GHS student commended in first ECCU Business Innovation Contest

Raeisa Byron-Cox of the Girls’ High School is among eleven students from the Eastern Caribbean who have been awarded prizes or commended in the first Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) Business Innovation Contest.{{more}}

The winners were announced by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) yesterday.

The contest formed part of the Bank’s Public Education Programme, aimed at actively promoting economic development of the ECCU.

The contest, which awarded EC$10,500 in prizes, challenged the competitors from across the ECCU to conceive an innovative business idea and submit the concept with a supporting business plan. The winners were then selected from a pool of 157 entries from secondary schools and sixth form college students.

Nadia Browne of the Montserrat Secondary School captured first place with her “Fruit ‘N Fit” idea, a snackette and gym combination, targeting the youth. Nadia’s submission was driven by her concerns about the precarious rise in obesity levels in the region and a drive to help the young people of her community.

Second place winner Keivor Delpleche of the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College, St Kitts and Nevis, was not daunted by a market already awash with bakeries. She impressed the judges with her home bakery concept called “Cravings” specialising in decorative cupcakes for every occasion and classes designed to help pastry enthusiasts enhance their baking skills.

The team of Nia Sorhaindo and Jawole Joseph of the Convent High School, Commonwealth of Dominica, saw a need in their island home and proposed an entertainment centre which they dubbed, “The Arts.” The idea, which captured third place, proposed a centre that would be open to all, particularly the youth, and provide an environment where aspiring artists could express themselves through visual and performing arts.

Seven other students received commendations for their entries: Claytifa Samuel of the Antigua Girls’ High School; Anil Chambers of the Dominica Grammar School; Lexann John of the Grenada Seventh Day Adventist Comprehensive School; Sharese Allen of the Montserrat Secondary School; Shervey Alphonse of the Castries Comprehensive Secondary School, St Lucia; Ashana Brookes of the Cayon High School, St Kitts and Nevis and Raeisa Byron-Cox of the St Vincent Girls’ High School.

The contest formed part of the Bank’s discovery exercises to identify areas in which capacity building was needed in terms of entrepreneurship and innovative thinking, which are critical to the growth and development of an economy. As a result, the ECCB will use the observations made by the judges of the competition to develop sessions designed to address the gaps found in the students’ submissions.

St Vincent Girls’ High School submitted the most entries (129).