The Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, which trains start-up businesses, plans to widen its scope to include investing in medium-sized companies financed by Proven Investments Limited and other supporting entities.
It shifts the centre from an incubator to a business accelerator, Proven Group CEO Christopher Williams said. And it comes as the centre relocates from the resort city of Montego Bay to Jamaica’s industrial and commercial capital, Kingston.
“The accelerator model will take existing businesses and help them explode into large businesses by providing governance from the Branson Centre and capital from Proven along with other partners,” Williams told Gleaner Business ahead of Tuesday’s ceremonies.
Proven will take the lead with the support of PanJam Investment, GraceKennedy, NCB Capital Markets, Norbrook Capital, along with two or three private individuals.
“We were approached by the Branson Centre and we thought it was a good idea, but we could not do it by ourselves, so we got the partners to join. The more the merrier,” Williams intoned.
Proven under this project wants to finance medium-sized companies, typically family-owned, that have done well locally but are looking to expand internationally.
“We are constantly looking for deals but the problem is scale. Few in Jamaica have done it,” said the Proven CEO. “There’s Patrick Casserly, Butch Stewart and Levi Roots they took the Caribbean’s natural resource and turned it into a global product. And we think the Branson Centre can do it for other companies,” he said.
Leave A Comment