Business View Caribbean | Volume 8, Issue 7

10 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 8, ISSUE 7 collective intelligence. I encourage all of you today to participate – public officials, youth, academic institutions, international agencies – a multi-stakeholder approach is key for success. This is about building ecosystem to achieve transformation.” The Trinidad & Tobago DIA Lab will improve the lives of Trinidadian youth, allowing them to learn highly-demanded technological skills and develop disruptive solutions that would benefit their communities. During the event, the audience visited the Lab facilities through a virtual tour that highlighted the benefits technology provides to empower young people. About The Trust for the Americas: The Trust for the Americas is a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization affiliated with the Organization of American States (OAS). It was established in 1997 to promote public and private sector participation in social and economic development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our initiatives, implemented through local partner organizations, seek to improve access to economic opportunities as well as to foster innovation in vulnerable communities in the hemisphere. To this end, The Trust also promotes social inclusion and good governance. www.trustfortheamericas.org positively impact their communities. Specifically, we seek to provide young entrepreneurs with state-of-the-art technology training, collaboration spaces, specialized curricula, mentorship, and financial resources for their social and economic ventures.” Godiva Golding, a former participant of the DIA Urban Lab in Jamaica, shared her success story and talked about how the DIA Lab in Jamaica impacted her life positively and that of the community. Ms. Godiva Golding mentioned: “Just this sort of support that they provided in terms of pitching, the mentorship, the connections that have been built, have really helped us to move us from a space of simply existing and having an idea to constantly bringing it to reality.” At the end of the event, Rodrigo Iriani, Senior Program Manager, DIA, and CARIRI’s Senior Business Development Officer, Laura Da’Breau, made the official launch of the Youth Innovation Lab. Rodrigo Iriani concluded: “DIA is about empowering citizens for social change through