Frequently Asked Questions

Scale Up Trinidad and Tobago is bringing Scalerator® to Trinidad and Tobago. Scalerator is an acclaimed strategic business accelerator program designed to fuel the engine of positive, sustainable economic growth. It is a proven program for entrepreneurial business owners who want to deliver immediate growth into their business and are open to learning new ways to do so. 

Scale Up Trinidad and Tobago’s curriculum teaches business leaders the 3C Scale Up™ model for growth – Customers, Capacity and Cash – to accelerate the growth of companies with sales revenues of roughly $2M to $30M from any industry.   

An intense three-month training program, the Scalerator provides practical sales and marketing, organisational development and entrepreneurial finance skills.

Scalerator comprises a team of globally-recognized experts who have been developing and running this brand of global entrepreneurship since 2009. Each brings their unique, talents and skills to Scalerator. Let us introduce them to you:

Dr. Daniel Isenberg, a former professor at the Harvard Business School, founding executive director of the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Platform and Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Social Psychology from Harvard University.

Dr. Elaine Eisenman is managing director of Saeje Advisors. A former Dean of Executive Education at Babson College, Elaine’s career includes experience as a corporate general manager, human resources executive at several leading consulting firms. Elaine earned a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from New York University, and an MS from Columbia University.     

Tim Marken teaches revenue generation and growth, including sales, sales management, and marketing and is an expert in helping business owners achieve their growth potential. Tim has taught entrepreneurship, sales and marketing at Babson Executive Education for over 15 years and received a B.S. at Babson and the M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Kevin Mulcahy teaches entrepreneurship, innovation and financing growth. Kevin has taught at Babson College and coached on leadership effectiveness on Executive Education programs at the Harvard Business School He received his BA degree in Management Science from Trinity College in Dublin and his MBA from Boston College.

This high-powered team  have pioneered  Scale Up Milwaukee, Scale Up Rio, Scale Up Atlantic CanadaScale Up Guatemala, Manizales-Mas and are now working on Scale Up Trinidad and Tobago.

Click here to view full biographies.

 

Highly motivated and ambitious entrepreneurial business owners that operate companies with roughly $2M and $30M in sales, are motivated to aggressively grow their business, and can scale their business. Companies from all sectors are encouraged to apply.  A diverse cohort of companies makes for a more successful Scale Up Trinidad and Tobago experience.

The following Selection Criteria apply

  1. Sales revenue from around $TT2M and upward of $TT30M per annum
  2. Employment of more than 10 persons;
  3. Possesses an entrepreneurial mindset and strong ambition to overcome all obstacles to growth
  4. Must be a locally incorporated company;
  5. Willingness to include the management team of the company in Scale Up TT activities; and
  6. Commitment to attend all workshops and peer-to-peer meetings with key Scale Up TT Professional Core Team Members

The Selection Committee will look for highly motivated entrepreneurial business owners committed to accelerating their company’s growth.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry is partnering with the Trinidad and Tobago Unit Trust Corporation and US-based, Entrepreneurship Policy Advisors (EPA), to launch Scale Up Trinidad and Tobago. With over 350 Scalerator alumni companies around the world, Scalerator creates a platform for the development of entrepreneurial business owners who possess the potential and passion to grow.

While Trinidad and Tobago has several strong programs that offer consulting services to entrepreneurs eager to accelerate their growth, Scale Up Trinidad and Tobago complements those programs by offering highly motivated entrepreneurs an opportunity to learn practical skills with a small, select group of peers.

There is no cost for participating companies.

“I work 12 hours a day, 6-7 days/week, and need to be on-site most of the time; I can only do things that are essential and pay off in the short run. Why is Scale Up Trinidad and Tobago an essential short-term investment for my business?”

For CEO-Owners, whether manufacturers, service companies, logistics, retailers, or technology providers, every minute of every day counts, and taking time from the business is challenging. What Scalerator participants (Scalers) in the past have told us is that these hours are not hours away from their business – they are hours spent working on their business, in particular, actively growing it.

In fact, during past cohorts of the Scalerator, over 75% of Scalers experience new growth. Then within the 12 months of graduating, 75% of them double their pre-Scalerator growth rates.

Even more, 25% of them double their sales profitability within the following two years.

Complete the short application found here.

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You may also click the “Apply Now” button below.

A Selection Committee comprising a panel of experts from Scale Up Trinidad and Tobago and other relevant experts will evaluate the applications, conduct interviews, and select the companies.

This is a normal and understandable concern. From the beginning, in addition to committing all participants in writing to respect privacy and uphold confidentiality, we continually monitor this, and any breach of the Scalerator Code is dealt with by dismissal from the program.

Furthermore, we do not let direct competitors into the same cohort.

With 20+ cohorts underway world-wide, we have not yet had a confidentiality breach. This leads Scalers to be comfortable revealing information about their challenges so that the group can help them turn challenges into growth.

The Selection Committee will select a diverse group of between 10-15 growth-minded entrepreneurial business owners.

The Selection Committee will accept qualified companies on an ongoing basis with final decisions made Friday 6th September 2024.

The first workshop of Cohort 5 starts in April 2025

No.  All types of businesses that meet the revenue criteria, have the ability to scale, and are run by entrepreneurial business owners who are committed to growth will be considered.

The Selection Committee will be looking for highly motivated entrepreneurial business owners who are committed to accelerating their company’s growth. A diverse class of entrepreneurs eager to learn with others will enhance the value of the program.

What is required is a willingness to commit to attending the workshops, engaging members of their leadership team in individual workshops, and attending peer-to-peer meetings between each session. In addition, participating companies need to be able to scale their growth, rather than simply grow by acquisition or one customer at a time.

The application window for Cohort 5 closes Tuesday, December 31st, at 11:55 pm
There will be 4 Workshops. The workshops are a day and a half, except workshop #4 which is one day.
Workshop Date Time
Workshop 1 April 2nd, 2025 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
 April 3rd, 2025 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon
Workshop 2 April 30, 2025 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
May 1, 2025 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon
Workshop 3 June 24, 2025 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
June 25, 2025 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon
Workshop 4 July 9, 2025 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
July 10, 2025 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon

Scalerator’s curriculum has proven to help companies from diverse industries and sectors grow, many increasing 25% or more following the program. The large majority of Scalerator companies experience new growth events during the first weeks of the Scalerator.

Well over 350 companies have participated in and benefited from Scalerator, including Panama, Colombia, Guatemala, Brazil, the US and Canada.  

Community

Scalers become part of an expanding peer community of rapidly growing companies and acquire a proud new identity as part of the Scalerator’s global community.

 

Support 

Rapid growth can be a lonely occupation, and the Scalerator community is there to cheer you on, cheer you up, and provide ongoing peer-to-peer counsel and a culture that supports growth. Post Scale Up Trinidad and Tobago, Scalers can meet with each other and share their successes and offer each other ongoing help.


Platform

The Scalerator helps you build a platform for growth as well as market access based on the 3Cs (Customers, Capacity, Cash), a platform that you can continue to build on top of after Scale Up Trinidad and Tobago. For most Scalers, growth during the Scalerator is just the beginning.


Signal Potential

We have seen in other regions that being a Scalerator alum becomes a signal of high potential to bankers, investors, customers, business partners, and key talent because Scalers are ambitious, growing ventures with knowledge, attitude and a support network that makes it worthwhile for these stakeholders to work with Scalers.

The owner/CEO of the business commits to attend each of the workshops. Appropriate members of the company’s leadership team are encouraged to accompany the owner at specific workshops. For example, the company’s top sales executive may be encouraged to attend workshops focused on sales strategies.

The faculty are from world-class business schools, but more importantly, they integrate their teaching experience with real-world experience they have gained as both entrepreneurs and executives. Our faculty also have extensive experience as advisors, investors, mentors, or board members of rapidly growing business ventures. The faculty have dirt under their fingers and callouses on their hands as well as critical knowhow in helping CEO/Owners to grow.

Click here to view our faculty members.

Among some of the topics to be covered are:

  • How to drive value-based customer relationships
  • Accelerating growth by aligning strategy and sales
  • Aligning human talent, management team, and growth strategies
  • Generating cash resources to fuel growth

All additional questions should be emailed to [email protected].

To Apply: Click the Apply Now button below to complete a short application.

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