Next Negosyante Award Nominee: CUBO Modular

Affordable housing solutions can be extremely difficult to come by, especially within the context of the prolonged global pandemic where livelihoods have been threatened. Add to that the growing need for sustainability as the climate crisis continues to worsen, particularly with the Philippines being one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. With one challenge stacked on top of the other, it is understandably demanding to face these hurdles head-on.

But, where others might see an impasse, one particular company saw an opportunity. These same challenges are what led to the development of CUBO, a social enterprise geared at providing sustainable, affordable, and dignified housing for Filipinos within low-income communities. The company is the first-of-its-kind that designs and manufactures modular engineered bamboo house kits that highlight local craftsmanship.

“At CUBO Modular, we see a world where everyone is safe from pollution, diseases, and crime inside a home they can call their own. We see a world where everyone can say…’I’m home.’” explained co-founder and CEO Earl Forlales. “With our patent-pending housing technology, we can make that a reality for more people while replenishing our world’s natural resources.”

The company’s CUBO® Modular System is the first and only engineered building platform in the world which proves to have unique properties that are seemingly perfect for today’s landscape. CUBO’s engineered bamboo only takes 3 years to grow before becoming fit for structural use, making it a highly renewable material. Moreover, it proves to have strengths up to 14x greater than concrete and local hardwood while also minimizing the energy required for cooling.

Since its launch, CUBO has racked up numerous awards both locally and internationally. The company became the grand winner of the Cities for Our Future Challenge by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyor and has been invited to present the potential of engineered bamboo at the World Building Exposition. It has also been dubbed as a “reinventionist” by the Manila Bulletin for its contributions to the housing sector.

More recently, however, CUBO was included among the recipients of the Next Negosyante Award, which recognizes startup or young industry leaders who are breaking boundaries in the Philippines.