central location where vendors can manage orders coming in from Facebook, Instagram or Viber.

Its SymlifyGo dashboard generates order links that can be shared on different social media networks. It is where all orders can be efficiently tracked.

Global Finals and Beyond

These three teams are proceeding to the World Finals of the Alibaba GET Global Challenge. Each will be given time to present their pitch that includes a 5-minute video plus a 3-minute live Q&A session with the jury. The Philippines is scheduled for August 26, 2020, Wednesday, at 9AM to 11:30AM. After a long series of deliberation, the Alibaba Business School will be naming the top 6 global winners from a slew of young and intelligent digital natives from different countries on August 29.

The top prize is up to 100,000 RMB which is around $14,500 (PhP 700,000). It also includes the opportunity to connect with potential mentors, employers, and investors. Alibaba is more than ready to give endless business opportunities within the ecosystem.

Online Video Resources:

Link to Alibaba 2020 GET Global Challenge - Digital Solutions During the Time of Epidemic Video Material

Link to Alibaba GET Global Challenge 2020 Mr. Brian Wong Video Message