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Is your elevator pitch perfect? Prove it – at The UWI and NEDCO’s 2015 Entrepreneurship Boot Camp

For Release Upon Receipt - August 7, 2015

St. Augustine


Instagram, Ninja blenders, Ticktr, gourmet cupcakes? There’s no telling what the next great business idea will be, but The University of the West Indies (The UWI) in partnership with the National Entrepreneurship Development Company (NEDCO) and the Entrepreneurial Training Institute & Incubation Centre (ETIIC) aims to help uncover it at their Entrepreneurship Boot Camp. The 4th annual boot camp runs from August 17 to 19, 2015 on the St. Augustine Campus.

The Boot Camp targets university students from all tertiary institutions. Participants have hailed not only from Trinidad and Tobago but also from other Caribbean islands as well as countries like India and Zimbabwe. Its mission is to develop participants’ entrepreneurial skill-set and equip them with the tools to translate those learnings into innovative and successful businesses. This is achieved via a mix of workshop-styled content delivery and motivational sessions with successful entrepreneurs as well as hands-on support in developing marketable business models, from qualified members of the organising team. Over the course of three days, participants will exhaust their ideas from all angles in sessions addressing topics like Idea Generation, Building an Effective Start-up Team, Intellectual Property, Lean Launch Pad Lab and many more.

Fortified with these new skills, participants develop their own business plans to be entered in a Business Competition. Over 150 young and emerging entrepreneurs benefitted from previous editions of the Boot Camp and the winners of the Business Plan Competition received start-up financing from NEDCO to get their winning ideas off the ground. This year, $50,000 in prizes is up for grabs. Last year’s winner, Mr. Timothy McIntosh, won with his idea Decouvre – the production of a gourmet line of premium chocolate cupcakes and desserts.

The Entrepreneurship Boot Camp 2015 takes place at the Faculty of Social Sciences. The cost is $500 and the registration deadline is Wednesday August 12, 2015. For further information and to register visit http://sta.uwi.edu/ebc  or contact Crystal Lopez via at clopez@nedco.gov.tt and 662-3842 or Curtis Mayers at cmayers@nedco.gov.tt

 

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About The UWI

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. Website: www.uwi.edu

 

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

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