The Team

Kotaro Adachi is a Japanese entrepreneur based in the Philippines for over 10 years. He is currently involved in numerous startups and is the co-founder & CEO of AXIS Software Development, Techshake, and Global Bridge Resources. Kotaro attained his MBA from IE Business School in Spain.

Fatima is an entrepreneur in the emerging Philippine startup industry where she has been active for more than 4 years. Her expertise is operations and user experience design. She is continuously exploring different facets of what it takes to build your own successful business.

Paolo Rentero always brings out the entrepreneurial spirit in any startup team. A serial entrepreneur himself, he is the co-founder of the startup media company TechShake, Head of Business Development and Partnerships of Digiteer, a software development company, and a founding member of the Innovation Design firm, Vessel Group. He advises teams on how to start running, hire the right people, and create the best team culture for the growth of a company.

Lionel Victor L. Belen is the founder of Brainsparks, the first founder-focused startup incubator in the Philippines. The incubator, which was established in 2015, selects up to 20 promising high impact technology companies and their founders to support through its incubation program called the Brainsparks 20. It is also deeply involved in the development of the Philippine innovation ecosystem and community, having worked with various corporations and government agencies (DTI, DOST and DICT) to deliver seminars and workshops on innovation and entrepreneurship across the country. Brainsparks also co-organizes the largest premier international startup and innovation focused business conference and business matching event in the Philippines, called Ignite.

He is also Vice President at First Asia Venture Capital Inc, the holding company and private investment office of Team First Asia. Among the Team First Asia companies he concurrently serves as Vice President of Fastech Synergy Philippines, a non-listed public technology company involved in electronics manufacturing technology, metals manufacturing technology, and information technology. He is also Vice President of Asset Growth Inc, the property planning, development, and management company of Team First Asia, which focuses on industrial, commercial, and tourism properties in the provinces of Laguna, Tarlac, Bataan, and Batangas. He is a member of the board of directors of FAITH Colleges (First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities), an institution of higher learning and research and a center of development recognized by the commission for higher education for information technology located in Tanauan Batangas.

He graduated cum laude from the Ateneo de Manila University with two majors, in History and in Economics, and a minor in Japanese studies, and he also received the special departmental award for History when he graduated in 2011.

Artie Lopez is a start-up coach, the Ambassador of Seedstars - Manila, and co-founder of Brainsparks, the first and only "founder-focused" incubator in the Philippines. Brainsparks’ vision is to "Turn Dreamers into Founders". He has over a decade of experience in the tech startup industry and is a passionate advocate of using technology and innovation to improve people’s lives. Through Brainsparks, #StartupCoachArtie has supported countless startups develop their ideas, accelerate their growth, and raise funding from investors globally. #StartupCoachArtie and Brainsparks is happy to have successfully helped several PH Startups close their seed funding. In his spare time, he likes to mentor small businesses and social enterprises that support local communities.

Joined Dentsu Inc. (advertising industry) in 2007 since then harnessed by exposures on diverse multinational and leading Japanese clients as media planner and media account executive. Experienced working in Beijing, China for 4 years overseeing Japanese / regional client servicing teams. Contributed in regional expansion of dentsu media agency brand in APAC.

Currently, while overseeing teams with Japanese clients and regional clients, leading multi-function of agency to enhance diversified services to respond to rapidly changing & diversifying demands of clients in the industry.