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VOICES Bi-Monthly Magazine of the University of Technology, Jamaica |

February 2017

28

the Top Anchor Tenant award which went to Dr.

Kavian Cooke, Lecturer, School of Engineering

and proprietor of Naivak Electronics – an

electronic supplies company. The Trailblazer

Award as well as the Top Client of the Year Award

was copped by UTech, Jamaica alumnus Gordon

Swaby, CEO, Edufocal Limited – an online social

learning platform that combines study and play.

Awardees were judged on the criteria of

achieving and surpassing goals and the extent

to which they are making an impact on the wider

Jamaican and global communities.

Miss Dionne Palmer, TIC Incubator Manager

provided the gathering of entrepreneurs,

educators and members of the business

community with an update on the progress

being made by the TIC. Commenting on the

achievements of the graduates of the Incubator,

Miss Palmer reported that over 260 clients have

been nurtured in the residential, virtual and

shared space programmes offered by the TIC

since its establishment. She noted with pride

that graduates and clients have been impactful

on the economy with some having gained

equity and investment in their businesses and

have been recipients of numerous local and

international awards. The Incubator Manager

further reported that the clients of the TIC hire an

average of 2-5 persons, are all registered entities

and generate a combined turnover of $20M on

average per annum. Miss Palmer disclosed that

the Centre is working to strengthen its incubation

programme for greater impact on the economy

and the sustainability of the incubated business

ventures and as such appealed for support

through grant funding, mentorship, sponsorship

and other forms of partnership.

Prof. Rosalea Hamilton, Vice President,

Community Service and Development in her

welcome commended the TIC for its efforts

in successfully carrying out its mission of

nurturing young entrepreneurs at the growth and

development stage of their start-up technology-

based business ventures and asserted that

the awards signify important achievement

milestones. She lauded the TIC for the work that it

has been doing since 2002 in incubating external

start-up businesses as well as business ventures

by students and faculty at UTech, Jamaica.

Prof. Hamilton specially commended TIC

graduate companies Point Global Marketing led

by Javette Nixon who was among eight Jamaican

entrepreneurs who were selected by the US

Embassy in October 2016 to be part of President

Barack Obama’s Young Leaders of the Americas

(YLA) initiative and Tyrone Wilson, CEO, eMedia

Interactive Group who recently partnered with the

University College of the Caribbean (UCC) to offer

a certificate media programme. “These major

milestones affirm UTech, Jamaica’s significant

investment in entrepreneurship education and

signify tangible outcomes of the University’s

commitment to contributing to the capacity

building of a strong MSME sector in Jamaica,”

Prof. Hamilton noted.

Guest speaker, Mr. Loren Edwards, Senior

Assistant General Manager, Retail Banking

Division, National Commercial Bank shared

insights on the imperative of using Information

Technology to transform businesses for success

in a globally competitive environment. He

pointed to the example of Net Entrepreneurs

who profitably use the Internet to manage all

aspects of their businesses, underscoring that

IT is the “backbone of an ever changing world

economy.” Lamenting that Jamaica lags behind

at 83rd position out of 139 countries on the

world ranking of the 2016 Global Information

Technology Report, while countries on top such

as Switzerland, Finland and Singapore have

taken advantage of combining entrepreneurship,

IT and innovation in an effort to develop their

economies, he called on young entrepreneurs to

embrace these imperatives for the sustainability

and success of their business ventures.

Mr. Loren Edwards (2nd left), Senior Assistant General Manager, Retail Banking, NCB and Mr. Dave Wilson (3rd left), Branch Manager, NCB, Matilda’s Corner accept the

award for their company’s “sterling service in support of the entrepreneurial community” being presented by Prof. Rosalea Hamilton (right), Vice President, Community

Service and Development, University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Ja.) at the Technology Innovation Centre (TIC) Client Awards held on Thursday, December 8, 2016.

Sharing in the presentation is Miss Dionne Palmer (right), TIC Incubator Manager.

Cont’d from page 27