Global Entrepreneurship Week SXM 2022 Closes with NYP22
Seven teams pitch to win ANG 10 000 at Finals of the National Youth Pitch Competition on Nov. 20
GREAT BAY, St. Maarten — Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is the largest entrepreneurship campaign in the world with national hosts in more than 180 countries and 20 000 local partner organizations. Powered by the Global Entrepreneurship Network and with support of Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, GEW 2022 celebrates 15 years of promoting entrepreneurship around the world. This year, throughout November 14 - 20th, countries will host activities under the key themes: ecosystems, inclusion, education, and policy.
As a part of the GEW Dutch Caribbean, St. Maarten officially joins Global Entrepreneurship 2022, with Ife Badejo, a local entrepreneurship advocate and founder of Islandpreneur as its host. Entrepreneurs continue to be the driving force of our economy regardless of the variety of challenges which exist.
During GEW Sint Maarten, there will be several activities to emphasize this including a social media campaign, launch of The Islandpreneur Podcast and the finals of the very first National Youth Pitch Competition, where seven teams from seven schools will pitch to win ANG 10 000 and a trip abroad.
The National Youth Pitch Competition is organized by the Ministry of Finance and Islandpreneur and was designed to increase financial literacy among the youth, hone their entrepreneurial skills and cultivate innovative thinking while creating a platform for them to share solutions. All secondary schools have been invited to participate in the National Youth Pitch Competition. On November 20, 2022, seven teams from Caribbean International Academy, Learning Unlimited, Milton Peters College, St. Dominic High, St. Maarten Academy, St. Maarten Academy PSVE, and St. Maarten Vocational Training School will each have two (2) minutes to pitch in front of a jury panel. These jury panelists will have 10 minutes to ask questions and then score the teams. Judges will score based on criteria such as creativity, viability, scalability, leadership, and presentation. The highest scoring team will win ANG 10 000 and an entrepreneurial trip abroad in 2023. In addition, the audience (in-person and streaming) will be able to choose their favorite pitch. The ‘crowd favorite’ will win ANG 2 500.
These teams have gone through a 6-week accelerator program where they have learned more about key components of being an entrepreneur such as gaining clarity on their business model, better understanding their finances, how to do market research and understand their customers, how to measure success and key performance indicators,
Coaches in the accelerator included Michiel Parent, Chief Commercial Manager at TelEm Group of Companies, Sabrina Jno- Baptiste of Data Driven, Vincentia Rosen- Sandiford director of the Bureau for Intellectual Property of St. Maarten, Damien Schmidt, Project Coordinator at the Princess Juliana Airport and the Minister of Finance, Hon. Ardwell Irion.
On behalf of the team and partners, the organizers would like to wish the community of St. Maarten a productive and impactful Global Entrepreneurship Week 2022. Special thanks go to the Ministry of Finance and TelEm Group of Companies, the official telecommunications provider.
For more information, visit www.islandpreneur.co or connect to Islandpreneur Facebook page (www.fb.com/iamislandpreneur). For inquiries, contact the team at Islandpreneur at hello@islandpreneur.co or +1721-520-0033 (whatsapp).
