(CMR) Enterprise Cayman has announced that the second annual Cayman Islands Business Design Competition is now open for submissions. Creative individuals, businesses, and entrepreneurs are invited to take part in the high-impact competition to help launch their next innovative business idea.
The Cayman Islands Business Design Competition, sponsored by Cayman Enterprise City (CEC), has been designed to provide Caymanians and residents of the Cayman Islands with innovative opportunities within the CEC special economic zones.
According to the CEC, the competition supports individuals and teams in kick-starting new business products, services, and/or ideas quickly. It provides entrepreneurs and innovators access to professional support networks and significant learning opportunities.
The competition is open to residents of the Cayman Islands over 18 and, thanks to support from CEC, is completely free for all entrants.
“The Business Design Competition is helping to strengthen Cayman’s supportive, innovative ecosystem,” explains Charlie Kirkconnell, CEO of Cayman Enterprise City and Director of Enterprise Cayman.
“The competition fosters knowledge-sharing amongst professionals and helps to drive business innovation. It was thrilling to watch competitors evolve through the 2021 competition – it truly showcased the creativity and entrepreneurial talent that exists in abundance here in Cayman. We’re looking forward to working with the 2022 competition finalists and seeing what projects evolve,” he added.
Participants are invited to compete as individuals or in teams of up to four members. Ten finalists will be selected in early February 2022 to take part in a “Design Weekend” and compete in the “Pitch Day” with the help of professional advisors and a network of seasoned entrepreneurs.
Throughout the competition, finalists will participate in a series of business-focused workshops and work towards prototyping their projects and showcasing their idea in front of a live audience and panel of judges at the beginning of April.
The ten finalists will compete for $14,000 in cash prizes, sponsored business services packages valued up to $10,000, and three competition awards, including the “Community Impact Award,” the “Creativity Award,” and the “Project of the Year Award.”
The competition utilizes design thinking, a five-phase process to help reduce the risk of bringing new products, services, or features to the market. Judging criteria include creativity, potential, feasibility, maintainability, desirability, and impact, which are the core lenses of innovation.
The 2021 competition winners included Ryan Zhu’s Z Academy who won the “Community Impact Award” award; Tricia McDoom’s Kizen Law, who won the “Creativity Award”; and Danner Taylor Nelson, Kirk Douglas, and Valery Davis from BizHub, who took home the “Project of the Year Award”.
“We are so grateful that we got to participate in the first-ever CEC business competition and that we got chosen as the business of the year,” said Valery Davis from BizHub, who took home the “Project of the Year” award. “It is truly amazing to see that the CEC is helping upcoming entrepreneurs like us in the community. The support that we got from advisors of the CEC team and our fellow competitors was very helpful and encouraging. We are more excited than ever and ready to make our business idea become a reality.”
Submissions for the 2022 Cayman Islands Business Design Competition are now being accepted. Members of the public are invited to attend an online information session which is set to take place Thursday, 16 December 2021, at 12:00 pm. For competition details and to apply online, visit www.designsprintcayman.com. For more information, email [email protected].
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