Companies to benefit from tech innovation curriculum

Tech Beach’s new venture, TBR Lab, evolved from the entity’s annual series of events in the Caribbean and North America called Tech Beach Retreat (TBR). The program will provide some US$500,000 in value to be allocated to each participating tech start-up based in Jamaica, Barbados, Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago and direct access to insights from the best minds in the world as well as collaboration opportunities for corporates and governments.

Tech entrepreneurs Kyle Maloney and Kirk-Anthony Hamilton, co-founders of Tech Beach Inc, have embarked on this and other massive plans for Tech Beach, a technological ecosystem which connects people and organizations to position partnerships with approximately 60 globally recognized companies.

This, they say, is to mobilize a tech movement of sorts to challenge the status quo and empower businesses in Jamaica and the region for the new digital economy - with the focus on learning, development and deep access resources.

“The TBR network has become even more relevant during this time. Based on the challenges and opportunities presented by COVID-19, large organizations are looking more to tech companies and innovative start-ups to assist in helping them shape the new digital economy and also as a means of diversifying their existing operations,” explained Hamilton.
Tech Beach and its founding partners, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Toronto based, DMZ, and an almost 50-member strong TBR Lab advisory board, remain the driving force behind the network’s varied projects.

Plans for TBR Lab will be revealed during a virtual launch on Thursday, November 12 at 1:30 pm. Speakers include IDB Lab CEO, Irene Arias Hoffman; IDB Caribbean Country
General Manager, Therese Turner-Jones as well as former CEO of Priceline.com and Chairman of Global Entrepreneurship Network, Jeff Hoffman; and DMZ Executive Director, Abdullah Snobar.

TBR’s programmes grant participants access to a unique and diversified community of successful tech entrepreneurs, Fortune 500 corporate executives, influencers, professionals, advisors, partners and technological talent. TBR Lab comprises entrepreneurs, corporate innovators and government which are coordinated through accelerators - designed to equip organizations including start-ups in the region with the access and resources they need, to significantly propel their growth trajectory. Partners include the likes of Google Launchpad, Shopify, Hubspot, Stripe and Amazon Web Services.

“Networking can be tough even in normal times, but today's remote world adds a whole new set of challenges. As businesses adapt to the new reality of remote work brought on by the pandemic, so too will we adapt the social behaviours that enable us to stay in touch and forge new relationships with co-workers, partners, customers, and potential clients,” shared Hamilton.