Obama Matches Filipina Entrepreneur with Billionaire Funder

U.S. President Barack Obama (center) with Alibaba billionaire Jack Ma and SALt founder Aisa Mijeno at the APEC CEO Summit in Manila, Philippines (Photo by Seong Joon Cho/Bloomberg)

Until this week, Aisa Mijeno was yet another entrepreneur struggling to raise money for her startup in the Philippines. Then she got a call from the White House.

Now the 31-year-old engineer is getting global attention after President Barack Obama offered to play matchmaker for her company, which builds lamps that run on seawater. Mijeno, the co-founder of SALt, shared a stage Wednesday with Obama and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Jack Ma at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Manila. More in Bloomberg.com.