Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Caribbean Development Trends

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Agribusiness
    • Antigua and Barbuda
    • Barbados
    • BehaviorChange
    • Belize
    • Bermuda
    • biodiversity
    • Blockchain
    • Caribbean
    • Caribbean Culture and Media
    • Climate Change
    • Creative Economy
    • Crime Prevention and Citizen Security
    • Data and Knowledge
    • De-risking
    • Dominica
    • Dutch
    • Early Childhood Development
    • Economic Growth
    • Education Policy
    • energy
    • entrepreneurship
    • Environmental and Climate Change
    • Events
    • Extractives
    • Finance
    • Fiscal Rules
    • gender
    • Governance and Regulatory Policy Reforms
    • Grenada
    • Guyana
    • Haiti
    • Health
    • Health Policy
    • Hurricane
    • Hurricane Irma
    • infrastructure
    • Innovation and change
    • Intellectual Property
    • IWD
    • Jamaica
    • JumpCaribbean
    • Labor
    • Labour Markets
    • MOOC
    • Music
    • Natural Disasters
    • Nurturing Institutions
    • OECS
    • Podcast
    • Poverty
    • Private Sector and Entrepreneurship
    • Saint Kitts and Nevis
    • Saint Lucia
    • Saint Vincent and Grenadines
    • skills
    • Sports for Development
    • Suriname
    • Technology
    • The Bahamas
    • The Blue Economy
    • Transportation
    • Tourism
    • Trinidad and Tobago
    • Uncategorized
    • VAWG
    • Webinar
    • women
    • Women for Change
    • youth
  • Country Offices
    • Bahamas
    • Barbados
    • Guyana
    • Jamaica
    • Trinidad and Tobago
    • Suriname
  • Press Releases
    • Bahamas
    • Barbados
    • Guyana
    • Jamaica
    • Trinidad and Tobago
    • Suriname
  • Authors

Trinidad and Tobago dazzled us with their innovative potential

July 13, 2015 by Alejandra Luzardo Leave a Comment


by Alejandra Luzardo

2

For 3 days, 130 entrepreneurs met in Port of Spain to present and develop their disruptive proposals to deal with the challenges faced by the country and the region. A panel of judges selected the best projects from those presented.

An app to facilitate donating online (Mobile Donate) and a system to take advantage of spoiled foods (Nourish TT), were the winners of the Startup Weekend to Improve Lives. The event was carried out June 12-14 at Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago) and was organized by local entrepreneurs. We here at Inter American Development Bank support such important initiative that reinforce our goal to Demand Solutions to improve lives.

During 3 intensive days, I had the opportunity to observe and collaborate, as a mentor, for the young entrepreneurs that were organized into 11 teams to develop their innovative entrepreneurial projects. It was just wonderful to feel the passion, enthusiasm and energy that was in the air!

When I said the participants were young, I should have added “at heart”, because among the participants (who were for the most part between 21 and 50) there was one grandma that even made a pitch and put together a team.

The event began with an inspiring  discourse given by Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Sustainable Planning and Development, Bhoendradatt Tewarie, who told participants and collaborators: “Imagination is a human being’s most valuable resource and with it there are no limits as to what may be accomplished. We need all ideas, even crazy ideas, to change our country.”

His reflection is that the dynamics of these Startup Weekends help us grasp new ideas that are so relevant in order to find different solutions for Trinidad and Tobago’s challenges. He commented on how the economy has increased by just 5% in the past 100 years and surprised us by adding: “so we don’t have to wait another 100 years, we need all your crazy ideas.”

During this first shift half of the entrepreneurs pitched their ideas and 11 teams were formed:

  • Untouched Tobago
  • SureFuture
  • Premier Society
  • Studee Monkey
  • Go Up
  • What Next
  • Community Sou Sou Fund
  • HydroGen
  • Nourish TT
  • Mobile Donate

I felt so privileged to be able to spend time with other mentors from World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Compete Caribbean, The University of West Indies (UWI), Young Americas Business Trust (YABT), the IDB and a group of the island’s distinguished public figures.

The panel of judges was comprised of Tomás Bermúdez, our representative in the country, Ignacio L. De León (from IDB’s Competition and Innovation Division), Kasper Birkeholk Munk (Teknologisk Institut’s Team Leader), Derrick Lewis (Managing Director of ISLANDpeople) and Debora Cumberbatch (CEO and founder of Tower Industries). After 54 hours of exploring innovations,the event came to an end and the judges selected the winning projects.

The Mobile Donate and Nourish TT teams received the prize: the opportunity to form part of the REACH Caribbean Innovation Competition (CIC), a contest and regional startup accelerator for young entrepreneurs. With financing from IDB, the REACH program is carried out by the The University of West Indies with collaboration from World Intellectual Property Organization and Young Americas Business Trust. The winning teams of this event will receive coaching and support to accelerate their business ideas.

Each of the 11 ideas presented focused on solutions to improve people’s lives. The proposals included initiatives such as electric generators powered by water vapor and a communication system for people living in remote areas.

“Sharing the energy and creativity of these entrepreneurs has been a very enriching experience for the BID. For many of the participants it was their first time going through the process of thinking of a project, convincing their partners, developing it, and defending it before a panel of judges. It was a phenomenal experience for them and this is the aspect of these gatherings that we cherish the most, and of course the possibility of generating proposals to improve lives in Trinidad and Tobago and the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean,” indicated Tomás Bermúdez, IDB representative. Other important supporters included: Google for Entrepreneurs, .CO, Amazon and Coca Cola.

This year, BID will organize 6 open Startup Weekends throughout the region, that will allow us to continue transmitting the spirit of innovation in Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Brazil. Here you can find more information on all our activities for this year.

Our alliance with UpGlobal and Techstarts has allowed us to use the Startup Weekend method with the theme: “Improving Lives” and incorporate it in Demand Solutions, an open innovation model through which IDB aims to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, to help make the Bank a key partner in providing innovative solutions, working alongside governments, the private sector, learned society, the community and the youths in the region.

As part of the IDB, it is a great responsibility and a great honor to be part of these conferences that are full of innovation and entrepreneurship and that aim to support the creation of new ideas that can change and improve our world. Who wouldn’t like a better world?

 

Follow us on Twitter: @IDB_CarDevTrend


Filed Under: Arts, Culture & Creativity, Innovation & Change, Trinidad and Tobago Tagged With: Caribbean development, Compete Caribbean, Demand Solutions, start-up, Techstarts, Trinindad and Tobago, University of West Indies, UpGlobal, World Intellectual Property Organization, Young Americas Business Trust

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

Search

Caribbean Dev Trends

We provide unique and timely insights on the Caribbean and its political, social, and economic development. At the IDB, we strive to improve lives in the Caribbean by creating vibrant and resilient economies where people are safe, productive and happy.

Similar posts

  • Young Bahamian Entrepreneurs Compete to Develop Business Concepts on “Starter Island” Journey
  • Get Up, Start Up: Local and global partners help launch young entrepreneurs in Jamaica
  • Technology on the beach
  • Bahamian Youth Leaders Visit MIT’s Media Lab and Plan a Sustainable Urban Future for Nassau
  • Rich discussion at the V Caribbean Civil Society Forum

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

Blog posts written by Bank employees:

Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


For blogs written by external parties:

For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

Aviso Legal

Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

facebook
twitter
youtube
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT