The Tribune

BY DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

FREEPORT – Grand Bahama businessman Elbert Hepburn has introduced a $100,000 ‘Power Five Challenge’ in an effort to help young entrepreneurs start their own businesses and stimulate new enterprises on Grand Bahama.

Mr Hepburn, CEO of Elnet Maritime Company, will give away $20,000 in cash to five budding entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and plans that can be turned into a successful business.

Elnet Empowerment Foundation, the creators of the Power Five Challenge, held an official launch on Sunday evening at Pelican Bay Resort. The challenge will run for four months.

According to Mr Hepburn, the idea for such a challenge came to him in October.

“I woke up one morning and told my wife that I had an idea about bringing a challenge to Freeport to help young entrepreneurs to form companies, because I remember some of the challenges I had in my earlier years as a young businessman,” he said.

Mr Hepburn – who started and formed his own company in 2008 to provide agency services to principals with vessels calling at ports throughout the Bahamas – believes young people are not being given the opportunities they deserve to start their own businesses.

“This challenge can do more than help young business persons financially, but it will empower them and assist them by helping them not to make the kind of mistakes many young people make (when) trying to open a business,” he said.

Persons between the ages of 20-35 may submit their business plan to Elnet Empowerment Foundation, which will select 25 finalists to compete in the challenge.

During the challenge, participants will attend workshops and seminars on business, finances, and legal guidance. They will also be assigned mentors throughout the four-month period.

The finalists would have to design a logo and present their business plan to a panel of judges, who will determine the best five.

Mr Hepburn said the five winners will be announced in May and each will receive $20,000 in start-up capital for their respective companies.

There has been an overwhelming response to the challenge, according to Mr Hepburn, who reported that they have already received well over 60 applications.