The Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) and partners would like to thank the young people from the Americas, who have taken the time to register and participate in the 2013 programs geared at entrepreneurial development. Thirty six countries are represented by close to four thousand young people, who are involved in the Caribbean Innovation Challenge (CIC 2013) and the Talent and Innovation Challenges of the Americas (TIC Americas 2013).

The Caribbean Innovation Challenge (CIC) is an international entrepreneur competition and business start-up accelerator for young people, between the ages of 16 and 29, in the CARICOM Member States. The CIC is a program implemented through the association between the YABT and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Barbados and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Sub-Regional Office.

Since June 2012, the CIC, with the support from local collaborators, has trained 1,236 young entrepreneurs through a series of on-site and online workshops and webinars, within the framework of the Youth-IN Entrepreneurship program. There was a total of 7 Business Labs (5-day training workshops focused on business development) organized in 7 different countries and 10 Mini Business Labs (1-day workshops) presented in 8 countries. In addition, 544 young people took advantage of the 14 online webinar sessions. You can consult the videos of the virtual sessions and View detailed list of activities.

Between February and March 2013, over 100 judges and professionals will be volunteering their time and expertise to evaluate projects and provide valuable feedback to participants. For the CIC, Twenty finalists will be announced on March 20th, 2013 for participation in the CIC Finals that will be held in Bridgetown, Barbados, on April 25-26, 2013. At this international event, finalists will have the opportunity to present their projects and compete for the CIC awards in three categories: Social Entrepreneur, Economic Entrepreneur and Environmental Entrepreneur.

The Talent and Innovation Challenges of the Americas (TIC Americas 2013) has become an important support platform for young entrepreneurs aged 13 to 36, citizen of Member States of the Organization of American States. Throughout the first six editions, this program has benefited more than 20,000 young people and differentiates itself by focusing on the preliminary training phase and personalized follow-up support for the participants.

The registration for TIC Americas 2013 closed on February 3rd 2013; we have received close to 1,800 economic, social and environmental proposals that involve over 3,200 young people in the region.

Thirty two teams will be selected to participate in the TIC Americas finals that will take place prior to the XLIII OAS General Assembly on June 2-3, 2013 in Antigua, Guatemala. During the TIC Americas finals, the participants will have the opportunity to present their business ideas and projects to potential investors, participate in personalized training, benefit from national and international media exposure, expand their networks, and last but not least, compete for the TIC Americas award categories.

The following categories will be awarded in the Finals:

Talent and Innovation Award, with participants from all fields.
Eco-Challenge Award, a special award category sponsored by PepsiCo, which focuses on environmental projects.
For more information on the Caribbean Innovation Challenge: www.youthin-cic.net
For more information on TIC Americas and Eco-Reto 2013: www.ticamericas.net