Invest Saint Lucia launched a virtual business incubator and accelerator programme in September 2020, an ideal concept which promised opportunities in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. The launch marked significant development for Saint Lucia’s entrepreneurship space and Boost became the first of its kind in Saint Lucia.
Boost was the result of years of research into the missing link between having a business idea and creating an operational business. The board of Invest Saint Lucia had commissioned a survey in 2019 that changed the agency’s perspective on approaching entrepreneurship culture to facilitate more local investment opportunities. As a community of strategic partners, start-ups, entrepreneurs, and business minded individuals working together, the virtual programme is aimed at transforming the naturally vibrant local entrepreneurship landscape even further.
As a national programme, Boost’s role is to connect ideas to investors, to provide business-minded people with valuable information which will help grow their ideas. Boost will help support innovative individuals by matching them with professionals that have expertise in relevant industries and help translate entrepreneurship research into tangible improvements in the business world. Most of all, Boost expects to bridge the gap between businesspeople and the myriad of resources available in the public sector and agencies who can take them to success. Boost’s first initiative was setting up a virtual hub, www.boostsaintlucia. com which entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs can use to connect with each other, experts, business development resources, live webinars and portals to other organisations which cover overall start-up needs.
The second item on the programme was the National Idea Pitch Competition (NIPC). In January 2021 Boost invited Saint Lucians with innovative business ideas to submit to the NIPC. Seven participants progressed to the finals with the best ideas now gained entry to a rigorous and intensive business development programme where the ideas were incubated into a fully-fledged business. They were paired with mentors and were given insights into the inner workings of running a business and the relevant agencies established to sustain and regulate the economy.
On Monday, April 26, 2021, the seven participants pitched their now developed ideas to a panel of judges of renowned business people. The competition took place at the National Television Network studios for a duration of about four hours. The following Wednesday, in a formal ceremony the top three participants were awarded prizes.
The winner was Real 3D Printing, owned and managed by Kayode James. The business idea won James and the business EC $10,000 worth of cash and prizes, inclusive of EC $6,000 from the Boost Entrepreneurship Seed Capital Fund, and advertising, marketing, and communication services from sponsors Invest Saint Lucia, Sagicor, 123 Digital, SLUDTERA and Advanced Intellectual Methods. The company pitched an idea to use 3D technology for scanning which will help to close gaps in research, to prevent human error and collect data in major industries such as health and manufacturing.
Real 3D Printing
3-dimensional scanning is a modern standard for prototyping and designing across many industries previously dependent on traditional and time- consuming methods prone to human error. The process analyses an object from the real world and collects data from the surface which can be used to recreate a digital copy, providing an indepth and more thorough understanding of the model. It allows for areas that are difficult to access to be easily viewed and it is easy to examine the object in a three- dimensional space. A designer can make changes to the digital rendering and reproduce the object or prototype more precisely.
This allows for an increase in overall quality, efficiency, productivity, output, and it is cost effective. It can revolutionize the way real world objects are designed, modelled, visualized and re-created. This technology is useful in motor and electrical parts, fixtures and fittings, repairs, human anatomy and prosthesis, architecture and engineering. The potential applications are limitless, and the development of 3D scanning has opened doors for design innovation across several industries.
3SIXTY
3Sixty, founded by Kissia Peter, came in second place at the NIPC. Her company won EC $4,000 worth of cash and prizes from the sponsors. 3Sixty’s innovation is designed to bring a travel destination to tourists wherever they are through virtual reality. 3Sixty will create 360-degree virtual reality (VR) tours both for online consumption for a virtual tourism market and locally for consumption through a VR booth. 3Sixty will allow people to see what Saint Lucia looks like throughout the year.
The tours would help create a realistic experience for virtual tourist since VR allows for users to look in all directions and move around. In addition to the online tours and booth, 3Sixty has also envisioned a virtual tour backpack. Tour guides and site operators would be able to stream live on social media for tours and events. Tourists can have live interactions with the tour guides while on tour. The idea would create and entirely new tourism niche industry.
Bioganics
In third place was Bioganics, managed by Kyle Nicholas, who won EC $2,500 worth of cash and prizes. Bioganics is a bio-chemical processing company which focuses primarily on the production of renewable energy and environmentally friendly products. Currently, their product line comprises methane gas and organic fertilizer to be sold for domestic and commercial use. They are produced through the full decomposition of organic waste matter including farm waste, domestic waste, restaurant waste, and institutional waste. Bioganics aims to provide a cheaper alternative to liquid petroleum gas (LPG) as well as organic potting soil which are used both domestically and commercially.
The Bioganics facility will be the first of its kind within the Eastern Caribbean in which it will align Saint Lucia and the wider Caribbean into a trajectory of sustainable development and self-sustenance. The company will individually enable Saint Lucians to not be bound to the increasing global fuel prices and will reduce the balance of trade deficit through the reduction of the importation of LPG and organic fertilizers.
Each of the three winners have already planned into the future for their business, using the foundation from the NIPC as their guide. The NIPC was a pilot project which practiced a fast-tracked version of what Boost hopes the incubator of the programme to look like. These seven finalists got a firsthand experience of the programme and will continue to benefit from Boost’s resources as they grow their new businesses. The top three finalists also won themselves spots in the Saint Lucia leg of the Entrepreneurship World Cup which will take place in July. This will grant entrepreneurs the chance to represent Saint Lucia in the international leg and possibly win the prize worth US $1 million.
Anyone can join the Boost virtual platform and follow the social media handles (Instagram: @boostsaintlucia, Facebook and LinkedIn: Boost Saint Lucia) to find out about upcoming programming. Boost will be launching its accelerator pilot later this year and is also working on GRASSROOTS leads to reach all types of entrepreneurs from all backgrounds.
