Muber.com, an online platform for travelers willing to act as buyers and couriers for hard-to-find but in-demand items from abroad, was recently adjudged winner of the Philippine Global Entrepreneurship (GSEA) competition.
The GSEA is a competition among entrepreneurially-inclined students organized yearly by the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), a global network of 10,500 members.
Muber, composed of Ateneo de Manila’s Leo Lope and Life Christian Lofranco and their friend, recent Masssachusetts Institute of Technology graduate Francis Plaza, won a cash prize of P250,000 and the right to represent the country at the international GSEA competition to be held this month in Washington, D.C.
Muber began as a social networking site in February 2014 which was relaunched seven months later into an e-commerce site — an end-to-end shopping gateway for overseas items which promises customers their orders will be served in five to 10 business days. It is a site where travelers post an upcoming overseas trip and accept online requests to bring home goods, earning income for them.
The site won on the basis of its great growth potential, according to GSEA.
The GSEA also offers a mentorship program that will allow promising young entrepreneurs to level up. It is expected to open doors for students. “For example, if the student is in the tech sphere or industry, we’ll try to find a tech entrepreneur in the same space to mentor them. If they’re in the food business, we’ll try to find an entrepreneur that’s also in the food industry,” according to Rufino.
The GSEA program aims to encourage more young people to venture into entrepreneurship, not in the far future, but in the here and now, even in-between attending classes.
Another distinct aspect of the program is that beyond the business plan, it looks at the students themselves, whether they have the qualities and competencies for successful entrepreneurship.
Photo: from www.rappler.com