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Friday, November 12, 2010

I Tested the Kingston Beta

Members pose for a photo at Kingston Beta 17 floor Jamaica Pegasus
I have heard about Kingston Beta for a while now and have been been invited to their meetings before but for one reason or the other I never got the chance to attend. So This time I made it my duty to be present for their November meeting, especially since this was their last meeting for 2010. But what in Kingston Beta? And why would I be interested in going to their meetings?

Michael Campbell of Virtual Mall Jamaica making his Pitch
According to the Kingston Beta website, it is a bi-monthly networking meeting and a startup pitch forum where both Jamaican and Caribbean tech, internet, mobile, business professionals, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts can learn, network and gain inspiration from others in the varied industries. Well as a budding entrepreneur and photographer, such an event would of course spark my interest and would be very advantageous to me! After all, I would get to network with individuals in many of these industries in a bid to introduce my services. It would also give me the opportunity to see what ideas and businesses are out there and to gain some experience and encouragement from those who are successful business people. Also, it would be a very good opportunity for me to work on refining my event photography skills... sshhh, nuh tell dem! Now I wonder to myself, why didn't I make it to these meetings before? [slap self in the back of head]

L-R: Chris Mills, Monique Powell of Roaming Donkey and Gordon Swaby
I consider my experience at Kingston Beta to be a good one, which was held at the Jamaica Pegasus, as it lived up to what it was all about. I got to learn of new businesses that are now on the market in the stages of breaking out to be successful ventures as well what help there is out there for those wishing to venture to the route of entrepreneurship. There were pitches (or presentations) from Roaming Donkey a online guide with a difference; Virtual Mall Jamaica, a local online shopping website featuring local companies; and ICT4D, a "Jamaican-based network organization established to define, promote and facilitate the use of information and communication technology in the development process." I also got to do a little networking, which I hope will pay off, and of course I took a lot of photographs of the event. It was not all just pure talking as there were several giveaways as well as wonderful finger food which I did enjoy! To learn more about Kingston beta you can visit their website http://kingstonbeta.com/ and follow them on twitter @kingstonbeta. The next Kingston Beta meeting will be in January, which I will make every effort to attend! Will you be there?

For more of my photos of Kingston Beta November 11, 2010 you can view them on my facebook fan page in the folder Kingston Beta November 11, 2010. Please remember to "Like" my page!!!

3 commented:

Ye thanks for reviewing it. I had no idea what Kingston Beta was and you opened my eyes. Now I feel like I want to go to the next one. Thanks

So were those the only companies present? Would it be possible for you to give us a list of which companies were present and or which ones did presentations?

@Nikki: I'm glad my post enlightened you about this event. Yes, you should come to the next meeting!

@Ramano: No, a lot of the attendees are are entrepreneurs and thus have their small businesses which they represented. However there were only 3 that did presentations.