For the past few days, the Hive Team from Davao City has been very busy here in Metro Manila meeting some friends and community members who are Hive users and DBuzz users, entrepreneurs, and business people but one of the most important visits we've ever made so far was the meeting with Draper House Manila's general manager Celine Veloso.
D.Buzz Founder Chris Rice and Targetron.com business partner PJ Entrepreneur invited me to visit Draper Startup House Manila on Monday, July 3, 2023, at around 4:10 PM and arrived at 5048 P. Burgos, Makati, Metro Manila, at around 4:35 PM.
(L-R) Celine Veloso, Chris Rice, PhilNews.xyz & PJ Entrepreneur
At first, Chris Rice introduced himself and the two of us to the attendant and told her that our main purpose of visiting is just to check the place because every time Chris Rice meets someone in the Web3 industry they often mention the Draper Startup House as one of the places in Manila that is worth visiting.
Chris Rice also told me that before our visit, he already made some connections and contacted Cristian Muñoz, the founder of Draper Startup House in the Philippines, who already told Chris he could visit the place anytime.
Waiting for a Chance to Meet Celine Veloso:
Upon our arrival and after the introduction we made with the staff of Draper Startup House in Manila, she told us to wait for at least an hour because their General Manager, Celine Veloso, was still busy in a meeting, so we just waited around 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes of waiting, the Draper House Staff invited us to have a room tour around the Draper Startup House, while we were waiting for Celine to finish her meeting.
From the lobby, we rode an elevator which was quite impressive and clean, from the first floor to the sixth floor of the building. We roamed around the meeting area and within some rooms on the sixth floor.
We also went down to the fifth floor and witnessed the grand stage and event space. There are some office space and coworking spaces available also inside the Draper Startup House.
After the short tour of the building, we sat down for a while and waited. Maybe one hour and 10 minutes had passed, and the staff informed us that maybe we could wait for another 30 minutes but luckily enough, Celine Veloso arrived, welcomed us, and invited us to go to the Public House portion of the Draper Startup House for conversation.
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| Draper Startup House Entrance | Draper House Lobby |
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| Draper House Stage | Draper Public House |
Meeting Proper with Celine Veloso:
The informal meeting between the Hive and D.Buzz Team from Davao City and Celine Veloso from Draper Startup House started at around 5:45 PM on July 4, 2023. Present during the informal meeting at the Draper House were Chris Rice, PJ Entrepreneur, and myself.
Celine Veloso is an important figure in the startup and incubator community here in the Philippines according to the information gathered by Chris Rice, and the DBuzz founder already heard about the good reputation of the general manager.
Short Introduction:
We had a short introduction, I introduced myself as an independent journalist of PhilNews.xyz with my own media team. Aside from writing for my website, I will work as a researcher for D.Buzz and manage a team to document all the activities of DBuzz and the Hive Team from Davao City in promoting Hive in the Philippines.
@pjentrepreneur introduced himself as a businessman and entrepreneur who helps Filipino startups and individuals interested in learning entrepreneurship through his Entrepreneur Academy in Davao City. He also manages e-commerce and is a business partner of the data provider website, Targetron.com.
Chris Rice introduced himself as the founder of D.Buzz, a decentralized micro-blogging platform built on top of the Hive blockchain, and kept on emphasizing that Web3 really does exist and it's called Hive, the no.1 social media blockchain in the world.
Celine Veloso then introduced herself as the General Manager of the Draper Startup House Manila, the first one in the Philippines, Draper House has numerous branches worldwide, according to Celine, but the Makati branch is their first venture in the country.
Highlights of the Discussion:
The General Manager, Celine Veloso, started introducing herself with a brief history of how she was chosen as the General Manager of Draper Startup House in Manila.
It was during the pandemic that she was searching for a job and was invited to be part of Draper and later on was trusted by Christian Munoz to lead the Philippines operations of Draper House after proving her worth as the right person to lead the company here in the country.
Celine Veloso told us some brief milestones of Draper Startup House in Manila, which is in line with the Draper Startup House global mission of producing at least 1 million entrepreneurs by 2030 and brought us to the Public House portion of Draper's Startup House because the other part of the building is now under renovation.
According to Celine, Draper Startup House Manila is responsible for helping various startups in the Philippines in coordination with the AHG Lab through the Founders Launchpad, an incubator program that empowers Filipino entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life.
Celine was so excited to share with the Hive Team from Davao City that their program offers startups an investment value of $50,000 in funding and other benefits inside the Draper Startup House Manila.
Chris Rice then pitched Celine the importance of decentralization and introduced the Hive blockchain, and invited her to join Hive through D.Buzz, to which she agreed and signed up for Hive while securing her keys.
One of the most important parts of the conversation between our team and @celineveloso was for future collaboration with them and the opportunity to promote the Hive Blockchain to various startups and Web3 companies who will be hosting their events at Draper Startup House and to become a regular attendees for their bi-monthly startup activities.
The informal meeting between the Hive Team and the general manager of Draper House, Celine Veloso ended at around 6:38 PM, and we went back to our place in Ortigas Center, Pasig City, Metro Manila.
Here are Some Photos of the Draper Startup House in Manila:
At the Entrance:
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| Draper House Lobby | At the Lobby with Hive User PJ Entrepreneur |
Still part of the Draper House Lobby
Meeting Area at the 6th Floor:
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| Meeting Area | Meeting Area |
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| Meeting Area | Rooms at 6th Floor |
Stage and Audience Area:
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| Stage Area | Audience Area |
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| Main Stage | Balcony at Main Stage |
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| Balcony & Audience | Draper Stage Area |
Public House Area
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| Draper Public House | Inside Public House |
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| Public House | Public House |
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| Public House | Public House |
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| Public House | Public House |
We will be visiting the Draper Startup House frequently in the next few months and are really excited to learn more. Thank you for reading.
Let's promote the blockchain, HIVE is Web3.
Hi! Everyone, My name is Ed Umbao or @philnews.xyz here on Hive. I am the former co-founder of PhilNews.Ph, one of the leading news sites in the Philippines and the current Founder and owner of PhilNews.XYZ.
I have been blogging since the year 2010 when I was working as an O.F.W. in Saudi Arabia. I became a member of Hive in 2019 but posted two articles only, and returned to short-form blogging through D.Buzz last February 2023.