<![CDATA[Lock down, start up: the digital firms cashing in on coronavirus quarantines in the Philippines]>

"It's a good gig and helps me get the money I need," said the sole breadwinner for his family. "At least while I don't have regular work."

Himor is one of the thousands of Filipinos who recently signed up as a personal assistant on MyKuya, an on-demand services app based in Manila, after being furloughed by his employer in mid-March.

Hundreds of thousands of workers like him in mainland Luzon have been forced to look for new ways to put food on the table since the Philippines' largest and most populous island was put under "enhanced community quarantine" by President Rodrigo Duterte on March 16.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte put Luzon island under 'enhanced community quarantine' on March 16. Photo: AP alt=Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte put Luzon island under 'enhanced community quarantine' on March 16. Photo: AP

The move, aimed at curbing the widening spread of the novel coronavirus in the country, also put thousands of employers temporarily out of business.

Which is where start-ups like MyKuya come in. For a fee, the app's users can get groceries or have goods or documents delivered " with a cut of the money going to service providers like Himor, who fulfil the orders.

The app has been around for about three years now, but in the last six weeks it has seen a 700 per cent surge in demand for its services, as people look for new ways to go about their lives while limiting contact with the outside world.

"While we have other services available on the platform, 90 per cent of requests we've processed in the last month are grocery deliveries," said Shahab Shabibi, the company's CEO.

MyKuya is one of the few start-ups to have thrived amid the Philippine quarantine, as digital-focused services become ever more essential. While its customers in the National Capital Region " home to seven out of 10 of the country's confirmed coronavirus cases " are adjusting to a new normal under which they must look online for the services they used to go out for, MyKuya has entered expansion mode.

"The [increased] demand has allowed us to continue partner sign-ups," Shabibi said. "We've received 10,000 applications since the quarantine started."

Grocery delivery service MetroMart has similarly seen a jump in customer sign-ups. While not disclosing official numbers, Evreem Al-Shatti Fortich, the company's head of operations, said grocery orders had more than doubled in the quarantine's wake.

The overwhelming surge in demand has even forced MetroMart to change its policy on deliveries, extending the time it takes for an order to be fulfilled from the usual 90 minutes to up to three days in some cases. Customer response has been a mixed bag, with some more displeased than others.

A post shared by MetroMart PH: Grocery Delivery (@metromartph) on

"There's definitely been a domino effect with the limited operations of our partner retailers now, so customer experience has been affected. So we're focusing on things we can control " improving our systems and algorithms to ensure we're back to our guaranteed 90-minute delivery," Evreem said.

The pandemic is not only putting a spotlight on many start-ups' previously less established services, but also testing these young companies' ability to quickly perfect the market fit of their products. All this, while simultaneously trying to attract new customers and keep existing ones loyal just when their services are needed most.

Home-grown mobile video live-streaming service Kumu, for example, has launched a new feature that allows organisations like churches and businesses to conduct virtual gatherings privately through its app. Previously, all live-streams were public by default and visible to anyone.

"It was an industry that we didn't really think was for us before, since we were best known to be used by private individuals who want to stream for music and entertainment, or to meet new people," Kumu co-founder Rexy Dorado said. "Now we have a local church that regularly streams with us, and a few days before we hosted a business group that had more than 100 participants."

Some Philippine churches, such as this one in Quezon City, have started streaming their Sunday services online. Photo: EPA alt=Some Philippine churches, such as this one in Quezon City, have started streaming their Sunday services online. Photo: EPA

Dorado said the app has now been downloaded three million times, with a "huge number" of those coming in the past month.

For other home-grown apps such as AIDE, which provides health care services such as the on-demand booking of home visits by doctors, nurses, medical technicians and the like, the pandemic has meant a shift in focus towards medicine delivery " even though this is not the company's most lucrative vertical.

"Because of Covid-19, people are now really embracing innovation. Just any way to help themselves stay healthy and safe," CEO Paolo Bugayong said. A virtual health check-up service is scheduled to be added to the app by the end of the month.

And it is not just entrepreneurs in the Philippines' private sector who are looking to tech-driven solutions amid the pandemic. In the past month, the government has launched a number of projects developed with the help of either start-ups or other organisations, aimed at better serving its citizens in quarantine.

An ID system that uses QR codes has been launched for quarantine checkpoints, such as this one in Antipolo City, to limit physical contact. Photo: Xinhua alt=An ID system that uses QR codes has been launched for quarantine checkpoints, such as this one in Antipolo City, to limit physical contact. Photo: Xinhua

In the first week of April, the country's health department released a revamped Covid-19 tracker with the help of data science consultancy Thinking Machines, to aid local government units and other key health officials and policymakers make better-informed decisions. The online dashboard now allows anyone with access to download raw data in real time, while more casual users get an improved experience with better visualised content.

Manila also this month launched an ID system for frontline staff and other essential workers called Rapidpass that uses QR codes to limit physical contact at checkpoints. DEVCON, a non-profit tech organisation, suggested the idea to the country's science department early in the quarantine in March. Almost 100 developers volunteered to work on the program, which was finished in less than two weeks.

Such collaborations have made some in the local start-up community hopeful that tech-driven solutions will be embraced more in future by both the government and more traditional companies.

Health workers in protective suits collect swabs for Covid-19 testing at a hospital in Quezon City. Some observers say the pandemic has forced people to work together. Photo: EPA alt=Health workers in protective suits collect swabs for Covid-19 testing at a hospital in Quezon City. Some observers say the pandemic has forced people to work together. Photo: EPA

"The pandemic has forced us to work together instead of against each other," Natasha Bautista, operations head of public-private incubator QBO said. "Besides technology and digitalisation being the new norm, I predict that [once this is over] we will see a lot more collaboration " private institutions and the public sector working with start-ups on solutions through innovation."

Still, it is not all good news for start-ups. On one Facebook group that counts a number of company founders among its members, some have shared stories of having to halt operations " especially those that rely on events management and other customer-facing activities.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.