Shota Sakurai of Mynavi, Supporting the Local Startup Scene in the Philippines

Shota Sakurai of Mynavi, Supporting the Local Startup Scene in the Philippines

by Gianna Abao

Now only in its early stages, the Philippine local startup scene faces several challenges to thrive. Fortunately, the country has been drawing attention from foreign investors due to its interesting landscape and large demographics. One of the Japanese companies, Mynavi, is also looking positively the Philippine's market. They are known as big company in Japanese HR market and have wide range of talent pool.  Mynavi now aims to invest in companies with IT talent attraction. Techshake talked to Shota Sakurai, who is in charge of Mynavi Philippine’s branch, to learn about the company’s aggressive steps in supporting IT businesses in the country.

Boosting IT talent within Southeast Asia

Mynavi is starting to venture out in other countries to scale up its reach. Not only in Japan, they have branches in nine countries.

As part of its long-term growth strategy, Mynavi is investing in companies with IT talent attraction and matching websites. It also aims to become the largest IT talent supply company within ASEAN.

Mynavi opened its office in Manila last December 2019. They are expanding in ASEAN countries like Vietnam, Indonesia too.  In an interview with TechShake, Shota shared with us about investment potential in the Philippines. “This country is quite early stage for startup investment compared other neighboring ASEAN countries. At the same time, it is characterized by very few competitors.  That’s why we chose working in the Philippines too.”

Funding the local start-up ecosystem

The Philippines may have a lot of potential, but there are also restrictions in terms of the country’s startup ecosystem. Shota shared with us that there is a limited pool of startups as compared to other ASEAN countries like Vietnam and Indonesia. He also said that there was several great SMEs in the country that are good in finance and management. Mynavi are currently focusing on those kinds of companies first.

As one of the leading HR company in Japan, Mynavi is now concentrating on the industry of human resource for acquisition but will strengthen corporates by using its many years of knowledge in HR sector. Shota said that Mynavi is improving their strategy and also open to adding new technology to businesses which will be working and collaborating with us. We are looking for companies that can improve people’s IT talent. “Mynavi are open to all potential startups.”

Raising the Philippine startup scene

Mynavi is also willing to support the growth of companies by helping out in extending its network in Japan and by providing their experiences and knowledge in HR services. Local companies may utilize Mynavi’s support if they would be interested in getting Japanese clients.

With the changing dynamics of the HR industry due to the pandemic, Shota said that Mynavi has been prepared in integrating its HR solutions digitally. However, due to COVID19, interviews and job fairs are changing those styles to online. Now, we are asked to have both aspects, not only face to face communication but also communicate with each other through the internet. Luckily,, Mynavi was preparing about HR tech before COVID-19, since we know what is better in near future for candidates.”

Shota shared that the company opens up its doors to local entrepreneurs. Mynavi looks forward to business proposals and collaborations from Filipino entrepreneurs.

Click here for more information about Mynavi.