Nine local entrepreneurs are set to compete for a share of US$75,000 ($9.3 million) in cash and prizes in the PitchIT Caribbean Challenge mobile application business competition.

The tech entrepreneurs, who were selected from nearly 80 entries from across CARICOM, include nine teams from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and two teams from Barbados.

Also competing is a team from Dominica, St Kitts & Nevis, Guyana and St Lucia.

The finalists will pitch to a panel of judges and an audience of regional and global investors at the Montego Bay Convention Centre next month. Thereafter, five winners will each be awarded a coveted spot in PitchIT Caribbean business accelerators located in Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis and Trinidad & Tobago, as well as US$5,000 in seed funding to develop their businesses.

The business acceleration service includes mentoring by business and technology experts, networking opportunities, working space and facilities, expense-paid trips to international conferences and competitions, intense product development and investor readiness training.

Commenting on the process and the selection of finalists, project manager Bianca Welds explained that “tech entrepreneurs, both those in our programme and the wider CARICOM, responded very well to our invitation to the challenge. In fact, it made our job of selecting 25, from the nearly 80 entries, very difficult, but we believe that the finalists are strong and that the showcase in June will be exciting.”

The finalists by country include Medi Revu and Caribbean Transit Solutions from Barbados; Dominican-based LinkUp Group; Directory.Gy from Guyana; Bookfusion, MekUp, Samelogic, Pandosoft, GetThere, ClickPage, Eventah, EducaTours Ja and Mobile Money Solutions from Jamaica; Ash.co from St. Kitts & Nevis; FARMS from St. Lucia; Wanderscape, Kewplus, Software Interactive, Wallet, Injury Care Utility (ICU), Caribbean Treasure, Drop and Lifeball Technologies from Trinidad & Tobago.

The PitchIT Caribbean Challenge is an event in the PitchIT Caribbean Programme under the Caribbean Mobile Innovation Project (CMIP). The CMIP is part of the Entrepreneurship Programme for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC) and is executed by a University of the West Indies Consortium consisting of UWI Consulting Inc, Mona School of Business and Management (MSBM), and the Mona Business Support Services (MBSS).

Funded by the Government of Canada and executed by the World Bank, CMIP aims to develop the mobile app development ecosystem by bringing together mobile app developers, financiers, investors and industry players to accelerate the development of mobile app start-ups in the Caribbean.