Japanese IT expert believes tech is rising in the Philippines

This 2023 is proving to be a year of innovation and opportunity for the tech industry in the Philippines. Fujikura Shigemoto of Sansan, Inc. understands that this opportunity is directly related to the Philippines' talent pool.

"The Philippines has an opportunity to attract more foreign companies to set up tech hubs in the country that serve the wider Asean region, especially for software development and engineering talent," the Executive Officer, Head of Establishment Team of Sansan, Inc. said.

Fujikura believes that the Filipino workforce, specifically Cebu, has the talent to meet this demand and make it flourish. This is what encouraged him to open a development center for software engineers in Cebu City to establish its presence and prepare for this looming demand.

"The Philippines is slowly being known for its high-level IT education and large pool of talented engineers."

This is in the hopes of meeting the needs of cloud-based tech world where reducing carbon footprints for individuals and businesses will align the Philippines with UN climate goals to reach net zero emissions as well as supporting more digital finance infrastructures. These changes require well trained engineers who are ready to jump on tasks when needed.

Fujikura brings his wealth of knowledge that has been acquired from his years of working in the industry. He worked with notable companies such as OGIS-RI Co., LTD and also spent time in the famed Silicon Valley working on specific R&D projects before returning to Japan to build tools and processes used in software development. He also completed a Master's Degree from the Kanazawa Institute of Technology (now KIT Toranomon Graduate School).

Fujikura sat down with The Sunday Times Magazine to share more about Sansan, tech trends, and how they intend to help in making the Filipino workforce flourish.

Can you tell us more about Sansan, Inc.?

Sansan is a Japanese provider of cloud-based solutions that promote digital transformation (DX) and reshape how we work, with a mission of "Turning encounters into innovation." Sansan provides its namesake Sansan B2B service powering sales digital transformation in companies, the Eight contact and career management app for individual professionals, Bill One for online invoice receiving, and Contract One for contract DX solution.

Sansan aims to accelerate its overseas product expansion, including its namesake sales DX solution Sansan and online invoice receiving solution Bill One, with a focus on Southeast Asia (its regional headquarters is in Singapore). Through its overseas subsidiary Sansan Global Pte. Ltd. the company has been rapidly expanding availability of the Sansan and Bill One solutions in countries including Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia."