The Supreme Ventures Foundation, the outreach arm of gaming group Supreme Ventures Limited, is inviting Jamaicans to vote for their favourite community hero as they wrap up the first staging of its acclaimed Supreme Heroes programme.

The programme, which began in 2020, is focused on enhancing small community enterprises that not only generate economic activity in their area but assist the needy from their own pockets.

The programme kicked off with four heroes who were nominated by the public: Life Yard Restaurant and Eco-Tourism in Parade Gardens Kingston; New Horizons Christian Outreach in Spanish Town; Miss T’s Hardware run by Elma Thompson in Granville, St James and Miss Jenny’s Cornershop operated by Jennifer Brown in Flankers, St. James.

Jamaica will have the chance to review their stories on the SVF social media pages on Instagram and Facebook and cast their vote for the most impactful Supreme Hero who will win another grant from the Foundation.

Each hero developed a community project and received funding and support from the SVF to execute the project. They also received several weeks of capacity building training from the Mona Entrepreneurial and Commercialization Centre (MECC) of the Mona School of Business Studies, University of the West Indies. They were provided with laptops to access the virtual classes on taxation, copyright, marketing and other critical aspects of the operation.

SVF Director, Heather Goldson says the SVF is seeking to choose the best performing project from the inaugural cohort to further award them a grant to pump into their social enterprises.

All of our heroes have performed amazingly! Circumstances were very challenging given the impact of COVID-19 and some even suffered personal setbacks, however they managed to pivot and complete their projects on time and made the best of the training we provided through MECC. At this stage we want to select one hero for a further grant so they can continue the work they have begun and continue to assist the vulnerable in their community,”

The awarding of the grant will be based on several factors including the impact of their selected project and the heroes’ incorporation of the lessons learned into their enterprises. The public will have one week to vote. Voting closes on September 10, 2021.