Jodie Dublin-Dangleben from Warner, Jay St. John from Kingshill, and Nafkote Shaw from Pottersville have won the Green Innovations Summit competition put together by the National Development Foundation of Dominica (NDFD). Dublin-Dangleben emerged the first winner, and St. John came second, while Shaw came up in the third position.
Dublin-Dangleben presented a business idea on manufacturing shampoo from waste in order to maximize waste management. St. John floated an idea of Aquaponics where carbon and ecological footprint are near zero; and Shaw’s idea centred on a new technique of creating compost for fertilizer. The contestants were rated on how their business ideas could be impacted by financial sustainability, innovativeness and business viability, marketability and marketing plan, as well as environmental sustainability.
Dublin-Dangleben said the competition was very stiff and that all participants at a good shot at winning. She said the contestants developed ideas that ranged from carbon footprint, energy efficiency, water conservation, and renewable energy among others. St. John went on to add that he enrolled for the competition to discuss how his ideas could work out for a greener Dominica.
“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,” Shaw said. “Entrepreneurs need to take part in these events to get an experience that will build them for the business world since it is not an easy-going area. I signed up to get the exposure, to help form my business plan and to help with the building of a resilient healthy nation.”
The NDFD said it will work closely with the winners to fine-tune and launch their business ideas; and that it will also follow up with the other contestants to help develop their entrepreneurial innovations.
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