Scotiabank announces finalists

Business plan competition

An event planner, a tour operator, a bottled water manufacturer, a videographer and developer of an online barter site are the five finalists who will be competing for $1.5 million in this year’s edition of the Scotiabank Vision Achiever Programme Business Plan competition.
The bank on Wednesday officially announced the finalists during its television show “Money Moves”.
The top three videos from Facebook reactions were Shemar Spencer for Swopp, Shannita Ramnarine for Experience GT Tours, and Natalya Thomas for Aone Events. Two wildcards, Sherwin Bart for Your Waters and Ruth Wilson for Soarers Video Production, were then selected, bringing the total number of finalists to five.
The finalists will be put through an intense business coaching programme by partnering entity ActionCoach from June to August, at the end of which they are expected to produce a business plan using Scotiabank’s free Plan Writer Tool on the Bank’s website.
The winner will be awarded $1 million while the runner-up will receive $500,000. The prize money has been doubled this year in light of the Bank’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
This competition is in collaboration with the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) to promote entrepreneurship. It started in 2014 as a simple business plan competition requiring entrants to use the Bank’s online Plan Writer tool to prepare a plan which was then judged to arrive at the winner.
Over the years, the competition has evolved to include video and television pitch elements to teach each entrepreneur how to pitch their business idea to the public and create more awareness and gather public support for their business.
There were 16 entrants in this year’s competition, several of whom benefited from a free training session by Dr Rosh Khan of the Masterclass Institute.