Ignite: Entrepreneurs Meet To Share Ideas
Before the storm, over 100 local entrepreneurs, community leaders, and mentors met to reconnect, reimagine, and help with the economic and social recovery of Bermuda.
A spokesperson said, “The event included a trade show of local businesses showcasing new products, services, banking and technology.
Ignite alumni participating in ‘story circles’ to discuss themes of resilience
“The audience was excited to hear from a panel of leading entrepreneurs, including Marico Thomas, Rebecca Singleton, Holger Eiselt, Laura Purroy and Lorene Philips. The panellists shared their experiences of success and failure, as well as personal insights on managing teams and their mindsets.”
The insights included Laura Purroy’s recommendation to “surround yourself with people that share your values. As a leader, you are the embodiment of that company. This means: my sense of integrity, honesty, and compassion are the values of my company.”
Ignite alumni participating in ‘story circles’ to discuss themes of lessons of success and failures
Speaking of resilience, Rebecca Singleton shared that “[her] team and our collective values got us through the pandemic”.
Marico Thomas told the group that he had 150 staff and was actively recruiting another 151. Many of the challenges he shared related to resilience and being comfortable that not everything you try will work.
Entrepreneurial Trade Show to show off Ignite businesses/organizations and critical supporters
The event also included guest speakers Dr Kristy Potter from Solstice, Nina London, and a powerful, impromptu spoken word performance from Ignite alumna, Tiffany Paynter.”
The event was led by Laura Lyons and the team at Ignite Bermuda, who were keen to reconnect with the five cohorts that have now been through Ignite’s core accelerator programme.
Ms Lyons said, “This event was born out of a desire to see people in person after a long period at a distance and to provide the opportunity for our alumni to connect across cohorts. The Ignite programme offers a powerful, shared experience to each cohort, and it was time to bring them all together.
“Our community needed to express joy and sorrow; we came together to celebrate and commiserate the ups and downs of an entrepreneurial journey – together. I want to thank all attendees who made the time for themselves, our Ignite team, and the wonderful Grotto Bay team for hosting and feeding us so welcomingly – you all went above and beyond.”
Entrepreneur panel of lead local entrepreneurs Laura Purroy, Rebecca Singleton, Lorene Philips, Marico Thomas and Holger Eiselt
A spokesperson said, “The Ignite community now includes 420 members covering a wide range of start-up and scale-up businesses as well as many community leaders. Ignite will commence the 6th cohort of the core accelerator programme on 4th October with Boot Camp for 34 new members and the Fuel Your Ambition Series starts on the 19th October for over 40 new members online.”
Sean Reel, the Executive Director, said, “This event was critical to reconnect and support the community and would not have been possible without support from key event sponsor KPMG and technical sponsor PSI Limited, who provided state-of-the-art equipment for this event. We cannot go without thanking our broader base of sponsors and volunteers who are with us every step of this Ignite journey.”
Ignite alumni Alyson Thompson, Charlotte Andrews and Kristen Scott Ndiaye at the Trade Show
