Automotive Art Brings Ideas to Light with more Partners helping Entrepreneurs improve
Booming from the success of last year’s inaugural round, Automotive Art launches its 2nd Entrepreneurship Competition (2013) along side two new sponsoring partners, Chefette Restaurants and Signia Financial Group Inc.
Last year saw five lucky winners miles closer to pursuing their business dreams with a shared total of $20,000 in prize money. This year brings competitors even further with a whopping $30,000 in prizes.
Entrepreneurship, the pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources you currently control, continues to be one of the hottest trending subjects worldwide and definitely a topic abuzz in Barbados.
Doug Armstrong (gesturing), CEO of Automotive Art, said that last year’s competition was an overwhelming success, with a total of seventy-four entries being received at the close of the first round of the competition.
“We learnt from last year that there is no shortage of entrepreneurial dreams in Barbados, but what is lacking is a structured approach to bringing these ideas to life.”
He went onto say that he felt the Automotive Art Entrepreneurship Competition was one method of creating such an approach, and that he hoped some success stories could be told in the coming years as a result.
“Of last year’s five finalists, the first prize winner went on to create a new business, while two others used their business plans to refine their embryonic business models, and make them more competitive. In so doing, we hope our approach with this competition inspires people to create new, sustainable businesses in Barbados.”
Automotive Art is a company born from entrepreneurial vision, and has been fuelled by the passion of entrepreneurship for over twenty years. This entrepreneurial legacy is entrenched in the cultural DNA of the company, and has allowed the organization to evolve and adapt from very humble beginnings in Barbados, into a global player.
According to Dereck Foster (Head of Table – Left), Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Automotive Art, “This year, we sought partners in order to build even more incentive into the competition, bringing our total prizes to over $30,000! We are very pleased to welcome Chefette and Signia aboard. “
Ryan Haloute, Managing Director of Chefette Restaurants is delighted to partner with Automotive Art; “We were very excited when we received the call to partner with this innovative project. Having seen the success of last year’s competition, we welcome being part of such a positive initiative as it fits right in with the origins of how Chefette first started.”
CEO of Signia Financial Group Inc., Paul M. Ashby also alluded to the same feelings, “We are proud to help in growing future businesses here in Barbados and applaud the initiative taken by Automotive Art. We look forward to a strong partnership moving forward.”
Mr. Foster ended by stressing that, “Whether you are a University Student, or an independent Barbadian entrepreneur, this competition will give individuals and/or teams the opportunity to work in turning innovative ideas into real businesses, and win some valuable cash prizes that could be put towards turning their entrepreneurial dreams into reality.”
The competition, which was launched on Aug 19th will allow competitors to be judged by some of the top entrepreneurs in Barbados, including Martin Ince, CEO of Foster & Ince, Peter Downes, Managing Director of Profiles International, Joe Ward, Partner BDO, Katrina Sam, Human Resource Management Specialist, as well as Doug Armstrong, CEO of Automotive Art, and Dereck Foster, Automotive Art’s Executive Chairman.
Complete rules and guidelines for the competition can be seen by visiting www.automotiveart.com/entrepreneurship.
