The National Development Foundation of Dominica Ltd.(NDFD) hosted their long awaited three-day Green Innovations Summit on June 3rd to 5th with Jodie Dublin-Dangleben of Warner emerging as the winner out of the final eleven participants.
Dublin-Dangleben presented an alternative and innovative way of manufacturing shampoo using shampoo bars instead of bottle, thereby reducing waste materials in the environment.
she said, “The Green innovations summit piqued our interest and I thought that our shampoo and conditioner bars fit seamlessly within the theme of waste management through waste reduction by totally eliminating the use of plastic bottles to house shampoos and conditioners.
The summit was intense but all encompassing, as it touched adequately on various aspects of operating a sustainable business by lowering our carbon footprint, through various energy efficiency and water conservation practices and the use of renewable energy”.
She praised the organization of the summit saying, “The mentorship sessions were well received as they gave much needed insight on sustainable business development and tips on how to improve on our green business idea. I especially appreciated the collaboration and linkages formed among the participants and the team at NDFD. I really hope that this summit becomes a periodic event, not only because of the competition and prizes, but for the wealth of knowledge that can be gained to improve upon our business practices as small and micro business owners as we seek collectively to brand Dominica as the Nature Island. Therefore all we do personally and within our businesses should reflect this. The summit is the perfect start towards achieving this”.
According to her, the competition was very tight since all participants had great and viable ideas. She is happy that all her hard work paid off since she worked tirelessly on improving her idea and her pitch from the start. She further stated that she admires the NDFD for championing the cause of small business owners and lending support both financially and technically. She said she eagerly looks forward to partnering with the NDFD and getting some more technical expertise from them to further improve her shampoo bar idea.
Second and third place went to Jay St. John of Kingshill and Nafkote Shaw of Pottersville respectively. St. John pitched his idea of Aquaponics to help reduce high carbon and ecological footprint in the agriculture industry; while Shaw offered his inventive way of developing compost that can be used as fertilizer.
St.John said, “Placing second filled me with joy and showed me that I have a valuable project. From the first day, the NDFD team welcomed me. I am excited to work with them to bring my project into fruition. I signed up for the Green Innovations Summit to fine tune my idea and discuss with like-minded people on ways to strive for a greener Dominica. During, the four days, I was able to refine my business idea and receive a foundation to operate a green and sustainable business. Each session was worth every minute. The experience and knowledge I gained will be implemented in the day to day operations of my business. I hope the NDFD continues the summit because entrepreneurs can gain a lot from it. I fully endorse the summit and recommend it to my fellow entrepreneurs. There are more green innovative ideas out there and the summit is just the tool needed to discover them.”
Third place winner Nafkote Shaw said, “I’ve never participated in an event of such magnitude and when I won, I felt the encouragement to go at it and make my idea work out to be successful. Entrepreneurs need to take part in these events to get an experience that will prepare them for the business world since it is not an easy arena. I signed up to get the exposure, to help form my business plan and to help with the building of a resilient healthy nation. To the NDFD, I say thank you and I will be contacting you very soon to further this business idea and remove it from the idea stage into the developmental stage. Kudos to the NDFD team and all the sponsors and the mentors for the knowledge imparted. Also, thank you for the prizes. Thank you!”
Some of the main judging criteria were Financial Sustainability, Innovativeness and Business Viability, Marketability and Marketing Plan, and Environmental Sustainability. The participants were also judged on their ideas’ alignment with their respective thematic area of choice, their ideas’ overall applicability, and their presentation or pitching abilities.
The NDFD pledged to continue to work closely with the winners in getting their innovative Green business ideas off the ground. The NDFD also promised to follow up with the other participants in order to extend any help necessary for their continued development as entrepreneurs and innovators.
