Promoting Haitian businesses and strengthening their capacities is a key lever for stimulating local economic development, fostering job creation, and encouraging innovation. It is with this in mind that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI), through its Support for Entrepreneurial Invention and University Startups (AIESU) project, in collaboration with Quisqueya University, organized a pitch competition on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, at the university's premises in Turgeau.

This event brought together students and young entrepreneurs for timed oral presentations of their entrepreneurial projects before a selection committee. It aimed to provide project leaders with the opportunity to present their ideas, demonstrate their feasibility, and benefit from feedback from industry professionals.

On this occasion, Freud Miguel Renaty, the National Coordinator of the AIESU project, introduced the team involved in implementing the project and emphasized the importance of this initiative for the development of entrepreneurship and the Haitian economy. He encouraged the young university students to continue their efforts in innovation.

Addressing the participants, he stated that their participation constituted an important step in their entrepreneurial journey : "This day was long and intense, but above all, it was profoundly enriching. It also allowed us to discover promising ideas for the future."

For her part, Ms. Naïma Kersy Bonneau emphasized the potential of Haitian university students. "It’s not talent that we lack. The ideas are there, the creativity is there, the ambition is there, the entrepreneurial spirit is there. What we still too often lack are the mechanisms capable of supporting an idea, structuring it, improving it, and gradually leading it to the creation of a real business," she argued.

She commended the leadership of the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. James Monazard, highlighting his commitment to youth and entrepreneurship. According to her, choosing to invest in the ideas and abilities of young people should enable them to become not only seekers of opportunities, but also creators of solutions, value, and jobs.

More than thirty young entrepreneurs from the university sector presented their projects to a jury composed of five members: David Elvard, National Coordinator of the Youth Entrepreneurship Support Program (PAPEJ); Fridjy Compère, entrepreneurship trainer and coach; Jhony Augustin, manager and economist; Rony Toussaint-Fils, economist and Director of QE3 at Quisqueya University, and Japhé Mercier, economist and entrepreneur.

The competition results will be announced on Friday, October 9, 2026, at the launch of the AIESU project and the first cohort of the Quisqueya University incubator.

IH/ iciHaiti