Atario Mitchell (President of Bahamas Striping Group of Companies), Sebastian Bastian (CEO of Island Luck and founder of OWN Bahamas) and Mervin Sweeting (CEO of Switcha Bahamas Ltd.)

Nassau, Bahamas: Thursday March 5th, 2015 at the British Colonial Hilton, Island Luck and it’s IL Cares Foundation announced the official launch of their new community imitative OWN Bahamas.

With a tremendous turn out of more than 500 attendees, OWN Bahamas could not have launched at a better time.

OWN is an initiative focused on offering entrepreneurial opportunities for persons who have new and exciting ideas within existing or new industries. These individuals display the desire and motivation to own, manage and operate a start-up, but may lack the support and capital to fund the business themselves.

“Our main goal is to assist Bahamians with the financial support, mentorship, and business know-how, while helping to remove other barriers that may prevent small start-up businesses from succeeding”, said Sebastian Bastian, CEO Island Luck.

“ The OWN Program and Grant Fund was created to promote economic development, and was designed to support the acceleration of the Bahamian economy,” CEO Bastian continued.

OWN’s primary focus will be to offer a semi annual contest and program, in which two successful candidates will have the opportunity to travel to the Canton Trade Fair in Guangzhou, China. There they will have the opportunity to learn and conceptualize new business ideas. The OWN selection committee will select ten successful recipients who will be awarded with grant capital to fund their selected business venture.

In total, ten candidates will be selected: two successful recipients will be awarded grants in the amount of $25,000.00 per recipient and the opportunity to attend the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, China. In addition to the Canton Fair grants, the remaining (8) selected recipients will be given a smaller grant in the amount of $5,000.00 to assist with starting their business. All grant recipients’ will receive a prize package from OWN’s Corporate Partners: BTC, The Nassau Guardian, Star 106.5FM, HOT 91.7FM, Guardian Radio and United Sanitation, along with enrollment into the How to Manage a Small Business Certification course offered by OWN’s Education Partner The College of the Bahamas.

In attendance at the OWN Bahamas official launch were: the RT. Hon. Perry Christie, Prime of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and delivering remarks were, the Hon. Jerome Fitzgerald, Minister of Education and Lorraine Bastian Jones, Director of CEES at the College of the Bahamas. The program’s lineup also featured video testimonials by Atario Mitchell President, Bahamas Striping Group of Companies and Mervin Sweeting CEO, Switcha Bahamas Ltd.

“The OWN Bahamas program’s design and structure is comprised of the tools all new entrepreneurs need to build a successful startup. Our program will teach them how to adapt to change, grow their business and gain traction. This is an amazing venture for our organization and an even greater opportunity for Bahamians to take advantage of” stated Adrianna Fox General Manager, Island Luck.

OWN’s application process is now open and all interested applicants can now apply directly online through the www.ownyourbahamas.com. For all questions and queries, candidates can direct them to info@ownyourbahamas.com. Island Luck’s team is proud to offer this new imitative to their fellow Bahamians and urge the community to take advantage of it.