Programme launched to expand BVI businesses to wider region

Business owners in the British Virgin Islands are being urged to capitalise on the benefits of the newly launched incubator programme – CaribConnect.

The programme is an online community built by a software company known as Bidx. The programme comes at no cost to anyone conducting or wishing to conduct business in the Caribbean.

A government media release said CaribConnect has assisted 1,000 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), created jobs for more than 7,500 people, and has matched more than $20 million to 130 businesses around the world.

As such, being part of the online incubator provides the avenue to be matched with mentors, investors and financing institutions, the release added.

The programme was officially launched in the territory on June 18.

It is a partnership between the Premier’s Office and the Caribbean Overseas Small and Medium Enterprises (COSME).

“This is a good moment for the SMEs sector,” said Junior Minister for Trade, Investment Promotion and Consumer Affairs, Marlon Penn.

Localized interactive incubation system coming

Meanwhile, a localized interactive incubation system is also coming to the territory, government has said.

According to Penn, in the past month, his team has been working on a series of initiatives to support the business sector on a local level.

“We have started the process of creating our very own interactive incubation system,” he said.

“We are well on our way to make that incubation a reality and we look forward to being able to utilise CaribConnect.net with this set-up.”

Penn called on persons to utilise the free platform to make it more ‘organic’. He said business owners should work collaboratively as much as they can to grow the business sector.