On May 31, 2026 at Common Ground 8 Rockwell in Makati City, over a half of the organization members, ambassadors, and guests filed in for what was supposed to be a simple orientation — but by the end of the day, it turned into something bigger. The AWSUG e:Novators PH: General Onboarding 2026 – Build & Connect, themed “Brick by Brick: Building the Blocks of Innovation!”, was the community’s first formal onboarding event, and it set the tone for everything the organization intends to build this year.

What is AWSUG e:Novators PH?

The AWS User Group e:Novators Philippines is a community under the AWS User Group ecosystem, founded by Community Lead Marvin Barrios and soft-launched in 2024 at the first AWS Student Community Day in the country, held at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Sta. Mesa, Manila. It has since grown into a multi-stakeholder organization with a clear purpose: to close the distance between students and industry, between ideas and the execution that makes them real. 

A key partner in this effort is PUP PYLON Technology Business Incubator (TBI), which has worked alongside e:Novators in preparing members for hackathons, pitch competitions, and real-world startup building. The relationship reflects the community’s long-term commitment: not just to teach, but to place its members inside the ecosystems where things actually get built.

Mission

• To empower individuals and support each other within the community by giving them a chance to showcase their ideas, skills, and craft through tech innovation and meaningful collaboration. 

Vision

• To become the go-to community for driving innovation in the Philippines — one that gives a spotlight to working students and entrepreneurs, and creates an atmosphere where everyone can thrive through new ideas and collective growth. 

So, How Did the Day Go?

Running from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, the General Onboarding 2026 spanned eleven hours and was structured to walk new members through everything they needed — who the community is, what each office does, and where they fit within it all. The event was spearheaded by the Program Office alongside the Core Team, with volunteers from AWS Cloud Clubs Philippines, AWS User Group Philippines, and AWS User Group BuildHers+ lending their support. Event direction was led by Hyacinth Vannes Ramos as Event and Programs Director, and John Christian Robles as Co-Director and Marketing Director. 

The program moved with intention, designed around three core goals:

• Introduce — establishing a clear understanding of the community’s mission, vision, and structure
• Connect — bringing new members face to face with their office leaders and fellow members
• Build — laying the groundwork for a year of collaboration and meaningful work

The Talks That Laid the Foundation

The morning opened with a motivational keynote from Isaeus Guiang, User Group Leader of AWS User Group Philippines, who reminded the room that belonging to a community is not passive — it is a choice made every time a member shows up.

Community Lead Marvin Barrios followed with e:Novators 101, a session that gave new members a clear picture of what the organization is, what it is working toward, and how each person fits into that work. He walked through the practical support the community extends — from startup exposure to pathways designed specifically for working students — and left the room with a thought worth carrying: 

“Your community is your witness. It is the space that sees you lay each block before the rest of the world sees the finished wall.” — Marvin Barrios, Community Lead 

Closing the morning was Mr. Lutzer U. Reyes, PUP Associate Professor V and IT Consultant, whose Technopreneurship 101 talk reframed how the room thought about opportunity. Skills matter, he told attendees, but communities like AWSUG shorten the learning curve, open doors to mentorship, and connect members to collaborations they could not have reached on their own.

Industry Voices: Sponsorship Talks

The afternoon brought in four guest speakers from the Philippine tech industry, each bringing a distinct perspective on what it means to build something that lasts. 

Arjay Rosel of Gen AI Philippines (Founding Board – Marketing) opened the afternoon with a look at how AI model integration is actively reshaping SaaS product development — a topic that landed squarely with a room full of developers and aspiring founders. 

Paul Sears, Chief Technology Officer of Computrade Technology Philippines, shared CloudSensei’s social mission and the Dash2Career skills path — a structured pathway built around the belief that access to cloud careers should not depend on where you started. He also extended an open invitation for cloud engineering internship opportunities to e:Novators members. 

Karen (En) Pearl V. Pabilando of Tutorials Dojo delivered what many in the room may remember as the afternoon’s most grounding talk. In “Build to Learn: What Shipping Real Projects Taught Me,” she made a case that preparation without action is its own kind of obstacle — that the real learning happens when you put the work out into the world and deal with what comes back. 

Jaymel Tapel, Technology Solutions and Data Lead at Stealth, closed the sponsorship lineup with a challenge that cut through the noise: not everything that can be built should be. Build with intention. Build what matters. 

Community Partners and Start-Up Initiatives

The event gave time to the organizations that have been part of e:Novators’ ecosystem from early on. PUP PYLON TBI, guided by its mission “Your Startup Journey Begins Here,” was recognized as a key partner in supporting student innovators as they move from idea to execution.

The Start-Up Initiatives segment, led by Start-Up Development Directors Dave Ailler Rivas, Fahad Hadji Esmael, Lawrence Panes, together with their associate Mary Jean Navarro, highlighted members who are already in the middle of building — a reminder that the bridges the community talks about are already being crossed. The Ambassador Spotlights that followed introduced new members to the people who have kept the organization moving, showing that leadership here is less about titles and more about consistent presence.

Membership Oath and Certificate Giving

Late in the afternoon, the highlight of the whole event finally arrived. Community Lead Marvin Barrios administered the Membership Oath and led the Certificate Giving that formally welcomed every new member into the organization. Closing remarks were delivered by Hyacinth Vannes Ramos, before the program gave way to photos, a final networking session, and e-gression. 

By the time it wrapped up, the theme had proven itself. “Brick by Brick” wasn’t just something printed on a banner — it was exactly how the day came together, and exactly how the community plans to keep moving forward.

What Comes Next

The General Onboarding 2026 was really just the starting line. More community initiatives, startup programs, and events meant to connect students with industry are already being planned. For everyone who took the oath on May 31 — the building has already begun.