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Good practice Imported

UrpreneurPlus — UWI Ventures and Trinidad's Unit Trust Corporation Fund Tiered SME Growth

Trinidad and Tobago · St. Augustine · See the Trinidad and Tobago profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 63% 62/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 2018, the University of the West Indies' venture arm and Trinidad's state-owned Unit Trust Corporation have run a tiered accelerator that gives young SMEs capital — TT$1.75 million split across 8 companies in the 2023 cohort, from a TT$50,000 micro tier to a TT$1 million ju

1.75 TTD million
Total investment, 2023 cohort (2023)
8 companies
Companies funded, 2023 cohort (2023)
50000 TTD
Tier 3 (micro) award per company (2023)
250000 TTD
Tier 2 (small enterprise) award per company (2023)
1000000 TTD
Tier 1 (junior-stock-exchange-ready) award (2023)
UrpreneurPlus — UWI Ventures and Trinidad's Unit Trust Corporation Fund Tiered SME Growth

Details

Promoter
UWI Ventures Limited
Period
2018-2023
Keywords
SME finance, entrepreneurship, accelerator, university-industry

Context

UrpreneurPlus is a joint programme between UWI Ventures Limited (the commercialisation and investment arm of the University of the West Indies' St Augustine campus) and the Unit Trust Corporation (UTC), Trinidad and Tobago's state-owned mutual fund manager, launched in 2018 for local SMEs no more than three years old.

Objectives

Give young SMEs coaching, mentorship, training and tiered capital investment to support growth.

Activities

Participants receive coaching, mentorship and training before competing for one of three funding tiers. At the September 2023 awards, held at UTC's Port of Spain head office, UTC and UWI Ventures announced TT$1.75 million invested across 8 winning companies: five micro-enterprises (Eco Wash, The Fresh Press Factory, Web 3 Academy, Ibis Farms, Better Spaces by Maya-Marie) received TT$50,000 each (Tier 3), two R&D-focused small enterprises (Caribbean Composters, Battery Alchemist) received TT$250,000 each (Tier 2), and one junior-stock-exchange-ready firm (Trinibakes) received TT$1 million (Tier 1).

Results

8 companies were funded in the 2023 cohort, spanning food processing, textiles, agriculture and clean-tech, totalling TT$1.75 million in investment, independently reported by both the Trinidad Express and Newsday.

Conclusions

Coverage of the programme is limited to award announcements; no independent post-investment tracking of the funded companies' survival, revenue or job creation was found, so the medium-term economic impact of the model remains undocumented.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — TT$1.75 million invested across 8 companies in the 2023 cohort, tiered from TT$50,000 (micro) to TT$1 million (pre-IPO).
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — Launched 2018; only the September 2023 award cohort is documented in independent press coverage.
Staffing & skills
UWI Ventures Limited (University of the West Indies, St Augustine), Unit Trust Corporation (UTC)

Conditions for success

  • Coaching, mentorship and training before companies compete for funding
  • A tiered structure (micro/small/pre-IPO) matching investment size to company maturity

Common failure modes

  • No independent post-investment tracking of funded companies' survival, revenue or job creation was found

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

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