Drum rolls happening in my head as the presenter says, "...and the first place prize goes to..." I don't know about my team members, but I had my fingers and my toes crossed that it would be us to win the whopping $3500 first prize. I looked across to our mentor and then back to the presenter, waiting anxiously for the name of the first place winners. It was the longest six seconds of my life. "Please say Team GITZ. Please say Team GITZ. Please say Team GITZ," I chanted in my head. "Team Unravel!" said the presenter. I was a bit disappointed when the presenter didn't call our team's name for the winning prize. However, I couldn't be more proud of the time and effort that my team and I had put into our solution.
So in case any of you may not know, BELTRAIDE hosts an annual Business Hackathon and encourages the tertiary education institutions in Belize to enroll their students to participate. A problem statement would be given at the kickoff meeting and each team would be required to create a solution using technology as the primary tool. This year's problem statement was to create a solution to improve the customer service between customers and the utility companies of Belize. This would include BEL (Belize Electricity Limited), BWS (Belize Water Services), BTL (Belize Telemedia Limited) and Smart. Each team's solution will then be judged by a panel of representatives from each utility company and a winner will be selected.
We had about three or four weeks to plan and create our solution. A prototype, a marketing plan and a PowerPoint presentation was needed. Easy, right? Not at all. Alongside getting this solution done, our team was also working on Belizing.com. Talk about multitasking! Belizing.com was soon to be published to the world and we had a lot of work on our plate to complete before it launches. Brainstorming for ideas for our solution took us the longest time. The thing that we took the longest to agree on was the name. Our solution is called "Di Full Works;" but, initially we had it as "BUMS." Before you go "What?" or start laughing hysterically, BUMS actually stands for Belize Utility Management System. It's a great name that states exactly what it intends to do, but it was too long and the acronym sounds like a slang for butt or a homeless person - we wanted to win so we couldn't give off a bad first impression with the names. And thus, Di Full Works was born.
Our team worked countless hours in creating the prototype, developing the report, planning our marketing strategy and practicing our presentation. Along with the work we had to do for Belizing.com, we were #teamnosleep. Weeks flew by with us working diligently and before we all knew it, it was time for the first pitch of our solution. This was a whole other adventure on its own. We had to leave our comfy beds at 4:30 a.m. and get the bus to travel to Belize City - two hours of fun! On the contrary, it was anything but fun. Two of our members actually missed the bus that we were supposed to get on and didn't make it on time for our presentation. The rest of the team that managed to get on the bus was forced to present without us. On the bright side, we got to watch the beautiful sunrise in the bus (*wink* *wink* - pun intended).
The first pitch went well as we get to advance to the final pitch. For the final pitch, we spruced up our solution with a payment structure, sustainability and growth plan and other final touches. Confident in our solution, we even made a T-shirt with the logo. We will have Di Full Works merchandise available soon! Giving our final pitch to the panel was nerve wracking and exhilarating at the same time. During rehearsals, each of us made a lot of silly mistakes and forgot what to say. But in the presentation, it was as if we were born to do this. You can see how excited we were to get that presentation over with in the picture of us jumping in hoorah above. All that was left was to wait for the results.
The winners were announced at the 3rd National Entrepreneurship Convention. It was a fun-filled and informative day. We got to expand our networks and market Belizing.com to a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs and established businesses. As the hours go by, we got more and more nervous and anxious when it was close to announcing the winners of this year’s hackathon. When the time came, the presenter called each of the team’s names to go up on the stage.
Patiently we waited for the name of the first place winners to be called. When it wasn’t our name that was called, we were a bit disappointed; but nonetheless, it was an experience and adventure that our team will remember. This is one for the Belizing team history books. We were glad to be able to participate in the competition. The Belizing team looks forward in creating more memories and accomplishments with you. Of course, we wouldn’t be able to do it without the sponsorship of Gitz Office Supplies and Belizing.com. Happy holidays! It’s Christmas time so let’s go Belizing!