KIngston BETA is part of a network of initiatives that’s on a mission to crease the number of startups and success stories coming out of the Caribbean technology industry. It also includes SiliconCaribe.com,
Caribbean BETA, the annual tech conference coming in November,
StartupWeekendJamaica. We believe that access to the Internet can bridge the gap between the information haves and have nots, the opportunity haves and have nots. It’s why everything we do is about showing people that the internet is not just about entertainment but also about entrepreneurship and employment.
On June 21st, 2012 we staged another successful Kingston BETA, just under 100 people in attendance and some startups pitching. What they pitched was in perfect alignment with the panel discussion: Apps Caribe – How can/will mobile apps transform the Caribbean. The Panelists were Matthew McNaughton, Co-founder Slashroots Developers Community; Khary Sharpe, Ceo of Bakari Digital; Bevil Wooding, Internet Strategist/Founder of Bright Path Foundation ( Trinidad) ; Rodney Browne, Ceo of eCaribbean Ltd ( St Kitts) and Tony Eliasz, Head of Mobile Innovation and Entrepreneurship at InfoDev, World Bank. See photo.
So who are entrepreneurs who pitched their ideas?
Name: SlateIt
Description: Blackberry Mobile App to update and manage your Facebook Fan Pages on the go. It’s targeted to social media managers, small and medium sized businesses.
Tech Entrepreneur: Jerome Campbell
Name: LeadsRiver.com
Description: It is outsourced lead generation for freelance Web Designers & Developers.
Tech Entrepreneur: Marc Gayle
Name: Exceed DX
Description: Its an Enterprise Customer Communication Platform that allow medium to large organizations effectively communicate with their customers via multiple channels. These include Email, Printed Documents, Letters and SMS. The system allow users to create document templates, email templates and SMS templates, connect to their business system database and automatically generate messages. Additionally the system has a web portal that allow users to generate complex documents such as contracts, statements etc. It also handles the generation of large number of documents in as a job.
Market: Utilities (Light, Water, Telephone etc), Insurance Companies, Banks and Investment Companies, Government, Legal Firms etc