MANILA -- Canadian businesses in the technology sector on Thursday were urged to invest in the Philippines and make the Asian country a regional hub.

Potential areas of collaboration were discussed during the webinar on Philippine tech market opportunities organized by Digital Pilipinas, Canada-ASEAN Business Council, and the Embassy of Canada in the Philippines.

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Aside from the expected economic growth in the Philippines and the ASEAN region, the Philippines is also a good country to invest in terms of tech given its reputation of being the text and social media capital of the world, Digital Pilipinas Convenor Amor Maclang said.

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She added that the country has a high growth rate in terms of e-commerce with a P2 trillion digital economy value. The Philippines, she said, is also not behind in terms of the latest innovation in the tech sphere.

“When it comes to NFTs and the metaverse, the Philippines is unparalleled. The reason for that is that no one consumes and creates digital assets like the Philippines does,” Maclang said.

However, issues on cybersecurity were also raised.

Roberto Tayag, Cyberg CEO for Asia Pacific, admitted that there are still many cyber attacks and breaches, but he said that the good thing in the Philippines is there is already a growing pool of cybersecurity analysts and experts.

Cybersecurity can also be a good sector to invest in, he said, as many small businesses would need in securing their online operations.

Other speakers at the webinar also mentioned that the Philippines has a very young population which is good for businesses that may want to invest in the country.

Having a large population, they noted is also good for foreign businesses as they can now tap into a big market for their products or services.

“With a potential market of over 100 million Filipinos, there’s a very large opportunity for Canadian companies to sell their products and services here. The local market is very hungry for anything online and techie,” said Roberson Chiang, founder and CEO of DragonPay.

Tayag added, “There’s a lot of people we have here in the Philippines. Our very diverse and capable workforce in the Philippines is going to be an asset.

The Canada-ASEAN Business Council is happy with the interest of Canada’s private sector for what it calls the “exciting and emerging opportunities in the Philippines’ booming tech sectors.

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