MPC’s Upcycl Wins National Youth Pitch Competition

The finals of the first ever National Youth Pitch Competition was held on November 20 with seven (7) teams representing 70% of the secondary schools on the Island. Each team pitched in front of five (5) judges vying to win ANG 10 000. The National Youth Pitch Competition was designed to develop financial literacy, hone entrepreneurial skills and foster innovative culture among the youth. These finals, which were held at the Government Administration Building with more than 100 persons in the audience, was also streamed live to the Facebook Pages of Global Entrepreneurship Week Sint Maarten, Islandpreneur, TelEm, and Government of Sint Maarten. It was also streamed live on Youtube and TV 15. An estimated 2000 views was recorded. 

The welcome address to the audience was delivered by Dr. Ife Badejo, project manager of the National Youth Pitch Competition and Executive Producer of Islandpreneur. Dr. Badejo expressed in her opening remarks that entrepreneurship is not only about “making money but making a difference” and sees this project as a real catalyst to further develop the nation. The Hon. Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs also address the gathering along with The Hon. Minister of Finance, Ardwell Irion, who is a collaborative partner in the pitch competition.

All seven teams had two minutes to pitch before the judges followed by a series of questions posed by the judges;  (much like the famous show, “Shark Tank”). Each team brought a sample of their product or a demo of their site or their app. Upcycl from Milton Peters College emerged the first time grand prize winners laying claim to a reward of NAF 10, 000. the organizers also recognized and congratulate Saheli Kirpalani, Disha Daryani, Ivan Wu, and Siddharth Shroff of Smart Hax from St. Dominic High for being the Crowd Favorite and for winning NAF 2 500.00. 

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