Branson Centre seeks start-up entrepreneurs for its training programme
Richard Branson and Virgin Unite-founded Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship – Caribbean (BCoEC) is again recruiting potential and start-up entrepreneurs for Cohort 11 of its Official Entrepreneur Programme.
At the same time, the centre will be reviewing submissions from Cohort 10 later this month, adding to the 86 entrepreneurs the non-profit organisation has supported in growing and scaling their business for positive economic impact since its establishment in 2011.
Just last year, BCoEC launched the region’s first non-academic online entrepreneur skills training programme, Branson Centre Caribbean Online, with hopes of targeting entrepreneurs from Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St Lucia and British Virgin Islands.
Start-up entrepreneurs seeking help with their business model will benefit from an online programme that utilises a mix of technology-driven tools and in-person interaction to deliver one-of-a-kind practical business training to entrepreneurs over a 12-week period, completely free of cost.
The online training programme offers three valuable facets to entrepreneurs: an online community which connects entrepreneurs in a shared learning environment, excellent networking opportunities, and most of all, a condensed business plan known as a business pitch deck which can be used to present their business in a bankable way once the training is completed.
Registering on the virtual platform and completing the 12-week training programme is the first step in gaining access to the Branson Centre’s full suite of accelerator support services. Thereafter, participants’ entrepreneurial skills will be tested through submissions of pitch videos and business pitch decks to BCoEC.
So far, the BCoEC has supported more than 600 Jamaican entrepreneurs in taking their business models off the ground.
— Karena Bennett