Finding purpose in fintech

The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Philippines has concluded its search for the country’s most visionary leaders shaping opportunities and transforming industries. It is a program of the SGV Foundation, Inc., with co-presenters: the Asian Institute of Management, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Philippine Business for Social Progress, and the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Elenita C. Dela Rosa
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
ECo Global Consulting

ELENITA C. DELA ROSA always had an affinity for computer science. Though she had scholarship options, she chose to study computer engineering at Mapua University without a scholarship to pursue a path that leaned towards working with computers.

Upon graduation, she entered as a trainee programmer at one of the largest financial technology (fintech) companies in the world, working through the ranks until she became the global director of product management and product development — and the only Filipina among international peers.

She stayed for 21 years, traveling overseas for clients. However, her corporate life reached a turning point when the company changed its executive management. Her exposure to first-world countries had instilled in her a dream to raise the Philippines to a similar standard, and this, coupled with the company change, led her to start her own company where Filipinos can succeed on the global stage.

She left in 2013, and within that year founded ECo Global Consulting, an IT solutions and service company for core banking systems. Using her own savings, she invested in a website, a Makati office, and five consultants despite not having any projects yet.

This came with its own unique challenges; she quicky learned the difficulty of being a much smaller player. She performed product pitches herself as they lacked a sales team, but though their services were difficult to pitch, her connections referred them to their first clients in the Middle East and Europe in 2014.

Despite the challenges, she believed that this was what she was meant to do. Everything in her gut told her this was her purpose, and holding fast to her confidence in their product and their team’s ability to deliver led to them gaining more overseas clients.

In 2018, business slowed. It was enough for her to begin doubting whether Eco Global was truly her purpose. However, they won their first major Philippine client in 2019 — leading her to take another leap of faith.

They started building what encompassed Ms. Dela Rosa’s vision and personal advocacy to champion local economic development in the Philippines: ECOSLAi, a plug-and-play full core banking and lending platform for the digitalization of rural banks, cooperatives and microfinance institutions. It’s the first solution of its kind for community banking, providing interoperability, scalability and security within a robust and cost-effective framework, enabling rural banks to transform and keep their operations lean.

Though many businesses found themselves challenged during the pandemic, ECo Global grew rapidly by allowing them to close deals remotely as opposed to the face-to-face meetings traditional banks required. Development on ECOSLAi also continued, and by November 2023, the company held its soft launch as one of six Philippine delegates to a Hong Kong fintech event.

Before the lockdown, the company’s working conditions were already flexible. Despite having no precedent, Ms. Dela Rosa took inspiration from four-day workweek scenarios and applied their own flexible working model.

Though she is aware that recruitment is key to further growth, she is firm in only hiring people who hold the same values as the company. These values transcend generational differences, and their current team comprises a good mix of older employees and those belonging to Gen Z.

She actively supports employee engagement, as she believes any business will only be sustainable when it invests in human capital. Even before ECo Global was certified as a Great Place To Work, the company was already following the key drivers identified by the certification’s Trust Index Survey and led to them winning several awards.

Her challenges and wins led her to recognize that entrepreneurship requires the confidence and grit to continuously try and fail. This is only doable when you love what you are doing and feel that it is your purpose. As ECo Global continues to innovate and expand, Ms. Dela Rosa’s journey exemplifies the pursuit of a vision, driven by a deep-seated passion for technology and an unwavering commitment to make a difference.

The media sponsors are BusinessWorld and the ABS-CBN News Channel. The Gold sponsors are SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp., Uratex and Converge ICT Solutions, Inc. The Silver sponsor is International Container Terminal Services, Inc. The Bronze sponsor is Lausgroup Holdings, Inc. The Banquet sponsors are Robert Blancaflor & Groups, Inc., Bounty Fresh Group Holdings, Inc. and Vista Land & Lifescapes, Inc.

The winners will be announced on Oct. 23, 2024. The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Philippines will represent the country in the World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 in Monte Carlo, Monaco in June 2025. The EY Entrepreneur Of The Year program is produced globally by Ernst & Young (EY).