Vision to Reality: the Start-up Challenge

Overview
The Vision to Reality – Start-Up Challenge is a collaborative initiative with the JA Jamaica. This competition features eight (8) weeks of engagement and training for participants to build out their idea into a viable business venture. Participants will be invited from four (4) countries in the Caribbean region – Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados and Guyana. At the end of the timeframe, the competition will be hosted where the top 3 entrants from each country will compete in a pitch competition. 

JA Jamaica is a registered non-governmental organization and a member nation of Junior Achievement Worldwide, the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating students about work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy through experiential, hands‐on programs. JA’s programs help to prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs that make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace.

Competition Prizes
The top three (3) teams across the entire competition (all 4 participating countries) will be awarded seed funding to be used as contribution towards starting up or developing their business.

Application and Registration
For the overall competition, registration will be accepted from 50 participants per country. Registration opens on June 5th, 2021 and closes June 30th, 2021 or when at full capacity. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance into the competition by July 2nd, 2021.

Registration is free.

Competition Rules

1. Participants may enter as individuals or a team of up to five (5) members.
2. Each individual or team may enter only one idea or concept.
3. Pitch competitors may participate on only one team.
4. Each individual or team must attend 80% of the preliminary sessions to be eligible for selection in the pitch competition.
5. Only the pitching individual or the pitching members of a team may pitch to the panel of judges or answer questions from the judges on the day of the competition.
6. The pitched idea or concept must be the original work of the individual or team pitching it. Ideas and concepts deemed by the organizers Junior Achievement Jamaica to be deceptive, insincere, offensive, immoral, or unethical may be screened and disqualified at any stage of the competition.
7. Participants must be no more than twenty-nine (29) years old, as of July 8, 2021. Proof of date of birth will be required.