Branson Centre Caribbean welcomed twelve new businesses at its headquarters to join the second installment of its accelerator programme. The 6-month programme equips entrepreneurs with tools to scale their business and provides a pipeline to investment through a group with some of Jamaica’s major sources of venture capital.

Close to 200 businesses from across the Caribbean submitted applications. After a rigorous vetting process, the businesses selected to be part of the first round of the this year’s cohort include: Miss T’s Kitchen, Info Exchange Limited, Elevate Media Limited, Shavuot Farms, Fuzion Foods, Algas Organics, A Taste Of The Caribbean Limited, Novelty Gimmicks, Digita Global Marketing, DCI Solutions, Candy Craze, and Spaces Limited.

Branson Centre has been able to consistently produce results that directly impact the issue of growth in the Caribbean as well as bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and capital investment. Since its strategic shift last year to exclusively support businesses in the scale up phase, 2018 cohort entrepreneurs have seen an average 45% increase in net profit and pitched for over US$5.7

With seven years of experience accelerating businesses, the Branson Centre has established itself as the premier accelerator in the region. “We have created a viable investment pipeline for entrepreneurs in our programme by bringing together one of the strongest groups of venture capital to the table.” said Branson Centre CEO Lisandra Rickards. “Investors include NCB Capital Markets, PROVEN Investments, PanJam Investments, GK Capital and Norbrook Equity Partners. We anticipate significant growth in the ecosystem thanks to their stalwart support toward our unified mission of creating dynamic Caribbean economies”.

Branson Centre Chairman and PROVEN CEO Christopher Williams added “Our entrepreneurs have opportunities to pitch to institutional investors, who represent a majority of the venture capital available in Jamaica who are ready to invest upwards of US$1 million investments in each deal. This strategic move addresses long-standing funding challenges in the ecosystem and gives our partners direct access to investment-ready ventures.”

Branson Centre Entrepreneur Programme Director Dmitri Dawkins stated that seven entrepreneurs pitched to the organization’s group of venture capital investors for deals valued between US$500K and US$2M in 2018. “We focus our efforts to provide services to scale up stage entrepreneurs and increasing our impact through their development; this process has created US$5.7M worth of deals for our investor deal room.” Dawkins said.

Branson Centre defines companies in the scale up phase as those in the J$25 Million – J$200 Million revenue bracket, looking to increase scale their operations, increasing revenue and entering new markets. Entrepreneurs support this growth through increased governance through a Board of Directors and an injection of capital via equity investors. Its high-touch services are delivered to two cohorts each year. The programme is offered across a 6-month period and incorporates rigorous training through business workshops and investment readiness bootcamps sponsored by NCB, as well as support through advisory boards and monthly CEO meetings with heads of industry.