Rooted in Purpose: Powering Local, Sustainable Innovation with Jovy Gill and Cecilia Miranda

Jovy Gill of Altilium Green Energy and Cecilia Miranda of Isla-Tek sit down for a raw, inspiring conversation on building businesses that stay rooted in purpose. From turning pineapple waste into fabric to powering off-grid communities with smart batteries, they share how their paths—shaped by family, failure, and full-circle moments—led to ventures that serve both people and planet. They also talk about the slow, quiet grind before markets catch up and what it takes to juggle leadership. With backing from Villgro Philippines, they’re proving that you don’t have to leave to make a difference—and that the best solutions are built with community from day one.

Episode Timeline: 

00:03:12 – Cecilia’s and Jovy’s hustle: Isla-Tek and Altilium

00:05:25 – Cecilia on volunteering in Tondo and seeing systemic inequality

00:09:24 – Twists and turns: Failing a peace project, and learning from it

00:14:16 – Yolanda hits: Why Cecilia came home to Leyte

00:17:22 – Jovy’s first hustles: lunch money, homework, and moving abroad

00:23:20 – Independence, adaptability in college

00:26:00 – The learnings and skillstack learned in the early years

00:30:11 – Jovy’s journey from eco-resort dream to battery manufacturing

00:40:35 – Cecilia on finding opportunity in pineapple fiber and recycled PET

00:51:05 – Founders’ hardest moments and personal tradeoffs

01:06:06 – How Villgro gave each founder the platform to grow

01:12:14 – What’s next for Isla-Tek and Altilium Green Energy

QUOTES FROM JOVY & CECILIA:

"We are not even close to reaching COP28 goals. It is a problem of existential proportion. It's not like it’s something that we can fix in 10 years. It's not. It's something that we're going to have to fix for the rest of our lives and in fact, our kids lives sadly." – Jovy Gill

“You have to definitely know why you're doing the thing that you're doing.  You also have to know what are the trade-offs and which trade-offs can I make?  And which ones can I not?” – Cecilia Miranda

Resources:

LinkedIn (Jovy Gill): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jovygill 
Website (Altilium Green Energy): https://www.altiliumgreen.energy/ 
Website (Isla-Tek): https://isla-tek.com

This episode is brought to you by Villgro Philippines: , Paymongo, GoTyme Bank & SeekCap
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