What is the Blue Economy?

According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the “sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health”.

 

Sustainable development of Blue Economy would lead to the following results:

  • greater protection for the marine environment
  • increased investment in existing economic sectors
  • the development of new economic sectors based on existing marine resources
  • increased number of businesses operating in the Blue Economy
  • generation of new research, innovation and knowledge about the ocean

 

 

Why is this important?

We may not be able to tell from the surface, but there are many threats to our oceans due to pollution – corals are dying, the ocean is warming and becoming more acidic, and there are too many boats chasing fewer fish.

According to Ocean Unite, “the Ocean provides half the oxygen we breathe, absorbs a quarter of our CO2 emissions and over 90% of the heat from those emissions, puts food on our plates and is home to 80% of all life on Earth. But it is in danger – and so are we. ”

There is still time to recover from this crisis. Branson Centre is doing its part in mitigating these and other issues by offering training to more entrepreneurs like Johanan Dujon of Algas Organics who has created the Caribbean’s first indigenous biotech company.

 

 

What is a Blue Economy Entrepreneur?

These entrepreneurs are focused on tackling the problems facing the ocean and building sustainable businesses that support ocean health in the region.

PRESS PLAY to watch our explainer video ———>

 

 

How does Branson Centre support Blue Economy entrepreneurs?

Branson Centre caters to businesses from diverse industries, including manufacturing, agricultural, digital transformation, tourism and so many others. We are scaling for impact by offering a specialized component of our accelerator programme for blue economy entrepreneurs.

Working with the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator and Ocean Unite, Branson Centre is committed to grow a cadre of blue entrepreneurs, ready to work with nature to fuel a sustainable blue economy in the Caribbean.

 

Application Process

Branson Centre Caribbean will work to scaleup existing businesses that have proven successful in the sector, and partner seed-stage blue entrepreneurs that have the potential to grow the blue economy in the region.

 

What makes this specialized component different is that at the end of the programme:

  • blue entrepreneurs in the scaleup phase will have the opportunity to pitch to our group of investors
  • seed-stage blue entrepreneurs who fall below J$25M – J$200M in gross annual sales will be connected with angel investors for the opportunity to grow their business