The Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI) hosted its first-ever App Club event “From Mind to Market” in August 2014 at The Centre for Enterprise Development (CED) compound located at Innovation Avenue, Freeport.
The event, which was open exclusively to members of CARIRI’s new App Club, featured a wide range of presenters who encouraged the attendees to pursue their app idea and app development goals.
Ashley Mitchell, Managing Director of Enterprise Hub Limited, kicked off the programme with a riveting discussion on promoting your mobile app. He drew on his international experience as he intrigued the audience with how they should look at the market.
Shaun Gianetti is considered to be the biggest “Appreneur” in Trinidad as he has 44 applications in the iTunes Appstore, 4 in GooglePlay and 4 in Amazon.com, and 25 games in development. He educated the audience on the feasibility and profitability of “gaming” apps which is the hottest app segment right now. His valuable tips of the trade ranged from where to get background music for your app to how much to charge for it. His parting advice was, “Don’t expect a million dollars with your first app!! Give yourself time to get it wrong before you emotionally invest in your app. Your first app might not make you a million dollars and neither will the second, but keep growing and developing and never give up because you never know which app will make you profitable. “
Marc Buekenhout of Digicel, one of our partners emphasized how big apps are right now. He elaborated on how Digicel is committed to supporting the app industry by preloading apps onto Digicel smartphones, mass messaging of the latest news to handsets and also prioritizing which apps to showcase.
Vinni Jones from Microsoft Trinidad and Tobago wrapped up the event by showcasing ways in which Microsoft can aid and promote app ideas and development.
The app club was launched in June of 2014, with the sole purpose of supporting and developing an app community where existing and potential mobile app developers can exchange ideas and collaborate on innovative solutions. CED and CARIRI are making leaps and bounds in driving innovation and creating a space for people with ideas to develop them.
