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| 'Wired' session participants - UWI |
What’s been happening?
The future of T&T depends heavily of stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship. Over the past month there has been a big focus on these two areas. Following are a few examples.
Designovators media launch
About 60 people attended this launch held on Friday, July 16th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. There were representatives of the government, key Ministries, the fashion sector and the media, as well as a number of Designovators shareholders. What was most encouraging about this launch was the positive and constructive ‘vibe’ that filled the room. It is sometimes tough doing something outside the box in T&T as there are many ‘naysayers’. But everyone who was present is behind the project - one that offers T&T and Caribbean designers a real opportunity to connect with clients and do business around the world. It won’t happen overnight - as anyone who has started up a business knows. But the foundations are in place and the networks are being built up fast through Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as through a number of more personal and specialised networks such as StartUp Digest and Springwise which operate in many countries and cities around the world. Several contractual agreements are currently being finalised that should see lead to generation of the company’s first significant revenue in the next 2 -3 months.
BDC Webinars
The BDC is running a series of ‘Wednesday Webinars’ that focus on innovation in business and ways in which companies and individuals can become more innovative in the way they plan and develop their enterprises. Whilst much of the Webinar material comes from offshore, the BDC is using local facilitators to add a local flavour when it comes to applying innovation in a small country like T&T. By using local examples of innovation, it adds a tangible dimension to the innovation learning process. For example, those who participated in the mid-July Webinar were shown two cakes of soap - one from Simple Pleasures that retails at TT$ 25.00 a unit (and for which demand is booming) and a supermarket brand that is retailing at TT$ 4.00 a unit and, in an interactive process, developed an understanding of the innovation that has been applied by Sharon Benjamin of Simple Pleasures to raise the value of her product by over 600% compared to the supermarket brand. Such an approach leaves a lasting impression that participants will never forget!
Gen Y ‘Wired’ project update
‘Wired’ is a simple beginner’s programme designed to help young people who have few, if any, computer skills to learn how to go online and do simple things like set up an email account and send an email and use search engines like Google to find things that they have a real interest in. On July 12 and 13 ten young people from the St. Mary’s Children’s Home participated in sessions that introduced them to the Beginner’s module on the first day and something a little more advanced on the next day. The sessions were facilitated by members of the UWI Computing Society who have adopted this programme as their contribution to improving the lives of young people in T&T’s communities, particularly those who as less advantaged. The UWI team were fantastic and the young participants really gained a great deal from the experience. When the evaluation forms were processed, 90% of the participants rated four of the five sessions as great and 80% rated the final session as great. Comments like, ‘This was fun’ and, ‘It was great’, make it all worthwhile.
What does this mean for T&T?
There are things that really work well when it comes to encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship - and other things that don’t. There is no question that using home-grown innovative approaches achieves a far greater level of impact than anything that is imported.
Useful links:The updated Designovators portal The Startup Digest from around the world
Key question: Should we not be focusing more on using innovation processes and programmes developed here in T&T and the region rather than material imported from highly developed countries? There is a real relevance and credibility issue here that needs thinking about.
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