Pacita Juan holds various leadership positions in local and regional organisations in the F&B sector – the most notable of which is being the founder of Figaro Coffee Company and Binalot Fiesta Foods, the co-chair and president of the Philippine Coffee Board, and the vice president of the ASEAN Coffee Federation. She has written books on the Philippines’ coffee and cacao industries and regularly contributes to opinion columns in periodicals as an active sustainability advocate.

Paulo Abiog is a food and beverage consultant specialising in coffee and cafe business creation, development, and management. He is a two-time barista champion in the Philippines as well as a participant in the ASEAN Barista Championship in Bangkok. With a background in the culinary arts and exposure to beverage mixology, Abiog specialises in the identification and creation of cafe business-related opportunities, including growth strategy and implementation of revenue-generating activities.

Lee Sweelin is a business and F&B consultant who helps SMEs, startups, and aspiring entrepreneurs with strategic direction, pricing, growth, and sales. She has over six years of experience as a co-founder of PichaEats, a food delivery platform that provides livelihood opportunities for refugees in Malaysia. Lee graduated with a BA in Accounting and Finance from UCSI University, and has been passionate about entrepreneurship and social impact ever since.

Jonathan Wong is a seasoned leader, venture builder, and operator with an extensive track record of launching and scaling profitable startups. His investment portfolio includes early-stage start-ups across all verticals, including sustainability, F&B, B2B SaaS, and mobility, whom he advises on GTM strategy and operations, product-market fit, and P&L. Wong graduated with a double degree in commerce and economics from the University of New South Wales and obtained his MBA from London Business School.

Angel Martinez is a culture writer and content strategist based in Manila, Philippines. She recently finished a one-year fellowship at Kontinentalist, an award-winning editorial studio that tells data stories about Asia. Today, she writes about the internet, identity, and their intersections for publications like VICE, i-D, Vox, and Teen Vogue. When she’s not knee-deep in the written word, you can find her crying over the New Year’s Eve scene from When Harry Met Sally… (1989) and cafe-hopping in pursuit of the perfect Spanish latté.