By Jysel Ashley Ayop
XU senior scholars, Jysel Ashley Ayop (BSIS-4) and Loryjane Wallace Elison (BSAcc-4) clinch championship titles in the Young Banatao Learning Lab (YBLL) 2.0 Ideathon/Hackathon on 15 August 2025 at FactSet Philippines, Taguig.
Jysel Ashley Ayop (BSIS-4), an Advanced Technology track scholar, is set to receive incubation for their team’s product, Cash Kita, an application designed to educate Gen Zs with managing their finances. The app addresses the critical gap where only 25% of Filipino adults are financially literate by offering bite-sized educational video content featuring a daily budget tracker and dashboard as well as direct access to Filipino financial mentors.
“I couldn’t have done this without my teammates and mentors,” Ayop shares. “Their unwavering trust in me to stand, deliver, and communicate with the audience kept me going. […] Technological solutions in and beyond hackathons are meant to address the greater needs of the people—equipping financial skills to the youth is one of them,” she states.
For the Basic Finance track, champion Loryjane Wallace Elison (BSAcc-4) shares details about their project, PALDO: Your AI-PAL that finds your PonDO, a loan-matching platform designed to bridge the financing gap for MSMEs in the Philippines. “Unlike typical loan platforms, PALDO is an intermediary that focuses on helping businesses build trust scores, recommend optimal loan offers, and track repayment for long-term credibility with banks.”
Elison emphasized that the gap in MSME financing drove their team to develop a tech solution aimed at empowering small businesses to grow while simultaneously creating new revenue opportunities for banks.
XU engineering scholar Princess Juri Yuson (BSECE-3) also won first runner-up in the Technology Basic Track for their team’s project, CatON. Derived from the Bisaya word kat-on which means “to learn,” Yuson’s team developed a gamified financial learning app made for local Filipino college students.
“CatON stands out because it’s made for Filipinos, by Filipinos. We made sure the lessons are hyperlocalized, with examples students can relate to in their daily lives.” Yuson expresses. She explained that the platform was designed to be hyperlocalized, using relatable examples from students’ daily lives and blending gamified features with practical financial lessons.
Four other XU scholars also joined the YBLL 2.0 Hackathon and Ideathon: Fruee Jane Jaquilmac (BSIT-4) of the advanced technology track, Miguel Phillip Dael (BSCS-3) and Danielle Loise Palayen (BSCS-3) of the basic technology track, and Luke Oliver Mugot (BSAcc-4) of the basic finance track.
The YBLL 2.0 is a joint initiative between PhilDev and FactSet Philippines, an eight-month program that equips Filipino students with tech, innovation, and entrepreneurship skills. The program aims to bridge the gap between education and industry needs. In the next run, the YBLL is expected to have two advanced and two basic tracks in both Finance and Technology.