NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Thirty entrepreneurs from around the region have completed the first phase of the highly competitive Kanoo Innovation Hub (the Hub).
The top candidates of those entrepreneurs will be announced today with the group to move on to the second phase of the Hub, according to a press release.
Hub participants range in age from 22 to 62 and span a wide range of sectors including ICT, hospitality, cyber-security, education, tourism and hospitality, and agribusiness.
In addition to The Bahamas, the cohort includes founders from Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, St Lucia, British Virgin Islands, Barbados, Chile, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the United States.
Supported by advisors from Arrowlynk, the students attended an array of exciting virtual classes facilitated by Draper University in Silicon Valley.
One student praised the “invaluable content” of the classes, which he called “most enlightening.”
These master classes have covered a broad range of subjects designed to help the founders innovate, including sessions on harnessing the power of Web3 for business, blockchain and online community building, sales and growth, how to value your company, and business modeling.
The DraperU presenters are successful serial entrepreneurs who have walked the startup path and have turned their startups into successful businesses.
Demo Day
Today has been dubbed “Demo Day” as it marks the completion of the first stage of the multi-round accelerator.
Davinia Bain, Co-Founder of the Kanoo Innovation Hub, said the milestone represents proof of concept for the Hub.
Bain said: “It’s easy to talk about innovation. It’s become a buzzword all around the world, particularly in regard to business startups and disruptive entrepreneurship. It’s another thing entirely to watch innovation unfold, and that’s what we’re doing here at the Kanoo Innovation Hub.
“Not only are we helping our startup participants to innovate, but we are innovating ourselves. Demo Day is bound to be exciting for us, if only because we’re proving that innovation is alive and well in our region.”
Nicholas Rees, Co-Founder of Kanoo Pays, added: “What we are doing here is almost unprecedented. The incredibly high level of participation and the amazing business ideas and innovations we’ve seen from around the region tells us that the Caribbean is quite possibly the next frontier in terms of business innovation, and we’re on the cutting edge of that frontier right here, right now.”
For his part, Khalil Brathwaite, Co-Founder of Kanoo Pays and member of the Hub’s Board of DIrectors, shared opportunities for early investors.
“The Hub is a brilliant opportunity for early investors to get eyes on what we anticipate to be extremely lucrative and successful startups,” he said.
“They’ll get information first, and the opportunity to be hands-on with these startups in the early days. That’s a priceless advantage in the investment world, and we are excited to be able to offer that advantage to our investor partners.”
Brathwaite said: “Demo Day is the first chance we’ll have to show the investing world that we mean business and that our region’s innovators are indeed among the finest in the world.”
A popular saying around the Hub is that “Mentorship is the secret sauce.”
Bain and Brathwaite both referred to the distinguished panel of key acclaimed businesspersons from around the region who have already committed to mentoring founders.
Bain added: “We are looking forward to pairing each candidate moving to the next stage with one of our mentors from around the region. We believe it’s time to unleash the power of our region to innovate in business, and these extraordinary mentors will help our founders do just that.”
