NCB ICON Lab Hosted The First-ever Hybrid Ideathon in Jamaica

Washington, D.C. August 14, 2020.- The Trust for the Americas, with support of The Mico University College and the N.C.B. Foundation, hosted the first-ever hybrid ideathon at the NCB ICON Lab in Jamaica.

NCB ICON Lab promotes an entrepreneurial and learning mindset for Jamaican youth to become referents and change agents in their communities. ICON is an acronym for Innovative, Creative, Outstanding, and Nationalistic.

Twenty young students between the ages of 16 and 35 participated in this idea acceleration event. These students sparked their innovation and entrepreneurship skills using the Trust´s flagship Ideathon Methodology: ICI (Innovation, Creativity, and Inspiration). Their ideas will support the local economy in a socially distant environment and promote the use of waste materials productively to take care of the most vulnerable communities within Jamaica.

Students present at the NCB ICON Lab worked with those remotely through online breakout sessions. As a first step, each group formulated as many ideas as possible. Then, participants had to think of what situation they are most fed up with, in their day-to-day as a means to understand the most pressing issues Jamaican society face during the pandemic. Furthermore, each group had to filtrate their ideas according to its feasibility, impact, relevance, and differentiation. Finally, the idea that successfully meets these four elements is the one to be developed into a service or a product by using the Canvas Model. 

Thalia Lyn, Chairman of the N.C.B. Foundation, highlighted the importance of these initiatives of the NCB Icon Lab to avoid considering the lockdown as a lockout for the people. She finalized her intervention, inspiring the enthusiastic students by calling them to: “Be disrupters, always be agile and keep stretching your minds. You are the innovators for the Jamaican 2030 project.”  

Linda Eddleman, CEO of the Trust for the Americas, attended the introductory session to support the participants “After weeks of taking your online classes, you are beginning to identify different possibilities of ways to improve businesses, processes, and solutions to every-day challenges. Today, you can materialize these ideas and turn them into viable actions and solutions, let your imagination flow. Because of the passion and results-driven mindset that I have witnessed in Jamaican youth, I am certain we will see remarkable projects and ideas come up from this Ideathon.”

At the end of the second day, participants presented and defended their ideas before a jury. These business initiatives will be accessible next month.

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About The Trust for the Americas: 

The Trust for the Americas is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization affiliated with the Organization of American States (OAS). It was established in 1997 to promote public and private sector participation in social and economic development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our initiatives, implemented through local partner organizations, seek to improve access to economic opportunities as well as to foster innovation in vulnerable communities in the hemisphere. To this end, The Trust also promotes social inclusion and good governance. The Trust has offices in Washington, D.C., Colombia, and Canada. 

More information: www.trustfortheamericas.org  

Facebook: The Trust for the Americas  Twitter:   @Trust4Americas