Grenada innovation workshop was memorable for beautiful innovation, people and scenery
Once the sample projects were completed, teams had the afternoon to use the parts to build their own prototypes and work on their digital prototypes.
BY JEREMY LOSAW
The country of Grenada is having an “it” moment.
More direct flights are opening to the spice island nation, which celebrated its 50th year of independence from the British Empire in February. The diminutive Caribbean island nation sits just north of the coast of Venezuela.
Despite the beauty of its beaches and lush interior, Grenada is often overlooked as a tourist destination—but I suspect not for long. With all the recent buzz, I was excited to deliver an innovation training there in January. The recent hype is more than justified.
A question and a challenge
At the program, a three-day Design Sprint and Innovation Bootcamp, my role was to teach techniques to prove concepts and engineer products. Like my other international training programs, this opportunity was funded by the State Department through the local U.S. Embassy in Bridgetown (Barbados).
I was again joined by Eric Gorman and Julia Jackson from Charlotte-based Wily, which specializes in delivering Design Sprint training. With my experience in physical product development and design, we provide insights on how to figure out what to build and how to build it.
We were also joined by Tallia Rogers, who operates a pharmaceutical company on the island. She helped with logistics and in delivering the program. We met while she was doing her monthlong Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative fellowship in Charlotte in 2022.
Our program ran from Monday to Wednesday at the Radisson resort in St. Georges. Frances Herrera from the U.S. Embassy in Grenada delivered opening remarks before we embarked on a full day of Design Sprint training.
We provided the teams with the challenge question: “How might we help farmers protect and nurture their plants so they can increase their production and profits?”
Because we had many attendees in the agriculture field, this challenge was especially relevant. The teams bit right in.
After a day of using Design Sprint methodology, our conference room in the Radisson resort was filled with sticky notes, sketches and viable concept sketches to address the challenge.
Building begins
Day 2 of the program was all about prototyping. I started by sharing how we do product development at Charlotte’s Enventys Partners, how we help inventors bring products to life from napkin sketch to production. I also shared the potential pitfalls in bringing products to life, such as losing interest and innovating on trends.
Then it was time to build.
I handed out some electronics components from the MakeON system, which uses specially designed circuit boards that allow the components to be connected easily with conductive tape. This makes the building of the circuits fun and accessible—especially for people who have no experience with electronics and prototyping.
I used these components to guide the teams through building a plant moisture monitor, a model greenhouse with a cooling fan, and a model system to alert grocery stores when produce was ready for pickup.
It was a treat to see the joy on participants’ faces when they finished an exercise and got it working. Once the sample projects were completed, teams had the afternoon to use the parts to build their own prototypes and work on their digital prototypes.
At the end of day, each team gave a brief presentation of its solution and demonstrated its prototypes to the group.
Leveraging location
The final day was devoted to going deeper into prototyping and the specific business challenges. I held court to do a deeper dive into prototyping and electronics.
Eric and Julia hosted office sessions in which people could express what is going on with their business and endeavors. They were able to convey what they are struggling with, and we provided some guidance for overcoming those challenges.
For example, one intrepid woman was about to buy a fishing boat and had questions about how she might export her catch to the United States. Another wondered whether she could use crowdfunding to help start her ecotourism lodge.
The attendees were all very entrepreneurial. Many were already running their own business or starting on their journey.
Because the island is rich in agricultural delights, many were focused on creating food products such as chocolate, rum punch and tropical wine. Avril Aberdeen from Piquancy Flavors, who makes her own line of chutney, was recently bestowed a superior taste award from the International Taste Institute in Brussels.
Some attendees were combining the rich farming and location as a tourist destination to build agrotourism lodging and experiences to augment their crops.
One of the most inspiring stories was Milissa Thomas, who had suffered a traumatic brain injury from a car accident. She started painting and opened a business selling her art and prints.
Once our program was complete, we had a couple days to explore the island. We did a morning snorkel tour to check out the famous underwater sculpture park, where cement sculptures have been sunk in an area of shallow water off the coast—in part to help promote reef formation.
Grenada has done a great job keeping plastic and other waste to a minimum. The beaches and natural area were clean and well maintained.
A treasure of talented and hard-working people are starting businesses and making an impact—locally and off the island. It was great to work with them and hear their stories.