We recently caught up with 19-year-old Leian Padrinao from the Philippines, a finalist of Young Founders Summit 2018, to see what he's been up to since we last saw him.

Hey Leian, what project/startup are you working on now?

I'm working on a tech start-up that's called getnow.ph. It is an online platform that aims to empower celebrants & event vendors. We do this by creating a one-stop platform of event vendors providing celebrants an instant access to hundreds of different options to choose from. On top of this, we are also giving both parties more payments options, starting from credit card to payments over the counter (e.g. 7-Eleven).

What happened to CaterX?

CaterX's initial objective and market is quite niche and small (catering only), and when we were offering catering services our customers also asked us if we have other service providers they need for their event, like celebrants, photographers, etc.

That's where we decided to increase the service and we came up with getnow, a more generic name to use for multiple marketplaces (e.g. getCater, getVenue, getTrips). We are now developing getnow on the side while CaterX is operating at full swing.

So you saw an additional market need based on customer feedback! That's amazing.

Let's go back a little. Can you tell us about your first encounter with entrepreneurship? 

Since young, I have tried to provide services using my academic capabilities and networks, and did various middleman business, such as buying and selling of accessories.

“Being a child who grew up in the streets of Metro Manila, I learned to seize opportunities when it comes and create one when there's nothing, to provide the needs for myself.”

Eventually, my start-up experience started when my neighbor who graduated from University of Toronto came back to the Philippines to start something, and I suggested my idea of building an online platform for high school students and teachers to collaborate and leverage the use of technology in learning. We tried this idea, but it didn't work because of the bad team dynamics.

What excites you most about the future and what kind of innovation would you hope to see?

I'm looking forward to witness the reduction of human intervention to all of our daily chores which will minimize the risk of human error. Specifically, with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on almost everything. I'm thrilled to see fully working AI powered appliances which can do voice recognition and act upon it.

What is one skill you aim to learn before you graduate?

Corporate leadership

It's been fun hearing from you, Leian. Now one final question - if you could ask for one wish from adults, what would it be? 

Make Stripe (fintech company) services/products available in the Philippines!

(Editors Note: Maybe lobby for Asian payments company Omise to go to PH first! They are amazing with top-notch service!)

Know a young (under 20) founder who should be featured? Comment below with the name and email of the person!