The Barbados Coalition of Service Industries in partnership with the Caribbean Mobile Innovation Project will this year facilitate one of the region???s biggest tech entrepreneurship competitions – PitchIT Caribbean, a Canadian government funded programme aimed at mobile app development in the Caribbean, in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Designed for techpreneurs in CARICOM states, the two-day event which is being held June 3 to 4, is expected to feature 25 mobile app startup teams, all of whom will pitch to a panel of judges and an audience of regional and global investors.??Registration is now open and will close on Friday, April 15.

Five winners will each be awarded a coveted spot in PitchIT Caribbean business accelerators located in Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as US$5,000 in seed funding to develop their business.

Business acceleration includes expert business and technology mentoring, network opportunities, working space and facilities, expense paid trips to international conferences and competitions, intense product development and investor readiness training.

Acting Project Managerof PitchIT Caribbean, Keith Whyte said: ???At PitchIT Caribbean, we are very focused on identifying, engaging and developing top tech talent across CARICOM and this competition is one of our major activities toward that objective. So we want all tech entrepreneurs to sign-up for a chance to give their start-up a big boost.???

Tech entrepreneurs can sign-up for the competition by visiting http://challenge.pitchitcaribbean.com/ and completing the application form along with a pitch deck and an executive summary of their business or business idea. There is no cost to make a submission to the event.

Additionally, the Competition is open to contestants from Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Contesting organisations may be profit, non-profit or academic with fewer than 10 employees. Public sector agencies/organisations may not compete.

On June 1 and 2, the 25 finalists will participate in the pitching boot camp which will prepare them for the key competition days of June 3 and 4. PitchIT Caribbean is the central operation of the Caribbean Mobile Innovation Project, which is part of the Entrepreneurship Programme for Innovation in the Caribbean, a Canadian Government-funded, infoDev/World Bank Group executed initiative.

theresa.blackman@barbados.gov.bb

Author: Theresa Blackman/BCSI

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