Past awardee shares tips on applying for the DBJ’s IGNITE Grant
Thinking about applying for the DBJ’s Ignite Programme but not sure if it might be for you? Melarka Williams, past beneficiary of Ignite’s J$7 million dollar grant received funding for his business, Ingenuity Technologies. He appeared on #MoneyMovesJa and told us what it was like being a part of the programme.
Ingenuity’s ISurvey
Ingenuity is a digital transformation firm that helps companies to go digital so they can automate their systems and processes and be more efficient. Williams explained, however, that they also have a subsidiary company called The Hive Freelancing, which is a job site for persons to seek opportunities for higher income.
“Our aim is to become like the Fiverr or Upwork of the Caribbean,” stated Williams. “So it’s digital jobs, IT jobs, engineering, marketing, any job that you can do with your Internet and a computer,” he added.
Ingenuity is a seven year old company, that was only two years old when it was chosen for the Ignite program.
“We had a new product at the time that we were trying to bring to market… It’s a digital product called Isurvey,” stated Williams . The idea was developed to digitalize the whole process of collecting surveys and analyzing data. DBJ’s Ignite program provided the funding that brought their product to life.
“It was an amazing experience, a lot of mentorship and a lot of coaching, a lot of reporting to put in place structure so that really made the experience really good,” stated Williams.
Lengthy application process
Williams emphasized that after its selection for the IGNITE Program, Isurvey experienced significant growth in both revenue and profitability.
“I found the application process a bit too long and it really took us a long time to fill out, but once we filled it out and submitted it and got accepted, we really didn’t get much challenge at all,” he explained.
“Scalable and exporable”
According to Williams, some of the key components that can help businesses to be chosen for the program are revenue, net profit, and staff growth. According to Williams, Ingenuity grew two to three times after being selected for the programme.
Melarka advised those who apply to ensure that their business has a unique product and that the product is scalable and exportable.
“One of the ideas behind the program is that they want to have businesses that are very scalable and can actually create a lot of jobs so the economy can actually grow,” he explained.
Evidently, participation in the IGNITE programme has increased business knowledge, created valuable networking opportunities, and fostered expansion into new markets for entrepreneurs. Maybe you can be a beneficiary in this new cohort. Interested applicants can apply at thinkBIGEE.com.
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