Students win big in Diamond Challenge

NEXT GEN Creators have announced ‘Paradise Care’ and ‘Tour Me’ as the winners of the Diamond Challenge in Jamaica.

On Saturday, February 10, 2018 more than 15 teams of high school students pitched their business ideas to a panel of judges at the Diamond Challenge, a concept-based entrepreneurship competition for new ventures by high school students.

The Diamond Challenge is part of the Paul & Linda McConnell Youth Entrepreneurship Initiative launched in 2014. Its purpose is to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurial thinkers.

Students competed f or more than $100,000 in cash and awards that may be used to support their entrepreneurial endeavours or to pursue higher education.

GLOBAL SEMI-FINALS

Paradise Care and Tour Me teams will join other winning regional teams to participate in the global semi-finals of the competition and the Youth Entrepreneurship Summit in Delaware (US). The teams have also received US $1,000 as a seed investment for their concepts, and a travel grant courtesy of National Commercial Bank.

Paradise Care transforms trash i nto treasure. The business supports cottage industry while beautifying the environment and educating the masses on ecofriendliness.

Tour Me is a mobile application designed to connect tourists to tour guides.

This is the second year local non-profit, Next Gen Creators, has partnered with the University of Delaware Horn Programme in Entrepreneurship to coordinate the Diamond Challenge in Jamaica.

Next Gen Creators, is a youth-led non for profit organisation that provides a platform for youth in the Caribbean to explore their skills as innovators and share their ideas.

Since its founding in 2012, the Diamond Challenge has reached more than 3,500 students from 155 schools and 30 countries worldwide. The competition has recently been ranked one of the top 29 best international business plan competitions by Alpha Gamma, a business portal for millennials.