Invest Saint Lucia officially launched BOOST on September 30, 2020 at the Finance Administrative Centre in Pointe Seraphine, Castries.
BOOST is a virtual incubator and accelerator programme powered by Startup Space. Invest Saint Lucia has spearheaded this project over the past two years and worked towards the launch together with a task force made up of agencies Export Saint Lucia, Small Business Development Centre (SBDC), Saint Lucia Development Bank (SLDB), St Manufacturer’s Association, National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC) and the St. Lucia Coalition of Service Industries.
At the launch, BOOST project coordinator, Mr Dave Headley, started, “Today marks significant development for our entrepreneurship space. Despite the many challenges we faced, BOOST is the first of its kind in Saint Lucia: a virtual community of strategic partners, startups, entrepreneurs, and business minded individuals working together to transform the entrepreneurship landscape even further. And by extension it will catalyse the innovative culture that thrives on island.”
We want to connect ideas to investors, we want to connect business-minded people to information, we want to connect innovation to expertise, we want to connect research to service”
Mr Headley explained that as part of Invest Saint Lucia’s mandate to stimulate local economic growth, BOOST was commissioned by the Board of Directors to fill in the gap between entrepreneurs and access to services that can carry them to success. He continued, “Startup Space provides the opportunity for communities to come together and share substantial information, find key resources, and support and build businesses all from the touch of your electronic devices. BOOST features include a personal profile for all users, community forums for conversations, interactive learning platforms, a curated collection of local resources and a comprehensive community events calendar which many of our stakeholders will take advantage of.”
Finally, he emphasized the overall role BOOST will play in Saint Lucia, “We want to connect ideas to investors, we want to connect business-minded people to information, we want to connect innovation to expertise, we want to connect research to service, but most of all we want to connect entrepreneurs to entrepreneurs and we want to bridge the gap between a businessperson and all the organisations and agencies who can take them to success.”
Source/Image Credit: Invest Saint Lucia
