Sagicor Foundation last Wednesday presented the winners of its inaugural Sagicor Imagine Awards with trophies and seed money to invest in their small businesses.

The foundation also opened Sagicor Bank SME accounts valued at $500,000, $300,000 and $150,000 for the first, second and third-place winners — Invitokens, Billodex Limited and Castor Fields Farm, respectively.

Invitokens founder and Creative Director Anna Smith said she hopes to use the money to make necessary investments in her wedding and events stationery business.

“Apart from providing working capital, which will lend us flexibility, it will allow us to purchase equipment that will increase our capacity to respond to orders much more quickly,” a news release from Sagicor quoted Smith.

Billodex Limited CEO D’Andre Fraser and his Chief Technology Officer Aundhrae Richardson shared a similar sentiment. “We believe the Sagicor seed money will improve our business by helping us to get past some final hurdles we needed [to clear] to make our product fully ready for today’s market,” said the duo from the soon-to-be-launched ticketing mobile app.

The Castor Fields Farm team members , who are in the conceptualisation stage of their business, were thrilled at the prospect of getting assistance from Sagicor.

“We saw the Sagicor Imagine Awards as the right vehicle to propel us into launching our business, and with Sagicor being one of the leading financial institutions in the Caribbean they would be a fitting partner in this venture,” said the team, which comprises Lamar Dell, Craig Clarke and Najair Pennicoke.

The award was introduced to encourage entrepreneurship and assist promising young Jamaicans who own an existing business or those who have developed a strong new business idea, Sagicor explained.

Winners made pitches to a judging panel of some of Jamaica’s leading business minds, including Richard Byles, president and CEO, Sagicor Group Jamaica; and R Danny Williams, chairman, Sagicor Group Jamaica and Sagicor Foundation.

As part of the selection process, entrants were asked to submit a well-articulated business plan outlining their business idea or concept, growth strategy, and the funds required.

Ingrid Card, vice-president Sagicor Group Marketing, who also served on the panel, is confident initiatives such as this will go a long way to drive entrepreneurial growth in the island.

“It is important that young Jamaicans are provided with opportunities for their small business dreams to be realised,” Card said. “Sagicor Foundation wants to encourage the idea that if you can imagine it, you can achieve it.”

She said it was important for the judging panel that entrepreneurs demonstrated strong business acumen. “The winners were hand-selected based on their solid business plan, strength of entrepreneurial team, and sound, long-term financial goals,” Card said. “The competition was fierce and truly demonstrated the talents of Jamaica’s young people. However, we know we selected the top three who best encompassed all the requirements of a good business leader.”