BEHIND THE STARTUP – Gina Romero is the founder and head of special projects of 'Connected Women.' (Photo Courtesy of Connected Women)

Many Filipino women work in distant places, away from their families for long periods of time, because they hope what they earn can give their families a better future.

This scenario, which is now more usual among Filipino families, inspired Gina Romero, 47, to open a startup business called “Connected Women,” which offered opportunities for work without being away from their loved ones. These jobs are all related to technology –image and video annotation, data cleansing and enrichment, sentiment analysis and text categorization, and community-as-a-service solutions.

Ms. Romero co-founded Connected Women with Ruth Yu-Owen in 2017. The startup develops online skills to qualify women for jobs after training in artificial intelligence and data annotation and digital business.

WOMEN FOR WOMEN – Gina Romero and Ruth Yu-Owen started 'Connected Women' in the Philippines in 2017. (Photo Courtesy of Connected Women)

The social impact technology startup started in 2013 in Singapore in response to a “gap in women's adoption of technology.” Romero observed the need to create a women’s network focused on technology. Then, the initiative only offered digital skills training to women entrepreneurs, freelancers, and professionals.

The demographic of Connected Women changed when she returned to the Philippines where she observed a diverse Filipino women network. There were many women from the lower socioeconomic status who had less access to technology, while others had professional experiences and came from affluent backgrounds.

“It was more about making technology accessible, so everyone could benefit from the opportunities that technology brings,” Romero said in an online interview with Manila Bulletin.

Connected Women then redirected its focus on giving work opportunities—and later training—to both skilled and underskilled women to serve the diverse female network.

Training women

Connected Women educates women on data annotation—labeling and categorizing data to help computers understand and interpret things—and digital marketing skills, where training is free and is conducted online and in person. There are currently 100,000 women in the network, majority of them in the Philippines, and the rest in Singapore, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.

According to Romero, Connected Women cooperates with its partners to find Filipino women who will enroll in its flagship program Elevate AIDA (Artificial Intelligence Data Annotation. Trainees devote some time working on artificial intelligence and data annotation.  After the training, graduates can apply for jobs with local and international clients of Connected Women, which are all home-based jobs.

OUTSTANDING FILIPINA – Gina Romero receives The Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service (TOWNS ) award in 2022. (Photo Courtesy of Connected Women)

“When projects come in from clients, all graduates receive the details. Then they can apply for projects that will suit their availability, preference, and skill level. Our team will select those best suited for the project,” she explained.

Meanwhile, Connected Women also teaches women entrepreneurs digital marketing skills through the SheMeansBusiness program of Meta Philippines. They are taught digital marketing on Facebook and Instagram as well as “financial literacy training for business owners, self-mastery coaching, business model canvas, and mentoring.”

Romero said the SheMeansBusiness program has helped 55,000 Filipino women through its “online and offline events” since 2017.

Women and technology

Romero has been recognized by local and international organizations for her contributions to the welfare of women through technology. She was an awardee of 2022 The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS) and a nominee to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Rising Star category of the 2022 Women in AI Leadership Awards by VentureBeat.

Incidentally, Ms. Romero had no background in technology until she met her husband Bobby. She was quick to recognize the advantages that technology brings.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH TECHNOLOGY – Connected Women is a startup enterprise that develops online skills and provides remote jobs for women. (Photo Courtesy of Connected Women)

“I kind of fell in love with technology because of the potential to improve our lives and give us access to information and things we would never normally have access to,” she said.

She pursued a bachelor's degree in biology at the Angeles University Foundation in Pampanga, intending to be a veterinarian. But she had to leave college in her second year due to family concerns.

Rising from setbacks

You can say that Romero had to start from the bottom, She and husband started an IT business many years ago which closed because of cash flow problems. Her family also lost their farming business following the Mount Pinatubo eruption, which she was actively involved in during her teenage years.

With those setbacks, she said that “every time you have a setback, every time you have a failure, it is really just understanding better what you are trying to do and what works and what doesn't.”

She also learned that “it's really important not to give up when things do not go according to the plan.”