Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, has issued a call for budding entrepreneurs to submit ideas that can positively transform the tourism industry, to the Tourism Enhancement Fund’s Tourism Innovation Incubator by October 14, 2022. The announcement was made at the University of the West Indies Regional Headquarters, during the launch of the Ministry of Tourism’s Tourism Innovation Incubator, which will nurture new and start-up tourism enterprises.
The Tourism Innovation Incubator is a business development centre for individuals or entrepreneurs who have innovative ideas that can impact the tourism sector. The initiative seeks to find twenty-five (25) creative ideas in the areas of tourism products and tourism technology and set them on the path the commercialization through the Tourism Incubator Boot Camp.
Executive Director, Tourism Enhancement Fund, Dr. Carey Wallace and Manager, Technology Innovation Centre at the University of Technology, Andrea Bolton-Fyffe share more on Sunrise.
The initiative is open to Jamaican citizens, eighteen years and older with at least one year of entrepreneurship training, who are comfortable with technology and committed to the project. The programme is also open for team entries however, there must be a designated team leader with whom the Incubator will make their point of contact.
Upon the final selection of candidates, the Incubator will offer the following services to the participants to aid in growth and development. These include validation of the lean model canvas and providing research support in this validation and training in pitch delivery. Additionally, candidates will be taught about key topics such as intellectual property and the importance of being formalized through informational sessions among with mentorship and networking opportunities.