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EDU-TECH LEADERS. Dr Yukihiro Maru, founder and group CEO of Leave a Nest Co Ltd (right) and John Vincent Fiel, chief technical officer of Mindanao-based startup  Wela Online Corp (left) are pictured together during the public announcement of their investment partnership at the Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference. Supplied photo. 

Pasay City, Philippines — Leave a Nest Co Ltd, a knowledge-based platform nurturing the next generation real-tech entrepreneurs headquartered in Tokyo announced its investment and partnership with Cagayan de Oro-based edu-tech startup Wela Online Corporation (Wela) at the Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference last December 7.

This partnership between the two education-focused organizations aims to increase the momentum in the delivery of frontier technologies in the Philippine education system.

Since 2017, Leave a Nest has been involved in the Philippine innovation community through its flagship acceleration program “Tech Planter.” The yearly program aims to discover scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs in the field of real-tech who share the vision of “Advancing Science and Technology for Global Happiness.”

In the same year that Leave a Nest began their presence in the Philippine innovation space, brothers Chris Ian Fiel and John Vincent Fiel established their company Wela Online Corp. The two Fiels are graduates of BS Computer Science from Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan. 

The brothers built the company to serve technology solutions for their clients.

Wela is a multi-awarded startup being recognized by different incubators and accelerators in the country including IdeaSpace, and QBO Innovation Hub, to name a few. Wela is also a recipient of the startup grant from the Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD).

In 2018 and 2019, Wela joined as one of the finalists at Tech Plan Demo Day with their flagship offering called “Wela School Systems,” an integrated school management system that provides tools to increase productivity and streamline data management for teachers and a school management solution that informs parents once their children have safely arrived in school when the scan the RFID-enabled identification cards. Wela was also selected to receive a Tech Seed Grant from Leave a Nest Singapore.

To date, Wela has 27 clients all over the Philippines and has generated over Php6M in revenue from its first three years in operation.

Wela, with its growing network in the Philippines with education systems and infrastructure inside schools, and Leave a Nest with its network with edu-tech startups and frontier technologies, and corporate partners aim to bring innovation in the country’s education platform.

"From the time I met you, I’ve been believing that you have the potential to become No.1 entrepreneur in Southeast Asia,” said Dr Yukihiro Maru, founder and group CEO of Leave a Nest Co Ltd as he publicly addressed John Vincent Fiel of Wela Online Corp.

“I’m so counting on you, as you have started up your company at the age of 24 to challenge education issues, which is totally the same story as mine when I started Leave a Nest Co Ltd in 2002,” Dr Maru added. 

In turn, John Vincent Fiel, chief technical officer of Wela Online Corp, shared: “We are happy and excited about this partnership with Leave a Nest. The partnership will support Wela’s growth, but more importantly, it will help us deliver the positive impact we hope to deliver to our users.”

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ADDRESSING EDU-TECH WOES. Officers from Leave a Nest Co Ltd and Mindanao-based startup Wela Online Corp are to address some of the education-technology challenges in the country. Supplied photo