The University of the West Indies (The UWI) Open Campus and Compete Caribbean are collaborating on a Regional Business Plan Competition targeting entrepreneurs who currently operate or wish to operate within the Community-Based Tourism (CBT) industry.
Entrepreneurs from Compete Caribbean member countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname are eligible to participate.
The Competition is designed to identify entrepreneurs in the sector, and encourage the development of innovative, community-driven ideas with potential for expansion and increase community-based enterprises. The competition, which opens on Tuesday, 25 January 2022, and closes on Friday, 11 March 2022, will be executed virtually. Participants will be required to register at https://bit.ly/3KhjuM0, upload their business plan to an online space and deliver a 5-minute pitch to a panel of judges.
To support entrepreneurs in entering and preparing for the competition, 2 webinars will be convened as follows:
- Competition Launch & How to Write a Business Plan for Community Based Tourism – Tuesday, 25 January 2022 at 10 am AST.
- Business Pitch Workshop – Tuesday, 8 February 2022 at 10 am AST.
The webinars will also facilitate the sharing of targeted consumer research that will assist entrepreneurs in pricing their goods and services.
Prizes will be awarded to participants, with the first prize of US$2,500 in technical support. For information on the competition details and how to enter visit https://www.open.uwi.edu/compete-caribbean.
Community-Based Tourism (CBT) is a collaborative approach to tourism in which community members exercise control by actively participating in the appraisal, development, management, and/or ownership (whole or in part) of enterprises. The business typically provides net socio-economic benefits to community members, conserves natural and cultural resources, and adds value to the experiences of local and international visitors. This includes both community-based tourism activities as well as goods and services provided to the tourism industry by one or more members of the community.
The UWI
