'raming tanong

Dave Overton is a startup founder. His background has a mixture of economics and technology, enabling him to be an established resource for consulting on technology platforms that aim to have an impact. He also believes that building startups that solve problems is one of the most effective ways to have an impact. (He knows this is incredibly hard, and therefore he has come to terms with being crazy.)
In 2010 Dave founded Symph, and he leads the company as the CEO. The company’s vision is to: Drive positive global impact by building startups for every problem affecting human life. 
The company has provided software design and development services to clients all over the world with a focus on turning ideas into reality.  Symph has also worked with multiple agencies within the Government of the Philippines (Department of Budget and Management, Presidential Communications and Operations Office, the Commission on Audit, Department of Agriculture - PRDP) to build technology for impact. 
Dave came to the Philippines in 2003 and, together with his wife, founded a non-profit organization that continues to provide high quality maternity care to those living at the margins of society. His education in international economics helped the organization scale from a husband and wife team to a 24/7 operation with over 50+ team members.

 
Standing at the intersection of technology and international development, he is passionate about developing solutions that shape the future of emerging markets. Dave holds a BA in International Economics from San Diego State University.

As a development worker and entrepreneur, Elizar Sabinay Jr. or more fondly known as Ely, is reshaping Metro Cebu by addressing issues from traffic to waste management. With a background in Political Science and ongoing studies in Urban Planning, he brings a unique blend of academic insight and hands-on experience. Currently, as the Program Director at Cebu Leads Foundation Inc., Ely navigates the Mega Cebu Program, engaging in innovative solutions for present and future urban challenges. Join us as Ely shares his expertise and unveils the keys to sustainable urban planning.

In this episode of ‘raming tanong, we delve into the world of tech education and accessibility with Aurelien, the brilliant mind behind Eskwelabs. As the COO and co-founder of this groundbreaking academy, Aurelien has dedicated himself to a mission: equipping everyone with the skills needed for the future, especially in AI and big data.

Join us as Aurelien shares his journey from being a strategy consultant tackling global development challenges to spearheading a transformative education initiative. Discover how his experiences at Dalberg and the Institute of Globally Transformative Technologies shaped his vision for Eskwelabs.

Dive into the vibrant world of indie game development with our latest episode featuring JohnPineda, the programming maestro behind Yangyang Mobile. Delve into the intricacies of crafting immersive storytelling in visual novels, dating sims, and more, as John shares insights into their heavy emphasis on original IP development. Explore the challenges and triumphs of publishing across diverse platforms, from PC to console and mobile. Discover the secret ingredients driving their pursuit of gaming excellence and their unwavering commitment to honing both development and publishing skills. Tune in for an exclusive peek behind the scenes of the gaming industry with John, a trailblazer dedicated to pushing the boundaries of indie game creation.

Christine Cueto is a creative multihyphenate whose journey spans photography, visual art, writing, and advertising. Christine's creative journey began with a fine arts degree, laying the foundation for her diverse artistic pursuits. Her career took her through the advertising industry, where she honed her skills in digital marketing, social media, and photography, specializing in capturing fashion, events, lifestyle, weddings, food, and products.

In this episode of the podcast, we discover how she has transformed her artistic passions into a fulfilling career, empowering communities, and building brands through the art of digital storytelling. Christine also delves into her captivating world as she shares insights on cultivating creativity as a lifelong passion and driving force; the power of visual storytelling to connect with audiences and convey emotions; and the role of creativity in empowering communities and promoting social change.

Whether you're an aspiring creative, a seasoned professional, or simply someone who appreciates the transformative power of art, this episode will inspire you to embrace your own creative potential and make a meaningful impact on the world around you.

Brandon Leong is currently connected with Eastern Securities. One of the initiatives he’s piloted in this role is the creation of Round One a platform where MSMEs can raise funds through crowdfunding in exchange for equity. In the exciting space that Brandon exists in he's trying to democratise the equity space by creating effective avenues to raise funds via the sale of equities outside of Initial Public Offerings, only affordable to the largest corporations.

Brandon's first foray in the professional world though had nothing to do with Equities. He got his start in the working world via the media industry working in California. He credits this time in his life with a growth in his ability to tell stories. In today’s episode we discuss, how Brandon got his start in media, how Round One is one of the many innovations in the private equity space to look forward to, and the recent crypto crash.

Atty. Gino Jacinto is a former Chief Legal Officer and Chief Business Development Officer for several startups in both the Philippines and Singapore. He is currently affiliated with UNAWA a tech startup that wants to revolutionize document management.

Despite not being a founder, he has extensive knowledge of UNAWA's vision and growth and is deeply involved with the company. He also worked as the head of legal for a multinational import and distribution company before entering the Legal Tech space. In today's episode we talk about the compatibility of legal training with the startup space, the opportunities presented by technology startups in the Philippines and, depending on if you're a lawyer or not, how to address the issue of forged documents with UNAWA's technology. 

Ryan Tan Yu is a consummate entrepreneur although he'll be loathe to admit it. From a background that spans a very humble origin, a fulfilling job, to selling motorcycle accessories in his spare time Ryan was able to parlay a chance encounter with his now friend and co-founder Bastian into founding a successful business enterprise. He currently is the COO of Ehrlich Inc., a company that supplies software developer services to companies all over the world. He has also founded Mata Technologies with his partner and crime and wife which is a separate entity that he likewise uses to undertake business. Looking at him now you wouldn't believe that he has cut out a competitive niche in the BPO Sector of Cebu but he's done precisely that.

In today's episode, we'll discuss how Ryan made the journey to wage driven employee to profit driven entrepreneur, his tentative first steps in business, how much he loves his wife, and what he views his role in society.

Atty. Kenneth Varona began his professional life practicing in Manila in the field of Immigration and Intellectual Property Law. He would for reasons of family and enterprise transfer from Manila to Cebu where he would embark on the journey to becoming a solo practitioner. This came with its own set of challenges. He decided to go the middle road where he would both practice law for himself while working for a large multi-national company. In Ken's spare time he reads on his interests Bitcoin and pays close attention to the social effects of important world events like the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In today's episode, we'll talk about Ken's journey as a solo practitioner in Cebu, how Bitcoin is demonstrably different from other crypto's and COVID-19's effect on business and the surrounding legal order.

Markus Schindler is the best friend of Rami. He is currently employed as a International Capacity Development Advisor with FSD which is a Swiss International NGO specializing in mine action and the process of normalization. 

They met in college over beers where they exchanged many insights about how the world worked. He would find his way back to the Philippines where he'd begin a journey of taking on progressively more responsibility with FSD. He has worked in Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and our very own Cotabato City, Philippines in his time. In today's episode, we talk about his background in Philosophy, his work in an International NGO, the war in Afghanistan and the war in Ukraine.

Atty. Frances Estipona embodies the virtues of principled and diligent service. Her career has spanned NGO to government positions that thoroughly affect society and its appreciation of human rights and how we interact with the structures of power.

In today's episode she'll talk about all the different things that she did across the various hats she's worn. In the Human Rights Victims Claims Board, she assessed the claims of human rights victims on the strength of a dispassionate point system. In the Commission on Elections, she was able to peek behind the curtain at the mundane aspects of working in a collegial body like COMELEC to decide election controversies. Currently, with the Commission on Human Rights, she ensures that persons deprived of liberty have their human rights respected.

Atty. Carlo Africa, or "Af" as his friends like to call him, is an active collaborator of the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) and the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Hirayang Kabataan an NGO that specializes in raising the level of youth involvement in the election process. Impressively, Af plans to make the next 20 of his life about trying to bring the Philippines to a better place politically.

In this episode, Af talks to us about what it means to be engaged in the political process in the Philippines both as a youth volunteer and for the general population, the laws that surround our Sangguniang Kabataan and our elections, and the 2022 Presidential Elections.

Taishi really embodies the wandering artist. He has been a photographer in all four corners of the globe. He shot night clubs in Japan. High fashion in Los Angeles. He does marketing shoots in Cebu. He even held a camera on the high seas. His journey is long and foreign to someone like me who has taken a very determined path as a lawyer. Nonetheless, I was impressed with the candor with which Taishi talks about his trials and tribulations.

Taishi is an example of someone who has entirely devoted himself to his craft and will stop at nothing to be a great photographer.

Lucian Dioneda started out as a policy researcher for Senator Grace Poe when she ran foer the senate in 2013. Since then he has risen to the Head of her advocacy team and played an important role in the passage of laws like the Balik Scientist Act, Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act, the Pantawid Pamilya Act, the Land Terminal Improvement Act, and the Safe Spaces Act. Luc lives and breathes the daily problems of Filipinos and clearly articulates why the "obvious problems" are not as cut and dry as we like to make them out to be. In today's episode we talk about Luc's philosophy when approaching policy changes, the state of Philippine Politics, and how Duterte became President.

Over the course of this podcast, Luc mentions several books. They are the following: 

1. John Kingdon's Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies  

2. John Bew's Realpolitik  

3. Joe Studwell's How Asia Works

4. Marites Danguilen's The RH Bil Story  

5. The Asia Foundation's Built on Dreams, Grounded in Reality

Morgan Joseph is an Associate Director at Gallagher UK. He started his journey in the insurance industry in his home town in Cebu growing up around his father, Gordon Joseph, himself heavily engaged in the insurance industry. He would follow the winds of opportunity though, first, when he went to get educated in Manila and, again, when he took up what he intended would be a short internship in the UK. Now, he specializes in getting clients insurance policies in the Mining and Heavy Industry in the vibrant Insurance industry in the United Kingdom.

In today's episode, we talk about what Morgan's journey to the UK, Insurance in the UK, Insurance in the Philippines and Derivatives. 

Atty. Marian Vanslembrouck is an accomplished lawyer in the fields of Corporate and Technology Law. She began her professional life as an associate of one of the most prestigious law firms in the country Puno & Puno Law Office. Thereafter, she would return home for a stint with Metro Dumaguete Water before jumping back into her previous specialization with the software company Enjin.  In this episode, we talk about the regulatory frameworks for startups that employ technology, the experience of being from the province and making it in Manila, and the the transition from the field of medicine to law.

Kiwi is a good friend of mine that I have known since I was a baby. She is currently a PhD Candidate at Harvard University at the Biological Sciences in Public Health Program and a student in the Harvard Leder Bioilogy in Translational Medicine Program at the Harvard Medical School. Currently, her mentors are Dr., lee Rubin and Dr. Kristopher Sarosiek at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her areas of research involve aging, cell death, and metabolism.

It is her hope that she can contribute to the body of work that would allow medicine to supply ways to prevent the decline in health normally associated with aging. Specifically, she studies how the decline in brain vasculature structures in the brain correlates with the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Dementia. In her words, she is looking for ways to allow people to age gracefully. In this episode she will also touch on what it took for a girl from Cebu to make it to one of the world's premier scientific institutions.

Atty. Joan Dela Cruz is who came from a Development Studies Background in college had the privilege of being the Executive Assistant to DILG's  Jessie Robredo. She would dip in and out of politics, both local and national, in her time in law school. No stranger to the halls of power, she struck out on her own as a lawyer in a high calibre law firm based out of Ortigas. Thereafter, she would jump into trying to influence policy through an NGO. In a sentence, she has made her life about trying to make the Philippines a better place to live and to be.

Through this journey she has dealt with the loss of a mentor and father figure, the repercussions of her political affiliations, and seen the sharp uptick in contempt for human rights. In her personal life she is attempting to balance the expectations placed on her a s a Filipina and how they conflict with her role as a lawyer.

This is 'raming tanong with your host Rami. This weekly podcast will feature guests from all walks of life in the Philippines. It will chronicle their respective journey’s to success. Hopefully, hearing their journeys helps you on yours as well. I do hope you enjoy my episodes.

Leiron Martija is a graduate of the San Beda College Alabang - School of Law. He is currently reviewing for the first ever virtual bar exam in the Philippines. Leiron's law school journey was a long and difficult one because he began in UP's College of Law, before transfering to Ateneo De Manila University's School of Law and finishing up in San Beda. He shares the difficulties he encountered, how he overcame them, and the small details that people forget when they imagine the grand journey of law school.

In the episode we also talk about politics in the Philippines, the virtual bar exam, and what failure is in law school and how to avoid it.

Dr. Ray Perez II the second has the distinct honor of having topped the boards, not once but twice. Whereas other guests on this podcast can lay claim to being in multiple fields, Ray stands out for his devotion and incredible competence to the practice of medicine. In today's episode he talks about the path towards topping the boards twice, the challenges of becoming and being a doctor, and the "Delta" variant of COVID.

Joelson Fabian is the co-founder and CEO of Polka.PH — an e-commerce startup from Cebu making it easy and affordable for Filipinos to shop online. As a lifelong entrepreneur, his many passions include learning foreign languages and building new business models. Microsoft Excel and other productivity tools are not just a way of life for him, so much as they are a requirement for participation in civilized society. Joelson made the jump from working for Samsung to working for himself and that brought with it many insights which he will bring to bear in today's episode. 

Today, we talk about culture, spreadsheets, and why not to leave the Philippines.

Veronica Baguio is currently an  Educator, Entrepreneur and a Junior HR Consultant.  She splits her time between this various roles time while successfully balancing the needs of each. As an educator, she is a Principal to the students of Britech College. As an entrepreneur, she owns Balik Batik a social enterprise which uses indigenous Filipino weaves in new and modern ways. In her role as as Junior HR consultant, she serves some of the largest businesses that are based out of Cebu.  In today’s episode we talk about the path that lead her to this juncture in her life and how her upbringing and education helped her get there.

DJ Migs Santillan has been a fixture of the Manila nightclub scene for the past decade. Through his commands of the oldies and contemporary music he has become well loved among those who would have him for private and public bookings. He is currently the Music Director for Magic 89.9 helping the station come up with its distinctive sound. In today's episode though, we get to see the man behind the DJ Booth. He talks about how he got his foot in the door of Disk Jockeying, the steps he would take thereafter and what a life built on music can look like.

On this episode of the podcast, our guest is John Lugtu. He is a Filipino from Cebu who currently resides in Canada. John is currently affiliated with the start-up called LumiQ. In this episode, we talk about the challenges faced by those who seek to immigrate, truth about the start up scene in North America and how the Philippines still figures into the lives of those who leave it.

Joy Garingo is the General Manager of the Company Cebu, a start-up incubator/co-working space. She charts her course from sunday school teacher, aimlessly unemployed with a degree, teaching english, and becoming a well-known component of the start-up industry. Along the way, we talk about the journey of finding purpose in the things we do. We also touch upon the constraints in the Philippines to greater and better startups.