know that they’re connected to a wider global
community that they can always reach out to,
depending on the challenge or need. We bring
the world to them, so that they can build while
staying in the Caribbean.”THINKING BIG
Selwynis a man of action. “The fi rst thing I always
tellpeople is that we don’t teach entrepreneurship,” he
says.“Wefundamentally believe in learning by doing.”
Inkeepingwith this belief, TEN has been behind some
of the region’s best-known entrepreneurship events and
programmes. It hosts the Caribbean Startup Summit, a
two-day event where entrepreneurs from throughout the
region congregate to network with and learn from each
other. The summit also attracts attendees from North
America, Africa, the UK and Europe who are seeking to
make Caribbean connections.
TEN Habitat is also home to the Caribbean’s only
entrepreneurship-focused hybrid accelerator, where
entrepreneurs are guided through an intensive programme
that allows them to progress from simply having an idea to
developing an investor-ready business in just eight months.
The TEN Habitat approach also encourages
entrepreneurs to view what they do in new ways. “In the
Caribbean we tend to misconstrue the notion of small
business owner, small business or self-employment with
entrepreneurship – but they’re different,” Selwyn says.
“An entrepreneur is an opportunity seeker who is trying
to solve problems with ideas that are scalable. A small
business owner [seeks] to create jobs for him or herself
and his or her family.”
Though he sees nothing wrong with the latter, he
does believe that the confl ation has infl uenced the ways70 | ZiNG CARIBBEAN http://www.liat.com | May - June 2019
TEN
SAYS:
“WE BELIEVE
FUNDAMENTALLY
THAT, IN
ORDER TO BE
SUCCESSFUL,
ENTREPRENEURS
NEED TO BE
SURROUNDED
BY LOCAL,
REGIONAL
AND GLOBAL
COMMUNITIES”in which Caribbean entrepreneursapproachthejourney
of entrepreneurship. “A lot of entrepreneurs come out
having that mindset of thinking small, as opposed to
looking at big problems that require big solutions that
can be solved and scaled.” The methodologies that TEN
Habitat employs help entrepreneurs to focus on creating
innovative solutions to the region’s problems.
For entrepreneurs such as Michael Husbands, Allison
Burnham and Simera Crawford, the TEN Habitat formula
is working. Michael is the CEO of Global Tutoring Hub
(GTH), the creators of PODIUM, an integrated adaptive
online learning platform that delivers personalised course
content. He says it’s thanks to TEN Habitat that he now
has a product. His team’s passion is “transforming learning
based on individual learning styles” and he credits TEN
Habitat with helping to transition his company from a
vision to a reality.
PODIUM is, admittedly, not Michael’s fi rst attempt at
entrepreneurship. “After failing in a startup before, TEN
provided an opportunity to start over and the support to
get going again,” he says. Michael also acknowledges how
integral TEN Habitat’s global network has been, allowing
him and his team to partner with global companies
such as Docebo and Smart Sparrow. “We could not have
done that without TEN,” he adds. GTH has been ranked
in the semi-fi nals and fi nals of several major regional
entrepreneurship innovation and pitch competitions, and
in October 2018 placed fourth among 108 entries at the
ATECH Conference.IDEAS INTO TO REALITY
Allison, whose vegan fast-food company Plant Lyfe
already has a cult following despite not having offi cially
launched, endorses TEN’s ability to aid entrepreneurs’ALL PEOPLE IMAGES: AMLEYA CLARKE