Jamaican students among winners at global Diamond Challenge”

From more than 600 teams worldwide, A team of four Jamaican high school
students have emerged as the second place winners at the 2018 staging of
Diamond Challenge for High School Entrepreneurs finals in Newark,
Delaware.

The team won second place for their social venture “Paradise Care”, an
initiative designed to lead plastic collection efforts and then convert them
into useable products. The students showcased a functional prototype of
their first product “USAVER”, a power bank and lamp built using plastic
bottles, at the event.

The Diamond Challenge is an innovative entrepreneurship concept
competition for high school students hosted by the University of Delaware’s
HORN program. These aspiring young entrepreneurs are trained to conceive,
test & pitch their ideas for a new business or social venture

The win comes with $7000 (US) in funding to support the development of
their venture. Another team of Jamaican students placed second in the
competition last year.

Paradise Care is comprised of high school students — Deneka Pusey, Sophia
Morris, Devonte Williams and Noel McDonald and advisors, Avril Campbell
Brown and Sonjah Robinson Madden.

This is the second year local non-profit, Next Gen Creators, has partnered
with the University of Delaware Horn Program in Entrepreneurship to
facilitate the Diamond Challenge, Enabling two teams of Jamaican students
to participate in the challenge after competing locally.

The Diamond Challenge in Jamaica was sponsored by NCB Jamaica, Loop
Jamaica, Mystic Mountain and Buzzers Gaming Arcade.