
Six student entrepreneurs from the Philippines have advanced to the 2026 Asia Pacific regional finals of the FedEx / Junior Achievement International Trade Challenge (FedEx / JA ITC) after developing artificial intelligence (AI)-powered warehouse drone strategies for Vietnam’s e-commerce logistics sector.
The winning delegation, comprising three two-student teams, will represent the country in Singapore this August against student teams from across eight other Asia Pacific markets.
Delivered in partnership with JA Philippines, the 17th annual national competition tasked secondary school participants with formulating a Market Entry Strategy Plan (MESP) for AI autonomous drones aimed at raising inventory accuracy and accelerating order fulfillment in Vietnam’s rapidly expanding logistics industry.
Winning Philippine Teams and Business Concepts
The three national finalist teams presented target market analyses, operational frameworks, and financial projections tailored to Vietnam’s mid-sized warehouses and cold-chain facilities:
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Team ArkSight (Mandaue City Comprehensive National High School): Matthew John A. Hife and Lorente Jr. Berden developed ArkSight, an autonomous inventory drone combining computer vision, UHF RFID, autonomous navigation, and cloud analytics. Utilizing a Drone-as-a-Service (DaaS) model tailored for small-to-medium enterprises and third-party logistics (3PL) providers, the strategy projects Year 1 revenue of approximately US$244,000 and operating break-even by Month 8.
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Team The Visionary (University of San Jose-Recoletos): Minette H. Cabaluna and Jim Niño C. Gonzales designed Chuôn Chuôn, a DaaS inventory management system featuring autonomous drones, wireless charging docks, real-time monitoring, and Chuôn2Bot, a native Vietnamese-language conversational AI assistant. Their strategy targets 10 enterprise clients in Year 1, with forecasted first-year revenue of $81,075 (approximately VND 2.1 billion).
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Team TeamMate (Everest International Academy): Mico Alfonso Aviñante Nolledo and Nathan Trono Dy Pico created Altius AI, an autonomous drone system engineered specifically for cold-chain facilities in Ho Chi Minh City. The multi-functional solution integrates inventory scanning, environmental tracking, LiDAR mapping, Warehouse Management System (WMS) integration, and AI-driven irregularity detection to address worker safety hazards, high lighting costs, and temperature fluctuations in sub-zero environments.
“The future of innovation depends on giving young people the opportunity to learn, collaborate, and think big,” said Maribeth Espinosa, managing director, FedEx Philippines. “Bringing back the in-person workshop while continuing to welcome students virtually allowed us to reach even more aspiring entrepreneurs across the country. Through the FedEx / JA International Trade Challenge, we hope to equip Filipino youth with the confidence, global perspective, and problem-solving skills they need to turn bold ideas into meaningful business solutions.”
Regional Competition and Program Legacy
At the August regional finals in Singapore, the Philippine representatives will compete and collaborate with student delegations from Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Beyond presenting their business plans, participants will engage with industry practitioners and corporate leaders from FedEx to gain firsthand insight into global trade networks.
Since launching in the Philippines in 2009, the FedEx / JA ITC initiative has engaged more than 12,000 students nationwide. Philippine representatives have recorded strong performances at past regional finals, taking first place in 2020 and 2021, and earning second-place finishes in 2021, 2024, and 2025.


















