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Kingston – May 24, 2017:  US$75,000 in cash and prizes will be up for grabs when 25 finalists from around the region, vie for honours in the PitchIT Caribbean Challenge tech entrepreneur competition, scheduled for June 13-17, 2017 St. Kitts and Nevis.

 

The finalists were selected from over 200 entries from across CARICOM, seeking partnerships, funding and even buyers for their enterprises, all competitors will pitch to a panel of judges and an audience of regional and global investors.

 

Following the intense one-day pitch competition, five winners will each be awarded a coveted spot in PitchIT Caribbean business accelerators located in Barbados, Dominica, St. Kitts & Nevis and Trinidad & Tobago, as well as US$5,000 in seed funding to help develop their businesses. The acceleration services will include mentoring by business and technology experts, networking opportunities, working space and facilities, expense-paid trips to international conferences and competitions, as well as intense product development and investor readiness training.

 

Commenting on the process and the finalist selection, project manager Bianca Welds explained that “Tech Entrepreneurs, both those in our training program and the wider CARICOM, responded very well to our invitation to the challenge. The quality of ideas presented made our job of selecting 25 very challenging, but we are excited by the diversity shown and believe that we have a strong set of finalists and the showcase in June is highly anticipated.”

 

After a grand kick-off launch ceremony on June 13 2017, from June 14-16, the 25 regional finalists will participate in a bootcamp that will prepare them to pitch in front of judges and investors for the key competition on June 17 to be held at the Sir Cecil Jacob Auditorium at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Headquarters in Bird Rock, St. Kitts and Nevis. 

The bootcamp is an essential part of this training because marketing your business to any investor is difficult, let alone a room full of potential investors. It’s important that useful skills, such as confidence and how to calculate payback period is taught to these finalists. One of the main questions a potential investor might ask is about the payback period, they want to know how long it will be before they get their investment back. It’s vital that these entrepreneurs know how to work this out. The bootcamp should set them up effectively with essential skills, allowing them to confidently deliver their pitch to the investors.

 

Top 25 Startups PitchIT Caribbean Challenge: St Kitts & Nevis 

The Local App, Antigua &Barbuda Isle&Dine, Barbados Global Tutoring Hub, Barbados Pocket Shop, Barbados CariFind, Dominica Lynck, Dominica Oruh, Dominica Tect, Dominica SENSI, Grenada Craftsmark, Jamaica Kraasimages, Jamaica Link Your Purpose (LYP), Jamaica My Lending Angel, Jamaica App@round, Jamaica OneShapp, Jamaica ResearchAid+ | PIM Ltd., Jamaica Pazport, St. Lucia MyStudyLibrary, St. Vincent & the Grenadines LoanFren Limited, Trinidad & Tobago GrocerY, Trinidad & Tobago nDuna, Trinidad & Tobago Nestd, Trinidad & Tobago Parlay T&T, Trinidad & Tobago WEV, Trinidad & Tobago Trust PIN, Trinidad & Tobago

 

PitchIT Caribbean is a programme aimed at enhancing the mobile app development ecosystem across CARICOM. It is designed to accelerate mobile app entrepreneurs through the start-up life cycle, which runs from ideation to pitch, from pitch to market and from market to maturity.

 

It currently supports 4 Hubs, one each in Barbados, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Trinidad & Tobago. PitchIT Caribbeanis the central operation of the Caribbean Mobile Innovation Project, which is part of the Entrepreneurship Programme for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC), an initiative funded by the Government of Canada and executed by infoDev/World Bank Group, through a three-party Caribbean consortium, led by UWI Consulting Inc., working along with Mona School of Business and Management, and Mona Business Support 

Related Links: 

More on PitchIT Caribbean Challenge: http://www.pitchitcaribbean.com/