IDB Business Competition
The Ministry of Tourism & Aviation has encouraged Bahamians to advance their business ideas through an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) initiative designed to empower lower-income communities throughout the Caribbean.
The initiative is a business plan competition that specifically looks to directly benefit lower income communities through linkages with the tourism sector. Individuals in the Bahamas and other Caribbean countries are being asked to send executive summaries for businesses to the Opportunities for the Majority Office of the IDB. The best entries will be selected for development into business plans, which will be evaluated to find the competition’s winner.
“The objective of the competition is to create mutually beneficial links between the local economy and the tourism sector through innovative business models that include the majority (low income communities) as suppliers and distributors in the value chains of companies engaged in tourism so that a larger part of the wealth generated directly benefits the community,” said the competition invitation from the IDB.
The invitation also set out the competition deadlines:
- April 9, 2010 – Deadline for submitting a three-page executive summary of entrant’s project and a one-page company outline.
- April 12 – 24 – A panel of judges selects the 10 most promising projects for further development.
- May 3 – June 25 – Chosen applicants continue to develop their executive summaries into business plans. Prior to this, they will attend a workshop that will give additional instructions.
- July 23, 2010 – Finalists present their business plans to a panel of independent judges and up to three companies awarded consultancy services.
The competition is open to the Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. Entries should be sent in PDF format to om-idb@iadb.org. Further information may be obtained at www.majoritymarkets.org or by emailing om-idb@iadb.org.
