The St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce & Industry (COCI) has officially closed the registration for it’s first annual “Small Entrepreneur Business Plan Competition”. This initiative is executed in light of COCI’s Business Program for 2015, themed ‘Driving Business Development through Education and Communication’. The competition launched on Wednesday, June 10, 2015 was well responded to. As of the closing of the registration Thirty Six (36) aspiring and existing small entrepreneurs registered for a chance to vie for one of the five (5) categories of prizes; Overall Winner, Best Marketing, Best Brand, Best Pitch and Most likely to Become Successful.
Ms. Nzinga Lake, member of the Board of Directors of COCI and initiator of the project, expressed her gratitude and excitement over the total received registrations and the ambitious talents that are participating in this endeavor. COCI invites all registrants (by invite only) to attend a free workshop on ‘How to Improve Your Existing Business Plan’ on Monday, July 20, 2015 at the University of St. Martin (USM) at 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. During the workshop the participants will receive additional guidance as may be required or desired to enhance their final submission by Friday, July 31, 2015 at the Business Center, located adjacent to COCI’s main entrance.
All submissions will remain sealed until the official opening and judging segment. The finalist will be announced on Tuesday August 4th, 2015. The second round of judging will take place on ‘World Entrepreneurs’ Day, Friday, August 21st, 2015, when the top fifteen (15) contenders will be invited to present their business ideas to a panel of professional judges. The winners of each category will be announced during the Award Ceremony on Saturday, August 22nd, 2015.
COCI encourages the entire business community to exercise their corporate responsibility by supporting these courageous, young and ambitious entrepreneurs. COCI would like to thank the media, in particular Lady Grace and Pearl FM for their outstanding support in promoting the competition.
For more information please contact the St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Business Center, via telephone number: + 1 721 542 35 90/95/93 or email us at: biz@chamberofcommerce.sx
