Nassau, The Bahamas, December 14, 2021: Business partners, Philip and Denise Poitier owners of Caribay Cuisine, walked away with the 3 rd place prize in the recent Flow & BTC Business InKnowVation Pitch Competition which was held on October 29th. Over 230 businesses entered the pitch challenge vying to win over $15,000 in cash and prizes. In the end, six finalists were invited to pitch their businesses to a panel and the top three were awarded big prizes.
Third place winners, Caribay Cuisine began their business as the country’s first gourmet delivery catering service, and have now evolved into a digital cooking experience attracting locals and tourists.
BTC CEO, Andre Foster stated: “I am really happy for Caribay Cuisine and for all of the other competitors in our recent pitch competition. Every year, we think of new ways to support our small business customers, and we were really encouraged by the amount of businesses taking part in our inaugural competition this year. With the cash prize from their win, Caribay Cuisine is now able to purchase the home vlogging kit they needed to further promote their business. They also received one-year of free broadband service with 600mpbs of speed, a suite of BTC smart solutions, business coaching and a video commercial. We had over 230 small businesses all vying for top prizes and the opportunity to have their businesses showcased on a broader scale.
We were really happy that one of the winners came from The Bahamas. In addition to this big win, Philip & Denise recently welcomed a new baby girl to their family, and we’d like to congratulate them on behalf of the entire BTC family.”
Caribay Cuisine’s co-owner Philip Poitier said: “Right after the birth of our first daughter, we started the first gourmet delivery service in Nassau and our first dish special was lasagna with pound cake and lemonade. We started with $36 in the business and today we’re almost 30 times our initial deposit capital in the business. Since then we moved to an online and boutique catering company catering to up to 250 persons. We are one of the first and only micro gourmet catering companies in The Bahamas and we also do Airbnb online experiences for tourists to teach them how to cook. We were really excited about participating in the pitch competition and
extremely excited to be one of the winners.”
To enter the competition, small businesses were invited to share their best ideas and innovations. They were also asked to showcase how to use digital tools and technology to grow their business and how they would contribute to the community. Entries were judged by a panel that included Nicolas Colette, Chief Commercial Officer for B2B, CWC, Andre Foster, BTC CEO, K. Teneile Simmons, BTC Small & Medium Business Lead, Waldon Russell, CEO, Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation and Knolly Moses, CEO,
Panmedia on behalf of REVUP.
“We’re focused on providing fast and reliable business connectivity for our customers with a suite of new smart solutions including the creation of customized websites with online stores free of charge for our customers. BTC is committed to keeping businesses thriving and growing, and we’re here to help our small, medium and enterprise customers come back stronger and more connected as they rebound from the global pandemic,” Foster continued.
The first place winner was Outland Hurders out of Jamaica, a farmstead creamery and producer of artisanal cheeses. The second place winner, Allegori hailed from Trinidad and Tobago, and is a neuro-therapy company which specializes in focus issues, pervasive anxiety and insomnia.
This was part of Flow & BTC Business’ annual InKnowVation Conference geared towards small businesses. The super-charged four-week conference was held each Friday in October. This year, Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica were added to the lineup. Recording artist, activist and motivational speaker Alison Hinds headlined the Barbados event and Tricia Coosal, president of TT Manufacturers Association was the keynote speaker for Trinidad. Recording artist, song writer, TV star and entrepreneur Grace “Spice” Hamilton was the keynote speaker for Jamaica, and the conference ended in The Bahamas featuring storyteller, coach, motivational speaker and attorney, Natasha Mayne.
Source: Bahamas Telecommunications Company
