Components of SEED

1. Entrepreneurs and Faculty who deliver lectures, seminars, counsel, mentor and provide advice on a continuous basis.
2. Entrepreneurs’ Forums offered as a co-curricular course aimed at conveying information to the widest audience. Presenters include faculty, members of the business community and representatives from business support organisations. Over 220 persons have received entrepreneurship training for academic credit.
3. Small interactive workshops offer students hands-on experience in the details of relevant activities such as business planning and development e.g. ideation, financing as well as the legal aspects of business.
4. Partnerships and collaborations include inter alia collaboration with established entrepreneurs in the development of viable businesses, projects with other universities and businesses. Two examples of such collaborations include with the University of South Florida and Bitt Inc.
5. A community outreach emphasis allows students to use their SEED skills to assist small or micro-businesses in their communities. Outreach (non-UWI students) participants attend SEED every semester although they are not eligible to participate in the Business Plan Competition. SEED, in turn, plays a major outreach role in entrepreneurship development activities in Barbados. SEED plays an active role in national development through small business development, We Gathering Open for Business, the Financial Literacy Bureau etc.
6. Research and Data Gathering tracks students’ involvement and satisfaction with the programmes as well as traces the number of students who become engaged in some aspect of business ownership upon graduation. A tracer study is currently being initiated.
7. The UWI SEED CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank Business Plan Competition gives graduates of SEED an opportunity to jump start their businesses by developing and presenting feasible business plans to a panel of judges consisting of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, local businesspersons and faculty. The Competition is sponsored by CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank as part of its commitment to supporting and developing UWI students around the region. The sum of $240,000 has been disbursed among forty start-ups since the competition’s inception. The majority of these businesses are thriving.