Media Center

Press Release

Young entrepreneurs of the Americas recognized at OAS-supported TIC Americas Awards

The Talent and Innovation Challenges of the Americas (TIC Americas 2013), featuring an exhibition and competition for young entrepreneurs, organized by Young Americas Business Trust (YABT), wrapped up in La Antigua Guatemala today, with Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General José Miguel Insulza, lauding the quality and creativity of the 32 projects selected from among 1,700 entries from Latin America and the Caribbean.

The awards ceremony, held in the lead-up to the forty-third regular session of the OAS General Assembly that opens Tuesday, was chaired by the OAS Secretary General.

Mr. Insulza hailed the talent and innovation initiative for contributing to “the creation of hundreds of new businesses and to the strengthening of businesses in our region.” He said “the 32 teams that were finalists for this edition represent the region’s young people and are a window of talent that once again reaffirms its role in supporting prosperity and progress.”

Congratulating the participants, the Secretary General pointed to a “new generation of sustainable entrepreneurs,” noting the importance of supporting youth entrepreneurship through incubation opportunities, training, business networks, and partnerships.

The OAS Secretary General Insulza was joined at the awards ceremony by Guatemala's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ivan Espinoza; Gabriela de la Garza, Latin America Sustainability Manager of PepsiCo, sponsors of the competition; the Director of Corporate Affairs for the multinational beverage company CBC, Rosa María de Frade; and YABT Chair and founder Roy Thomasson, who endorsed Secretary General Insulza's congratulatory remarks.

Among the finalists in the seventh edition of TIC Americas competition were projects from Chile, Colombia, Honduras, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Guatemala, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. They were selected by an evaluation committee comprising 223 international experts.

The TIC Americas 2013 prize winners were:

Talent and Innovation Category: pptVivo from Argentina and Hivesource from Trinidad and Tobago.

National Talent and Innovation Category (Guatemala): EcoArte
Eco-Challenge Category: Ekomuro H2O+ from Colombia and Courrieris from Brazil.

Eco-Challenge Caribbean Category: Mr. Tallyman's Sun Dried Bananas, from Trinidad and Tobago.

A gallery of photos of the event will be available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-221/13