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The Program Talent and Innovation Competitions of the Americas (TIC Americas), is a platform and business accelerator for young entrepreneurs to foster their business ideas and startups. TIC Americas differentiates itself from other existing business plan competitions by incorporating "before and after" phases, providing training and mentoring, as well as follow-up, investment linkages, and promotion opportunities, among others. The goal is to identify and support innovative and sustainable solutions that have potential for growth through international validation, visibility and networking. The TIC Americas Finals has proven to be a major showcase that allows entrepreneurs to consolidate their businesses. TIC Americas aims to foster progress towards greater social and economic inclusion in the region.
The registration to participate in TIC Americas has no cost. All registered participants will have the opportunity to access the Business Opportunity Online Training Camp (BOOT Camp). The aim of the BOOT Camp is to provide teams with tutorials and tools that will help them develop their business plan and/or project plan.
The BOOT Camp is a virtual training platform to connect young entrepreneurs with technical and business experts. The BOOT Camp will be available to participating teams for support in the development of their idea and plan. Through the coordination of YABT, private sector experts, including PepsiCo employees, and entrepreneurs, will be connected with the registered teams of young entrepreneurs to support the development of a practical strategy for the design and implementation of their business solutions.
Since 2009, TIC Americas has included the Eco-Challenge, co-organized and sponsored by PepsiCo, a special award category within TIC Americas for business projects or ideas which promote Sustainable Development in the Western Hemisphere.
This year, the Young Americas Business Trust (“YABT”) and PepsiCo Inc. (“PepsiCo”) are calling for young entrepreneurs in the Americas to come up with solutions to address 2 specific priorities: I) Education; and 2) Technology, responding to the PepsiCo Positive (pep+) Principles.
TIC Americas has three stages:
Call for applications:
Young people from the OAS member States and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and its Associate Member States, have the opportunity to respond to a specific category challenge and address the priority they consider more suitable to the project they have developed.
Semifinals:
The Semifinals consist of the evaluation and selection of all teams that meet the requirements according to their category while going through training that enable them to improve their business models. At this stage, the teams that will participate in the Finals of TIC Americas will be selected.
Only teams that have completed and submitted all requirements will receive feedback from the organizers.
An Evaluation Committee will score the participating teams according to the evaluation criteria of the competition. Due to the high number of participants, YABT and its partners will publicly announce the Finalists through their official websites. Only Finalist teams will be contacted by a YABT representative.
Finals:
TIC Americas Finalist teams will make their "pitch" to a International Evaluation Committee, following the presentation structure of the competition in the Finals. Finalists also have the opportunity to showcase and promote their product or service to the OAS Member States and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and its Associate Member States. TIC Americas Finals combine the talent and innovation of young entrepreneurs with the knowledge and skills from international thematic experts and the decision-making role of government officials.