The Pioneers of Prosperity (www.pioneersofprosperity.org) program has been brought to the Caribbean for the first time this year and is sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank, Legatum, John Templeton Foundation, S.E.VEN Fund and OTF Group.
In winning this award, Spatial Innovision has been recognized for their business model. The company has been featured extensively in the Jamaican press.
Spatial Innovation has been a sponsor of the Kingston College Chapel Choir over the years.
PRESS COVERAGE #1: JAMAICA TRADE & INVEST
http://www.jamaicatradeandinvest.org/index.php?action=news&readnews=542
TOP JAMAICAN SMES HONOURED BY PIONEERS OF PROSPERITY
Jamaican firms Spatial Innovision and Totally Male were declared the country-level winners in Pioneers of Prosperity’s inaugural Caribbean Awards Programme and are both in line to receive US$40,000 (J$3.5 million) grants and a shot at competing for the regional grand prize of an additional US$60,000 (J$5.3 million).
Hotel Mockingbird Hill received an honourable mention and will benefit from US$10,000 (J$890,000) in grant funding. The top three companies bested a local field of 155 participating small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and will join eight other country-level winners and four honourable mentions from across the Caribbean.
Speaking at a special ceremony at his New Kingston offices on July 22, the Hon. Karl Samuda, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, heaped high praises on the companies, describing them as “examples of the highest calibre of entrepreneurship”. He noted that the business community should be encouraged by their success and infused with optimism for the future.
“These companies are really shining examples of what can be achieved with the right level of application…they have distinguished themselves and this will redound to the benefit of Jamaica,” stated Minister Samuda.
Robert Gregory, President of Jamaica Trade and Invest (JTI), stated that his agency was pleased to support Pioneers of Prosperity’s Caribbean Awards Programme, specifically through the efforts of the Target Growth Competitiveness Committee (TGCC), which is housed within JTI. He drew parallels between the mission of TGCC - a support component of the European Union and Government of Jamaica-funded Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP) – and that of the Pioneer of Prosperity Programme in advancing and facilitating the competitiveness of SMEs.
Mr. Gregory pointed out that TGCC is currently involved in executing a nationwide promotional programme called the “Faces of Competitiveness”, which like the Pioneers of Prosperity programme is actively promoting the achievements of some of Jamaica’s finest entrepreneurs.
“And so, when the Pioneers of Prosperity Awards Programme was introduced to us, the TGCC Secretariat inside JTI was quickly ‘out of the blocks’, and has been quite instrumental in promoting the Programme to our business community.”
Ken Hynes, Managing Director of the OTF Group – the international competitiveness consulting firm responsible for implementing the Pioneers of Prosperity Programme, indicated that the awardees best fulfilled the criteria of targeting specific customers and offering a specialised product, being profitable, treating employees as important assets and enriching the communities in which they operate.
“They represent a message that not everything is gloom and doom…they represent a message to the investment community that there are a lot of dynamic businesses and good things going on in the region,” stated Hynes.
Collecting the awards for their companies were Silburn Clarke, President/CEO of Spatial Innovision, Sandra Samuels, Managing Director of Totally Male and Barbara Walker, co-owner of Hotel Mockingbird Hill. Spatial Innovision provides vendor, consulting and implementation services related to land mapping technology. Totally Male is a club spa that offers a full aesthetic upgrading experience for professional men and Hotel Mockingbird Hill is an “eco-chic” boutique bed & breakfast.
Among the persons in attendance were Reginald Budhan, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Gerard Johnson, Country Representative of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Jamaica, Audrey Marks, CEO of Paymaster and Valerie Veira, Lisa Bell, Deputy President of Jamaica Trade and Invest and Valerie Veira, Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC).
The Pioneers of Prosperity Awards is a global programme made up of regional competitions spanning 24 countries in the Caribbean, Africa and Central America. The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were the participating countries that fielded 580 representatives in the regional competition. The grand Caribbean final for the US$60,000 award will be hosted by Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding in Montego Bay on September 11.
The programme seeks to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs in emerging economies by identifying, rewarding and promoting outstanding SMEs who will serve as role models to their peers. It is sponsored by the Multilateral Investment Fund of the IDB, the John Templeton Foundation and the Social Equity Venture Fund (S.E.VEN Fund). Jamaica Trade and Invest has been playing a seminal role in the implementation and promotion of the programme in Jamaica.
PRESS COVERAGE #2: JAMAICA OBSERVER
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/Business/html/20090723T200000-0500_156000_OBS_TOTALLY_MALE__SPATIAL_INNOVISION_WIN_PIONEERS_OF_PROSPERITY_AWARDS.asp
Totally Male, Spatial Innovision win Pioneers of Prosperity awards
BY JULIAN RICHARDSON richardsonj@jamaicaobserver.com
Friday, July 24, 2009
TOTALLY Male Limited and Spatial Innovision Limited were Wednesday named Jamaican winners of the inaugural Pioneers of Prosperity Caribbean Awards.
The two companies, as a result of accomplishing this feat, will each receive a US$40,000 grant from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and will join winners from six other Caribbean countries to compete for the regional grand prize of US$60,000.
Organised by the international competitiveness consulting firm OTF Group, and funded by the IDB and the John Templeton Foundation, the mission of the awards programme is to promote entrepreneurship through small and medium enterprises (SMEs), by identifying successful SMEs in the region. The participating countries are Jamaica, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago.
According to the organisers, there was a total of 580 applicants region-wide, with 155 of them from Jamaican companies.
"We are extremely pleased at the level of participation in Jamaica... it exceeded expectations," OTF Group managing director Kenneth Hynes said at the awards ceremony for the Jamaican country winners at the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce in Kingston.
"It shows the level of entrepreneurial spirit in the country and it also reflects the strength of our local partners, Jamaica Trade and Invest, Jamaica Business Development Centre, MSME Alliance, et al," he added.
To enter the competition, companies had to have annual sales of at least US$500,000.
"We realised in setting the threshold at that amount we were excluding a lot of smaller companies that were very dynamic and successful, but this is really about creating role models for others to aspire to," Hynes told the Observer after the ceremony. "Our hope is that those smaller, more micro enterprises will want to be the next Spatial Innovision or Totally Male Limited."
Totally Male, located on Braemar Avenue in Kingston, offers full spa services to male clients who are pampered by an all-female cadre of trained beauticians.
Spatial Innovision, located on Annette Crescent in Kingston, offers Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning System solutions.
The awards programme is having its inaugural staging in the Caribbean, but it has been staged in Africa since 2007. In that year, the grand prize winner was a horticultural company based in Nairobi, Kenya called AAA Growers.
