Although the Philippines has one of the fastest-growing economies in Southeast Asia, it is not clear it will become the next tech tiger since it also has the slowest internet in the region. Whether it is slow internet connection can hinder its tech revolution or not, some people are certain that the country posses an opportunity to turn it into Asia's next tech tiger.

With a fast-growing middle class who can afford technology, a large English-speaking population, a society that is addicted to social media, and low labor and operating costs, the Philippines apparently has all the ingredients of an emerging tech tiger.

There's an opportunity for growth as the population is ready for a tech revolution: they have money to spend and they love being online but the slow internet connection frustrates them. If internet speed is already atrocious, coverage is no consolation: stepping out of the city means traveling decades back in time.

A recently arrived tech entrepreneur Peter Fabian said to the BBC that the Philippines looks like “the end of the world” to any seasoned Silicon Valley investor. The reason why Philippines has been left behind in the region is because entrepreneurs looking for the next tech hub overlooked the country and invested in other Asian tigers, such as Singapore and Thailand.

Despite being late in the Southeast Asian boom, there's still hope for the country. Mr Fabian, for instance, said: "We see the Philippines as a good testing market." That is why he chose Philippines for his start-up after researching emerging markets across the globe. He did this in spite of his business being dependent on technology, as it aims to use big data to build a credit card company aimed at the middle class who are not customers of traditional banks.

The reason behind this bold move is that Mr Fabian saw the country as a land of opportunities since there is not much competition with only a few experienced tech entrepreneurs around. Mr Fabian also saw the opportunities the Philippines has being a former US colony. The country already has a large English-speaking population which echoes some similar cultural values and the country shares many US institutions, making it more familiar and easy to navigate.

"The attitude towards foreigners is very welcoming, which cannot be said of a lot of people in Asia," said Mr Fabian. Although the Philippine start-up scene is limited, there are some initiatives in this direction. For instance, some businesses adapting Western products to the local market, including fast fashion ecommerce, daily deals sites or taxi service apps.

Meanwhile, others, like Ron Hose who is a Silicon Valley-bred entrepreneur and investor based in Manila are investing instead in looking for solutions to local issues. Therefore, they are coming up with new products that are particularly designed and built for the local market.

"There are a second set of problems that are unique to emerging markets that companies and entrepreneurs in developing countries are not really building products for," he said.

"An entrepreneur sitting in an office in Silicon Valley," Mr Hose said, "is not thinking about the problems of a Filipino who is sitting in a Jeepney (local taxi) for an hour and a half a day to go to work, or whose home gets flooded 10 times a year during typhoons."

His company, Coins.ph, offers financial services to people who have no bank account. According to Mr Hose, it may be true that each country is unique, but there are vital common problems that are similar across emerging markets, like being unbanked - which he already addressed - or having no access to education.

"If you solve one of these needs, then the market is larger than any one of these countries. If you can solve banking for people in the Philippines, you can solve it for 500 million people in South East Asia," he said.

Richard Eldridge is another Manila-based tech entrepreneur who co-founded Lenddo, an online loan company that provides consumers access to financial services and helps them use their social media activity to develop creditworthiness. Based in The Philippines since 2001, MR Edridge has seen the impact of the economic boom on the Philippines.

While running an outsourcing company, he noticed that many of his employees - who are part of the middle class he is targeting - kept soliciting loans from him. "It fascinated me that they were coming to me and not going to a bank and getting loans," said Mr Eldridge. That's the story of why he left the multinational in 2011 to start his own company Lenddo with New York-based chief executive Jeff Stewart. Although the Philippines remains Lenddo's home base and largest market, the company has expanded to other countries such as Mexico and Colombia. Given the success and growth of the company, it is now looking at 30 other emerging countries for expansion.

A Chinese billionaire surprised the audience of a pitch from a startup in Singapore when he wrote “Speed x Market Share” on a white board. This formula means that to succeed to you in a market, you need to be the first and the largest, no matter what the cost. This simple formula is now revolutionizing the Southeast Asian tech scene as China takes it over.

“It was the moment that I understood the Chinese strategy,” said Isaac Ho, the founder of Venturecraft Group, who's known in local medtech circles for whiskey-fueled networking parties. “If you are not the number one, you will become obsolete; if you are the number one, you can buy the newer technology. It's a winner-takes-it-all game.''

This is the story of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Didi Chuxing. The three corporations expanded to new territories at an unprecedented speed on an immense scale. They did this by following that simple formula laid out by the Chinese billionaire. After such expansion and investment, the first two are now listed amongst the 10 largest corporations in the world.

After those companies have conquered their home markets, which are now saturated, the country's tech overlords are looking to expand to the rest of the planet. The first obvious choice is Southeast Asia, which is a market where they can export that technology and grow quickly as the population in the region is twice the population of the U.S. and is home to the largest Chinese expats in the world; therefore, language and tradition will facilitate this expansion.

Over the course of 2016, Chinese investment in technology off shore more than doubled to $37.8 billion, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Out of those, giant Alibaba paid $1 billion in 2016 for control of Singapore-based e-commerce player Lazada Group SA. Meanwhile, WeChat-operator Tencent - a backer of Sea Ltd., Southeast Asia's most valuable startup - invested around $100 million to $150 million in Indonesian ride-sharing giant Go-Jek. Even Asia's most valuable startup Didi has declared it intends to go global.

“What you are seeing is a change in mindset,” said Thomas Tsao, founding partner of early stage investor Gobi Partners. “They're starting to aspire, not just to be the biggest Chinese company, but they are thinking globally.”

China has paved the way to take over the regional economy for decades. Chinese investors have are transforming the region by pouring billions into everything from transport to real estate. According to an estimate by Credit Suisse Group AG, China nearly doubled foreign direct investment into the six biggest Southeast Asian nations in 2016.

Although little of that investment went to the tech sector, which is in its infancy compared to the Chinese tech sector, the country's tech giants are shifting their gaze to the region. China's tech domination of the region will be facilitated by Southeast Asia's deepening mobile penetration and an emergent middle class. The region is an asset for these tech investors as the tech sector is in its infancy, it's home to a large market and also hosts the largest ethnic Chinese population on the planet.

According to the International Monetary Fund, growth in the Asean-5 of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam is projected to exceed annually through 2022, outstripping North Asia's 3 percent on average.

No single player is dominant in the Southeast Asia's tech sector, which means the territory is still up for grabs, unlike China where just a few control the major spheres of search (Baidu Inc.), e-commerce (Alibaba), social media (Tencent) and ride-sharing (Didi). This means that Southeast Asia is an opportunity for new companies that can't compete in the saturated market of China or for the key players which can't expand any longer in the Chinese market. As China starts its way to dominate the tech sector of Southeast Asia, we are yet to see how it will all play out and which are the key players that will dominate the region.

Israeli tech pioneer Yossi Vardi says Alibaba's eagerness to expand quickly outside China reminds him of the U.S. in the 60s and 70s when American companies shifted their gaze outside of the American territory, looked outward for growth and that's the story of how they became multinationals. “This is very, very substantial and it's just a beginning,” he said.

“The opportunity in Asia is just unparalleled,” said Grace Xia, Tencent's senior director of corporate strategy and investment. “Southeast Asia is emerging at an accelerated pace, with a lot of similarities with China in terms of user behavior.''

Here are some condensed pieces of wisdom for and by entrepreneurs in Asia.

“A lot of people complain about yesterday. We have no power to change yesterday. But this very day, 30 years later, is what we can control and decide. Change yourself, take baby steps, and stay determined for ten years. I thank the times of change and everyone's complaints. Because when everyone is complaining, that is your change, an opportunity. It's only in times of chang that someone can be clear of what he has and wants, and what he needs to give up. ” - Jack Ma, in his last speech as CEO of Alibaba.

Mark Chang gave a great piece of advice to once-budding Malaysian entrepreneur, Khai Yin, who then went on and founded GoodPlace.my: “I know only of the ‘kerbau' (buffalo) way, that is, to work hard and wait for the rain.”

If there's an entrepreneur that can talk about being resilient, then that is Firdhaus Akber who founded Streetdirectory and then he was ousted from the company and had to fight a lawsuit. “Entrepreneurs need to understand that they may not be successful on the first time. Most aren't. One needs to learn to pick themselves up and try again when they fail. What I learned from my Hong Kong investors was their nonchalant attitude towards failure. Why be so concerned about failure? If you fall down, pick yourself up and try again. Just keep trying, there's no one who will fail forever.”

What you can learn from Patrick Linden is the value of listening to the right advice: “It is important for entrepreneurs to stay firm to what they believe in. And if you need advice, go to the right people who have been there and done that rather than those who don't fully grasp the reality of entrepreneurship.”

And once you are at the top, you should follow Gou's advice and keep going, keep working hard and never easy up: “I never think I am successful. If I am successful, then I should be retired. If I am not retired, then that means I should still be working hard, keeping the company running.”

You also need to focus on what you think matters most to you and what you love, what you are passionate about, like Le Hong Minh advises you to: “You need to love your work, and work hard at it. to do that, you must pay attention to your priorities at the moment Constantly ask yourself, ‘what is the most important thing to you right now?'”

Even when you do what you love, don't forget that the purpose of a business is to make money. If what you do doesn't make money, then it is a hobby. That is what Sachin and Binny Bansal from Flipkart advise you to: “Perseverance and hard work are very important. The core of any business is to earn money. You have not done your job well until you find a stranger who is willing to open his/her wallet to give you money for the services/products that you are offering.”

Manuel V. Pangilinan from PLDT agrees with most entrepreneurs, particularly Steve Jobs, that the key to success is hard - and also honest - work. “The abiding lesson is that enduring long-term wealth, especially for self-made people, really comes from doing the right thing - no shortcuts, no corruption - and earning it the right way.”

Masayoshi Son, from Softbank, advises entrepreneurs to always think of the future. This is a great piece of advice and source of motivation because if you always think of the future, you are always going to work hard to make that prospect a better one. “Do not limit yourself to thinking in the present. Think above and beyond. Do not be bound by this age; aim to create a new age that will delight people throughout the world.”

Yoshikazy Tanaka, GREE, is also known as the Mark Zuckerberg of Japan. He says that the hardest part of it all is getting started. Once you've started your business, you've already overcome the hardest struggle: “I think the number one advice I can give is - you just have to start it. Just get your feet in the water and do it. I learned a lot from just trying it out.”

The Government of Philippines' cabinet-level agency National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board's Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) has approved Mindanao Railway Project's (MRP) Tagum-Davao-Digos (MRP-TDD) segment and two Department of Transportation (DOTr) rail projects. With this purpose, the board's ICC has advised DOTr to coordinate with the NEDA Secretariat to accomplish its approval requisites.

When Mindanao Railway Project is completed, it is expected to provide an efficient and reliable transportation, benefitting tourism, industry and overall economic development in the Davao Region area.

This project is the first part of the proposed 830km MRP loop, which includes a 102.28km commuter railway that will operate from Tagum City to Davao City. The project will locally financed and is expected to cost PHP35.26bn ($710m). The railway is expected to be finished by the third quarter of 2022.

ICC has also approved the North South Railway Projects (NSRP), which is a proposed railway line between Metro Manila, the National Capital Region (NCR) of the Philippines and Legaspi City, the capital of Albay province, in the Philippines.

The project is part of the Government of Philippines' (GOP) aim to encourage economic and urban growth in the most populous regions of the Islands by providing essential connectivity through a world-class passenger rail service.

"MRP-TDD is expected to provide an efficient and reliable transportation upon completion, which would facilitate tourism, industry and overall economic development in the Davao Region area."

The Official Development Assistance (ODA) will finance the project, which will cost nearly PHP285bn ($5.75bn). The three tracks of he NSRP-South Line will run from Tutuban to Los Baños and from Los Baños to Sorsogon for the long haul (581km), and will terminate at Port of Manila.

The Malolos-Clark Railway Project (MCRP) will cost an estimate of PHP211.43bn ($4.27bn) and will connect with the ongoing Tutuban-Malolos portion of the North South Commuter Railway.

MCRP will operate from Malolos, Bulacan, to Clark International Airport (Phase I), and from Clark International Airport to Clark Green City (Phase II).

Although operations and maintenance will be conducted through a public-private partnership (PPP), ODA will also finance this project. Construction is set to start in the second quarter of 2019 and is scheduled to be completed by the second quarter of 2022. Phase II is schedule to start as soon as Phase I is finished and it is set to be completed by 2024.

The NSRP is going to revitalize the oldest rail system in southeast Asia by delivering a 56km-long commuter rail and a 653km long-haul passenger rail services between Metro Manila and the under-served regions in South Luzon.

The project was launched by DOTC and the PMR in July 2015, which marks the start of the bidding process for the South Line, the Manila-Legazpi section. The winning bidder will design, construct, finance, operate, and maintain the project.

As soon as the line becomes operational in 2020, it will support ten daily trips, with seven train sets, passing through 66 stations. Each day, it will handle 316,000 passengers in the initial year of operation. The project will significantly alter transportation in the area as approximately 44,000 public and private vehicle users are expected to shift to the new railway service.

The NSRP is aimed at facilitating transportation and logistics services between the north and south, two rapidly-growing urban regions in Philippines. The project originates in Metro Manila, which is the country's largest city in terms of urban density, with a population of approximately 12m. Therefore, the railway will considerably alleviate traffic congestion in the city. Meanwhile, the Island of Luzon is the biggest and most popular island in the country, housing 48m residents.

After one study not finding the project feasible, another study was conducted and it found out that it was viable in a PPP format. This study was conducted on the southern section of the NCR to find out the viability of the commuter rail project when combined with the Mainline South of the NSRP.

The design and construction of the long-haul passenger rail line will include restoration and renovation of the existing track for safe use. It will also include upgrades for attaining a design speed of 75km/h and allowing a maximum permissible axle load of 15t.