About the NBMC

Introduction and Overview

In 2013 three of the major Jamaican Universities comprising: the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTECH), through the Joan Duncan School of Entrepreneurship, Ethics, and Leadership (JDSEEL), the University of the West Indies’ Mona School of Business and Management (MSBM) and Northern Caribbean University (NCU), through the Morris Entrepreneurship Centre, embarked upon a noble project to promote entrepreneurship through a National Business Model Competition (NBMC). This competition was spearheaded by the team of universities with the goal of entering the winner of the national competition in the International Business Model Competition (IBMC 2014) in Utah, USA.

In 2016, Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts joined the NBMC and in 2020, the College of Science Agriculture and Education was add bringing to five the number of universities participating in eh NBMC.

The competition, specially designed to encourage and promote the creative and innovative thinking of students, facilitate local entrepreneurial skills and enhance collaboration and communication between the private sector stakeholders and education. The competition hopes to cultivate the establishment of more creative enterprises and promote innovative businesses in Jamaica.

In addition to creating a pipeline of potential entrepreneurs, further benefits of an investment in a national business model competition include:

• Creating a platform for experiential learning and the honing of entrepreneurial skills.
• Building valuable networks, among team members, mentors, judges, and the investment community.
• Increasing visibility of entrepreneurial opportunities and innovative thinking to a mass audience.
• Attracting and emboldening local aspirants to contemplate and venture into the world of entrepreneurship

In the implementation phase, a multi-stage approach was adopted to the overall preparation of a Jamaican team to participate in the international competition. The stages include:

1. Intra-university competitions, to select three to four teams each, to represent their respective institutions.

2. The National Competition among the universities to select one representative to represent the country.

3. The International Competition.

The three final winning teams are given the opportunity to convert their business to reality through prizes in cash and kind.

Founded on the existing tradition and experience that the University of the West Indies (UWI) has developed with “venture competitions”, it was agreed that the UWI should play a leading role in the execution of the initial multi-stage event by being the host university. In so doing, the UWI extended, where feasible, support to the other universities in the execution of their internal events. As a result of the shared national vision for the outcome of the process, the spirit of collaboration was exemplarily and remains strong among the universities.

For the initial two years (2014 & 2015) of the competition, the prizes for the NBMC were sponsored by Mr. Paul Ahlstrom of AltaVentures Group, Utah, USA, and Mr. Joseph Matalon, Chairman of the ICD Group of Companies. Together, they have sponsored prizes amounting to Four (4) Million Jamaican Dollars to the winners of the competition.

The NBMC initiative was announced at the Venture Capital Conference hosted by the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) in September 2013.

The Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ), along with the three universities, the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), and the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), all collaborated to facilitate the execution of the first competition and continue as stakeholders going forward.

The National semi-finals and final competitions are held annually during March.  The International competition is scheduled for early May annually and rotates between BYU, Stanford, and Harvard universities, USA.

Our Sponsors: 2014 – 2019
Since the inception of the first NBMC, our sponsors have faithfully contributed to the success and sustainability of the competition.  The Table below shows sponsors over the years. 

Winners:  2014 – 2019 – NBMC & IBMC
The winners of the local competition over the years have been:

The impact of the NBMC over these past years, both at the university level, and nationally, has been tremendous.  A number of the teams that entered the NBMC are now fully operational and have progressed very well; some have won awards, grants, and funding/financing, others have established markets locally (DBJ’s IGNITE, NCB’s Nation Builder’s Award, Scotiabank’s Visionary Awards, Jamaica Observer’s Mogul in the Making, etc.) and internationally.

Our performance at the International Business Model Competition (IBMC)
The performances of the national teams at the International Business Model Competition held in the USA annually have been phenomenal.  Since Jamaica began entering the competition in 2014 the teams’ have been progressive as follows:

How To Establish A Business Model Competition At Your School

• Obtain buy-in from your university/institution management, academic, and staff.

• Appoint/Identify a Coordinator or coordinators this/these person(s) will ‘marshal’ the student entrepreneurship movement on your campus.   He/She/Them will also serve as members of the NBMC Steering Committee (under the joint chair of DBJ & POSJ).  Monthly meetings are held between September and March at the PSOJ’s offices.

• Host sensitization sessions with a wide cross-section of students and faculty leaders
• Talk about entrepreneurship and how it benefits the individual, the community, and the nation
• Talk about the various disciplines offered at your institutions and link it back to entrepreneurship and creative thinking.
• Talk about university graduates are future leaders.
• University students need to look at creating their jobs (be your boss rather an employee).
• Talk about innovation and being innovative
• Introduce the Business Model Canvas – a management tool to take business ideas and concepts to reality
• Talk about the National Business Model Competition (NBMC) held in March annually – offer attractive prizes and participants get the chance to represent Jamaica at the International Business Model Competition (IBMC) held in the USA, the first weekend in May annually.
• Talk about ideation and how to generate ideas (look to solve a pain, e.g. look at Jamaica there is a tremendous amount of pain that needs to be solved.  Suggest that they form groups (2-5) to build teams to look at these problems and solve them using the Business Model Canvas.

• Host Boot camps with the teams and students to drill down the elements of business:
• Marketing
• Sales Techniques
• Customer segmentation & Customer Relations
• Channels of Distribution
• Key Resources
• Costing
• Financial Projection

• Host an internal competition/pitch event (this must be held by mid-February) to decide on the top three winners, who will represent your university at the National Competition. Prizes are provided by the DBJ as follows:
• First - $100,000
• 2nd - $75,000
• 3rd - $50,000

Internal competition should run October – January annually

• The top three/four teams from each university will participate and compete with other universities/institutions at the national level in March for prizes as follow:

• National winner:         $2 million & an all-expenses paid trip to IBMC
• First Runner-up:        $1 million
• Second Runner-up:    $500,000
• Third Runner-up:       $200,000
• Winning University     $300,000

Important Links

International

• https://www.businessmodelcompetition.com

Participating Universities:

• https://www.uwi.edu.jm/msbm
• https://www.ncu.edu.jm/mec
• https://www.emd.edu.jm
• https://www.utech.edu.jm
• https://www.case.edu.jm

www.facebook.com/nbmcjamaica