Trotman’s global vision taking shape

This time around, Dale Trotman, founder and Chief Executive Officer of the MedRegis, will be seeking to share in a US$5 million prize when he takes part in this year’s Entrepreneurship World Cup.

MedRegis is a suit of applications developed to revolutionise the way health records are documented, stored and shared.

Trotman’s involvement in competitions with his creation started in 2013 when he took part in the inaugural Caribbean Innovation Challenge. Since then, he has entered several regional and international competitions, several times sharing in a number of top prizes.

In July of this year, MedRegis captured first prize at the national finals in the first ever Entrepreneurship World Cup, giving him access to over US$500,000 in services from some of the world’s tech giants including Google, IBM and Microsoft.

This makes him one of several fully sponsored global finalists to participate in the EWC against other national winners from 184 countries.

As he prepares for the competition, which is scheduled for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 12 to 14, 2019, he is calling on Barbadian authorities and local investors to take entrepreneurship more seriously.

In fact, the St Philip resident recommended that authorities make it mandatory for start-ups to get support once they show promise.

During his visit, Trotman will have the opportunity to meet with prospective investors and participate in an acceleration programme, which will include one-on-one mentoring.

“For me, it means an opportunity to showcase to a wider audience what I have been doing,” he told Barbados TODAY in a recent interview.

“This is arguably the biggest entrepreneurial competition globally, so it gives me the opportunity to be in a situation where I am amongst leading businessmen and women, international media, investors, investment groups and being part of that environment and being able to maximize from that environment, whatever opportunities will present itself there,” he said.

He is pleased that Barbados also gets to benefit.

“So it is something that we can capitalize on and push Barbados and put Barbados in a position where it is seen as a country that is pushing out start-ups and that has eligible start-up solutions,” said Trotman.

He said MedRegis was commercialised in February of this year and he now has some clients, but he was looking to scale up after the November competition.

“We have a programme called the MedRegis Moonshot progrmame, which is going to be for new customers and we are going to announce details on that at a later date,” he said.

Besides sharing in the top prize in next month’s competition, the 31-year-old said he was seeking to help put Barbados on the world stage when it comes to entrepreneurship.

“I am looking to position Barbados and the Caribbean as a market where health technology could thrive. That is one of the main things I am looking to succeed on,” he said, adding that he was eyeing what was taking place in other countries to ensure he did not make the same mistakes.

“So one of the things I am hoping to bring back is to showcase to the world that Barbados and the Caribbean is where health technology innovation should take place and will take place,” he asserted.

However, the former Foundation School student said if authorities were serious about entrepreneurship they would provide more support.

“I think when a Barbadian reaches a certain height there should be things in place that people should be able to say ‘we have to help him’. It should be something that is standard, not done in a haphazard way. From the time you see the level of seriousness of what they are doing and what they have achieved, there should be somewhere along that part that somebody steps in,” he said.

As he prepares for the competition, Trotman said so far he has received support from his family and the Prime Minister who has been instrumental in him aligning with the Ministry of Health.

“I am grateful for the direction she is taking with technology and implementing technology in governance and in Barbados. That is the way forward and we have a lot of potential as a small island to take the forefront when it comes to technological development,” he added.

He said the island’s digital transformation should help young entrepreneurs throughout the island to come up with ideas that could help develop the country.

Trotman is promising another round of development of the app “to make it even more efficient than it is now”, as he makes plan to increase his marketing campaign and expand across the region and into sections of Africa.

Some local health care providers have already signed on to MedRegis, and there have been several interests from Trinidad and Jamaica.

He said given that the region did not have the enabling environment like more developed countries it would take a longer time for start-ups in Barbados and the Caribbean to fully develop.

However, he encourages other entrepreneurs not to give up when they face any challenge along their journey.

“You know where you want to get and you make those steps to get where you are going. You are not going to move from step one to step 40. You might skip a few steps based on how you structure but it is never going to be like a step one to step 40. It might be a step one to step five or three, and then keep moving,” he advised. (MM)