Above: The winners of the PitchIT 2016 Challenge. From L-R: Danielle Tait, Kelly-ann Bethel (SKED), Ayana St. Louis, Nerissa Greenway and Monique Powell. Photo by Navindra Harbukhan, courtesy PitchIt Caribbean.

Kelly-ann Bethel, the Trinidadian entrepreneur behind the tech start-up SKED has won US$5000.00 at PitchIT Caribbean Challenge 2016. The event was held in Trinidad and Tobago from December 2 – 3, 2016.

The 28-year-old entrepreneur was one of twenty-five regional finalists competing for more than US$75,000 in cash and prizes at the PitchIT Challenge. PitchIT is a competition to discover and support new start-up and mobile app ideas from across the Caribbean. It is funded through EPIC –  a World Bank Group and Government of Canada programme, which is designed to stimulate entrepreneurship in the region.

Each of the 25 participants in the Challenge was assigned an internationally acclaimed mentor from the tech industry. Participants worked to refine their ideas and early start-ups in a two-day boot camp before presenting their apps in front of a live audience and a panel of judges.

Kelly-ann said that the experience working with mentors in tech has equipped her with the tools to understand her business from an international perspective, especially regarding considerations required for building a solution with a global market reach.

Kelly-ann and her app development team, Warren O’Connell and David Charles have been working on developing SKED for the past year. SKED is a technology solution that allows service providers to manage their appointments and streamline their business. SKED’s vision is to revolutionize how appointments are booked by consumers in today’s digital landscape and to streamline and simplify how service providers manage their businesses by using technology.

When users download the SKED app, they would be able to book and modify appointments for a range of services directly from the app, without ever having to make a phone call. SKED has already signed up 72 pre-launch partner businesses. The company’s goal is to have 200 registered businesses on the app by the time it launches in the first quarter of 2017.

The win at PitchIT 2016 follows Kelly-ann’s successful appearance on local investment television show, Planting Seeds in August 2016, where she secured a seed funding investment of $TT200,000.00 for SKED’s development.

 For more information about SKED, contact Kelly-ann Bethel.