Brain Gain Network - Founded in 1992

Started in 1992 by Dr. Marc Loinaz and Dr. Paco Sandejas while completing their Electrical Engineering doctoral degrees at Stanford University, the Philippine Brain Gain Network^TM or BGN^TM is an online networking and productivity tool that connects talented professionals and students interested in helping to increase the global competitiveness of Philippine industries.

While always promoting entrepreneurial initiative and a can-do-attitude, BGN seeks to convert the "brain drain" into a "Brain Gain" through the following activities: building an extensive membership database of highly-skilled, experienced and motivated individuals; facilitating communication and cooperation among them; and, providing the necessary online (and occasionally off-line) productivity tools in order for them to make entrepreneurial ideas a reality. For example, the projects might be NGO consultancies for tech transfer to Philippine companies, consultations between government and private sector leaders, university consortia for the advancement of engineering education, or the actual formation of start-up ventures in need of venture capital funding.

Membership invitations to join the network are broad and wide participation is encouraged from professionals who can benefit from collaboration with the broader industry players of the Philippines. Of course, given the roots from electrical engineers the first priority has been and remains getting all Philippine-related scientists and engineers to register so they can be located when start-ups or projects might need their technical expertise, help, or advice. BGN invites techies from the Philippines and, especially, from abroad to sign up. Interested non-Filipinos are most welcome (in the past, many of our non-Filipino members were spouses of Filipinos or Filipinas). Business service professionals who work with high-technology companies are also encouraged to join, e.g. venture capitalists, lawyers, high-tech marketing experts, accountants, HR managers, operations and management consultants. Institutions like training centers, universities, government agencies, trade associations, overseas engineering groups, and others are invited to also register.

Today, the BGN entrepreneurial service is no longer limited to ICT and bio technology related professions but opened up to other professions starting with education, government service, food, and agriculture. In short, the site is focused on the Greater Philippine entrepreneurial community.

The website and database is owned and administered by a small core group led by Paco Sandejas, Nicole Paterno, and a team at Narra Venture Capital and Stratpoint Technologies (the Web Developer). The motivation for the online features is to bring out the best and brightest and enable them to make things happen. BGN wants entrepreneurs to find the partners they need to develop their dream product and companies. It is designed for the VCs to find these smart people. BGN enables sharing of all the most up-to-date news on what competitors have announced in India, China and Silicon Valley. The founders want Filipinos in the US to know what opportunities might await them if they re-locate to the Philippines and whom they might collaborate with. BGN is just a tool to make these things happen and hopefully more.

What functions are provided by the BGN^TM Online Tool?

The BGN human resources database is the engine that powers the networking tool. It stores data on each individual’s technical and business skills, academic and professional experience, and contact information for all members. It will soon also store business information for institutions.

Around this database engine is built the following functions to make things happen:

1. Automated database registration of professionals and (in the future) institutions.
2. A networking tool. It is like specialized LinkedIn or Facebook for business and entrepreneurial purposes. Members can search for people based on certain criteria and messaging is enabled.
3. Members are encouraged to exercise initiative by forming special interest groups wherein they are able to contribute their expertise towards solving specific problems and possibly forming ventures for such. At the least, everyone gets to share self-improvement information and best practices. Groups can be public or private, can have hierarchies like a Public Forum and a private sub-group for its paying members and even another layer for a private sub-group of its board members. The private groups can also be used to form entrepreneurial project groups that can evolve into full-fledged start-ups.
4. A portal for news, features, and technical education related to technologies and best practices. BGN allows engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs and other professionals to share best practices and public-domain continuing-education material. It also highlights inspiring stories to encourage more people to study, invest in, and/or pursue careers in high-technology, especially along the engineering and science tracks.
5. Public and private forums or bulletin boards with facilities for moderators. These forums are used for a number of purposes. It is an ideal place to more efficiently manage all the government consultations with private sector business leaders for trade and economic policy. Other forums are used to discuss latest trends in particular technologies or simply to broadcast links to the better sites or special interest e-groups (BGN will not compete with successful e-groups or technology sites but will complement them and point new members to these sites via links).
6. Finally, in the future, other features will be added such as:

1. Stratpoint Technologies will include for use its e-learning engine used by the world's leading universities.
2. Job search and human resource matching facility.
3. A project management module and a wiki document management feature. These will be needed for concrete projects pursued by special interest groups or new venture teams.
4. A mentoring facility for more experienced people to mentor students or professionals. For example, graduate students abroad help graduating seniors decide on their post-graduate academic opportunities and how to obtain funding. Successful entrepreneurs mentor young engineers running their first start-ups.

Who manages and pays for the Brain Gain Network?

The website and database is owned and administered by a small core group led by Paco Sandejas, Nicole Paterno, and a team at Narra Venture Capital. The group has engaged the professional support of a crack web design group from Stratpoint Technologies (the Web Developer) and a few other consultants and volunteers. Data can be searched by individual members for free but, in the future, premium levels of service will be provided at a nominal fee so as to support maintenance of the site and the addition of new features.

The motivation for all these features is to bring out the best and brightest and enable them to make things happen. BGN wants the entrepreneurs to find the partners they need to develop their dream products. It is designed for the VCs to find these smart people.

BGN enables sharing of all the most up-to-date news on what competitors have announced in India, China and Silicon Valley. The founders want Filipinos in the US to know what opportunities might await them if they re-locate to the Philippines and with whom they might collaborate. BGN is just a tool to make these things happen and hopefully more.