MANILA, Philippines — Marikina’s push to become a bigger center for startups and investment is getting another boost, with the Board of Investments (BOI) and National Development Company (NDC) moving to bring government investment services directly inside the city’s Philippine Innovation Hub.
Under a newly signed memorandum of understanding, the two agencies will establish a government One-Stop Shop through a self-service digital kiosk at the Philippine Innovation Hub–Marikina Enterprise Center, or PIH-MEC. The initiative is designed to give entrepreneurs, investors and other stakeholders easier access to government information and online investment services without having to navigate multiple offices separately.
Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo said the partnership is part of the government’s effort to make doing business in the Philippines easier, faster and more investor-friendly.
Rather than creating an entirely new investment hub, however, the agreement expands the role of an innovation facility that has already been operating in Marikina since April 2025.
The Philippine Innovation Hub was formally launched last year as a platform designed to support startups, micro, small and medium enterprises, innovators and entrepreneurs. Earlier reporting by The Philippine Star said the facility was envisioned as a place where businesses could access technical assistance, startup incubation, digital onboarding, regulatory support and investor-matching services under one roof.
BOI services move closer to entrepreneurs
Under the agreement, BOI will provide access through the kiosk to its online services, information systems and investment-related portals.
The agency will also provide channels where investors and other stakeholders can submit inquiries while ensuring that links and digital information made available through the platform remain updated and functional.
NDC, meanwhile, will provide the physical space for the kiosk and support basic requirements including electricity, internet connectivity, facility maintenance and other operational needs.
BOI Investments Assistance Center Executive Director Bobby Fondevilla described the kiosk as a collaborative platform that could improve ease of doing business by bringing investment information closer to companies and entrepreneurs using the Marikina hub.
The move appears relatively simple—a government kiosk inside an innovation center—but its importance could be much larger if it helps reduce one of the persistent frustrations confronting businesses: finding the correct agency, requirement, incentive program or government portal before a project can move forward.
Marikina’s startup ambitions are getting bigger
The Philippine Innovation Hub was launched as part of a broader effort to transform Marikina from a city best known for its shoemaking industry into a center where traditional businesses, technology companies and new entrepreneurs can develop and scale.
When the hub opened in 2025, its proponents promoted the concept of a potential “Marikina Startup Valley,” bringing government, industry and innovators into a common ecosystem rather than requiring young companies to seek assistance from separate institutions.
The facility has since been used for startup and innovation programs. NDC procurement records, for example, show activities connected with startup residency programs and national hackathons at the Marikina Enterprise Center, supporting the government’s plan to develop the site as more than simply an office building.
NDC records also show that ₱95 million had been transferred by the Department of Trade and Industry for the Philippine Innovation Hub–Marikina Enterprise Scale Up Hub project, aimed at establishing an innovation center supporting the digital transformation of MSMEs.
Why the timing matters
The BOI-NDC partnership comes as the Philippines attempts to attract larger investments while making government approvals and investor services more efficient.
BOI reported that it approved ₱461.84 billion worth of investments during the first half of 2026, up 21 percent from ₱382.24 billion during the same period in 2025. Those approvals covered 124 projects expected to generate more than 14,000 direct jobs, according to the investment promotion agency.
The government has also rolled out its 2026–2028 Strategic Investment Priority Plan, identifying sectors and activities eligible for investment incentives and positioning the country to attract capital into industries considered important to long-term economic development.
That makes investor accessibility increasingly important.
Large corporations may have dedicated legal, regulatory and government-relations teams capable of navigating the investment system. Startups and smaller businesses often do not.
A digital one-stop shop located inside an entrepreneurship hub could narrow that gap—particularly if companies can use it not merely to read government information but eventually to move more of the investment process online.
The bigger test comes after the kiosk goes live
The agreement between BOI and NDC is another step toward bringing Philippine government investment services closer to entrepreneurs.
But the real measure of success will not be the installation of the kiosk itself.
It will be whether businesses using the Marikina hub experience shorter processing times, clearer requirements, easier access to investment incentives and fewer trips between government agencies.
If the model proves effective, the Marikina facility could offer a blueprint for bringing similar integrated investment services closer to entrepreneurs in other cities.
For Marikina, that could also strengthen an economic transition already underway—from a city famous for producing shoes to one increasingly attempting to produce startups, technologies and companies capable of competing well beyond Metro Manila.
The kiosk may only occupy a small part of the Philippine Innovation Hub.
What it could unlock for the businesses walking through its doors may be much bigger.
WWC ONE MEDIA M.J.E
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