The National Development Foundation of Dominica Ltd. (NDFD) hosted their long awaited three-day Green Innovations Summit last June 3rd to 5th with Jodie Dublin-Dangleben of Warner emerging as the winner out of the final eleven participants. Adjudged second and third place winners were Jay St. John of Kingshill and Nafkote Shaw of Pottersville respectively.
Dublin-Dangleben, St. John, and Shaw all developed and presented business ideas declared the best based on several main judging criteria including Financial Sustainability, Innovativeness and Business Viability, Marketability and Marketing Plan, and Environmental Sustainability. They were also judged on their ideas’ alignment with their respective thematic area of choice, their ideas’ overall applicability, and their presentation or pitching abilities.
Four sets of judges composed of two highly respected individuals in each set representing the four main criteria made the final review and judging of the business ideas submitted and presented by the final eleven participants.
Dublin-Dangleben presented an alternative and innovative way of manufacturing shampoo focused on waste management through waste reduction with her “shampoo bar”. St. John pitched his idea of Aquaponics to help reduce high carbon and ecological footprint in the agriculture industry; while Shaw offered his inventive way of developing compost that can be used as fertilizer.
The Green Innovations Summit was a culmination of many weeks of preparation and careful execution. It was launched on a virtual talk show held on March 27th that was streamed live on NDFD’s social media pages. After that virtual launch, applications poured in from all parts of the country from many aspiring Green entrepreneurs. Registration of business ideas was closed on May 14th.
On May 19th, the NDFD management and representatives from its partner institutions Dominica Youth Business Trust (DYBT) and the National Youth Council of Dominica (NYCD) selected the fifteen entries that qualified from that first stage of selection process. These fifteen applicants proceeded to the second stage of the process called the Idea Lab on June 1st where they got the chance to polish their initial ideas after listening to a panel discussion from experts in the environmental areas whose problems the aspiring Green entrepreneurs intended to tackle. They were also given the opportunity to pitch their ideas to a new set of judges whose task was to select the final ten participants to the formal three-day summit. After the judging process, the judges ended up with eleven participants after a tie was observed.
The selected final eleven participants moved on to participate in the actual summit that started from June 3rd and ended on June 5th.
The first day began with an Opening Ceremony which was attended by the minister responsible for the environment Hon. Cozier Frederick as well as Hon. Denis Charles of the ministry in charge of the small business support unit. The formal summit then commenced with lectures on the legalities of conducting business, business structures and business planning along with a session focused on the ideation and innovation.
The first half of the second day focused on the financial aspect of the business whereas during the second half focused on marketing and customer service. The participants then were introduced to over 10 mentors who coached them on different business-related topics. The mentoring session was intended to help them with the development of their business plan as well as the further enhancement of the feasibility of their ideas.
The final day started with a session on pitching and presentation and ended with the actual presentation in front of the four sets of judges comprising the judging panel. Leading to that, the participants had another intense coaching session with their mentors who helped them prepare for the final pitch.
Interspersed in those sessions were unique sessions conceptualized to transform the participants into well-rounded entrepreneurs like sessions on mindfulness, visualization, and fitness.
The winners were announced at the closing ceremony.
After the Green Innovations Summit, the three winners released the following statements:
3rd Place winner – Nafkote Shaw:
“I’ve never participated in an event of such magnitude and when I won, I felt the encouragement to go at it and make my idea work out to be successful.” He continued, “Entrepreneurs need to take part in these events to get an experience that will build them for the business world since it is not an easy going area”. I signed up to get the exposure, to help form my business plan and to help with the building of a resilient healthy nation”. Shaw also took the time to express his gratitude by saying “To NDFD, thank you I will contact you all very soon to further this business idea and remove it from the idea stage. Kudos to the NDFD team and all their sponsors plus the mentors for the knowledge and in the end a step up the ladder, plus the prizes. Thank you!”
2nd Place winner – Jay St. John:
“Placing in the second filled me with joy and showed me that I have a valuable project. From day one the NDFD team made me feel welcome, I am excited to work with them to bring my project into fruition.’ He went on to say “I personally signed up for the Green Innovations Summit to fine tune my idea and discuss with like-minded people on ways to strive for a greener Dominica. In the four days it refined my business idea and gave me a foundation to operate a green and sustainable business. Each session was worth every minute. The experience and knowledge I gained I will carry it out daily while operating my business. I hope the NDFD continues with the summit. Entrepreneurs can gain a lot from it. I will fully endorse the summit and recommend it to my fellow entrepreneurs. There are more green innovative ideas out there and the summit is just the start.”
Inaugural Winner Jodie Dublin-Dangleben:
“The Green innovations summit piqued our interest and I thought that our shampoo and conditioner bars fit seamlessly within the theme of waste management through waste reduction by totally eliminating the use of plastic bottles to house shampoos and conditioners.
The summit was intense but all encompassing, as it touched adequately on various aspects of operating a sustainable business by lowering our carbon footprint, through various energy efficiency and water conservation practices and the use of renewable energy.
The mentorship sessions were well received as they gave much needed insight on sustainable business development and tips on how to improve on our green business idea. I especially appreciated the collaboration and linkages formed among the participants and the team at NDFD.
I really hope that this summit becomes a periodic event, not only because of the competition and prizes, but for the wealth of knowledge that can be gained to improve upon our business practices as small and micro business owners as we seek collectively to brand Dominica as the Nature Island. Therefore all we do personally and within our businesses should reflect this. The summit is the perfect start towards achieving this.”
Dublin-Dangleben also described the competition as very tight, and as one where anyone could have been successful since all participants had great and viable ideas. Additionally, Dublin-Dangleben stated that all her hard work had paid off since she worked tirelessly on improving her idea and her pitch from the start. She further enthused that she admires the NDFD for championing the cause of small business owners and lending support both financially and technically. She said she eagerly looks forward to partnering with the NDFD and getting some more technical expertise from them to further improve her shampoo bar idea.
The NDFD pledged to continue to work closely with the winners in getting their innovative Green business ideas off the ground. The NDFD also promised to follow up with the other participants in order to extend any help necessary for their continued development as entrepreneurs and innovators.
Heartfelt Congratulations to you!
Thing is Jodie already has an established product on the shelves of most supermarkets for years now. She has had help from a variety of peers and organisations to help do so. No discredit to her for her hard work. She was competing against less developed products and business novices, so it was obvious that she would win.
Many of our young creative producers need the proper guidance. agencies like the Bureau of Standards, DYBT, NDFD and even the Manufacturers Association can assist, if not at least advise young producers to take their products to the next stage of its evolution.
Also congratulations to Jodie on her recent win and keep up the good work on your product line.