Small business owners have been encouraged to enter the ScotiaBank Vision Achiever LivePitch 2016 competition, which was launched on Friday in collaboration with the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI).
Jennifer Cipriani, Marketing Manager of ScotiaBank, said the competition has been evolving every year and this year they have included an initiative to help small businesses achieve their vision.
President of the GCCI Vishnu Doerga, who acquired a franchise for ActionCoach, a business training entity, would be working with the finalists in the competition.
ActionCoach would continue to be the business support organisation for individual companies and Doerga wants it to serve as many businesses as possible.
At the launching, awards were presented to two businesses, Oriental Furniture Store and Rid-O-Pes, for being the most improved clients.
Cipriani also proudly announced that the bank has been adjudged by Retail Banker International as the Global Bank with the best digital strategy for 2016.
It was also acknowledged as finalists in two other categories: best use of online banking and best mobile banking strategy.
With regards to the competition, she said business owners are required to submit a one-minute video pitch to her email address: Jennifer.ciprini@scotiabank.com.
The videos would then be posted to ScotiaBank’s FaceBook page on June 30 for public voting until July 15.
The top three pitches will go to the finals, along with two wildcard picks by the judges. The five finalists would then be required to prepare a business plan using ScotiaBank’s free online Plan Writer Tool.
The winner would receive $500,000, the runner-up would be given $250,000 as a start-up business account at the bank and ActionCoach would provide business training to the five finalists.
Cipriani said that the winners would be announced during the week of September 19. She noted that the 2015 finalists have agreed that the ActionCoach training, which covers everything they need to know in business, was more valuable than the prize money, as they were given lifelong ideas of how to make money.
Cipriani said the “training is action-oriented and there is merit in entering the competition and she encouraged business owners to “give it a chance.”
She noted that the bank has partnered with ActionCoach in many other countries and their vision for LivePitch is that it would be the launching path for young entrepreneurs.
Youth entrepreneurship is the way to go and the GCCI, the bank and ActionCoach is doing their part to take it a step further, she said.
The bank also observed its first anniversary for the launching of the competition with the 2015 winners highlighting the successes of their businesses and how they have benefitted from the training.
The winners of that competition were Michael Williams and Valmiki Bankay of Wafugee Inc, while the other finalists were Deslyn Griffith of Extra-vagant Celebrations, Ryon Persaud of The Solution Centre and Justin Roberts of Robbie’s Weed-cutting, Landscaping and Building Maintenance Services. They are currently being coached for the LivePitch television segment by Doerga.
