CALIFORNIA, USA – PhilDev Foundation awarded three trailblazers in the innovation and entrepreneurship space at the PhilDev Annual Fundraising Gala last 14 October 2022 at The Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach, California, USA.
Every year, since 2017, PhilDev organizes its Annual Fundraising Gala which is attended by numerous sponsors, partners, guests, and friends who generously participated in PhilDev’s live auction and provided support to their projects and initiatives. The organization has been making an impact in eradicating poverty for the past 11 years in the Philippines through education, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
The Gala recognized individuals whose works and achievements have been a source of inspiration for the Philippine entrepreneurship and innovation community and young Filipino technopreneurs. The awardees for the 2022 PhilDev Gala Awards were as follows, Paul Abadilla, Art Director at Pixar Animation Studios, Innovation in Arts awardee; Trisha Bantigue, the CEO and Co-founder of Queenly, Entrepreneurship Rising Star awardee; and Tony Olaes, Co-founder of TheFilipinoSchool.com, Innovation in Education awardee.
This year’s gala highlighted the end of an era, as the Founder of PhilDev, Dado Banatao, officially stepped down from his Chairman position. He was honored and recognized for his years of service, leadership, vision, and legacy in advancing inclusive economic growth and empowering Filipinos worldwide in the fields of education, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
“We’ll let ourselves do more things for the community in the US and the Philippines,” said Dado Banatao as he accepted his award. Inspired by Dado’s remarkable leadership, Rob Bonta, the 34th Attorney General in the State of California also shared how Dado has also inspired countless Filipinos to thrive and work hard for their dreams. “Dado’s story is the Filipino story, the son of a rice farmer and a housekeeper who grew up in extreme poverty, who with hard work, grit, and education would go on to change the world,” Bonta added.
After two years of having limited fundraising opportunities due to the pandemic, PhilDev was able to raise almost $400,000 dollars in this year’s gala through the support from sponsors, partners, guests, and friends. The funds will be used to continue efforts in providing scholarships, mentorship initiatives, innovation challenges, startup programs, and also the implementation of new programs like the Young Banatao Learning Lab which is set to be launched soon.
“When you support a scholar tonight, you uplift not only their lives but bring hope and pride to their families. And when you support a budding entrepreneur, you champion not only them and their idea, but rally and inspire all of their colleagues,” said Angelina “Jonesy” Castro, Executive Director of PhilDev US, thanking the Filipino-American community for being generous and supportive of PhilDev’s mission to enable success and uplift the Filipino community. “I promise, every donation makes an impact,” she added.
The success of PhilDev’s Annual Gala 2022 was made possible by our generous sponsors, starting with Tallwood, and Dado and Maria Banatao as Diamond Sponsors; followed by Mia and Eric Manlunas and Tony Olaes as Platinum Sponsors. Likewise, we had The Asian American Foundation, Art Tan, BDO Unibank, Cumberland Holdings, LLC, and Stratpoint as our Gold Sponsors.
The impact lives on! The journey in enabling success for Filipinos everywhere and uplifting the Philippine economy continues. PhilDev Foundation is open for partnerships, and all forms of support that may help sustain our projects in areas of Education, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. Learn more about PhilDev through www.phildev.org or reach out to them through info@phildev.org.
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