St. Kitts and Nevis team defeats regional competitors with innovative financial education platform
Basseterre, St. Kitts – January 22, 2026 – Four students from Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) have emerged victorious at the 2026 Caribbean STEM Olympiad, defeating teams from Jamaica, Belize, and Guyana in the Computer Coding category. The winning team—Josiah Davis, Fraimer De La Cruz, Nathan Lewis, and Nikhal Dore—are all members of the College’s AI and Coding Club, in its inaugural year, and founded by team member and president Fraimer De La Cruz. Together, they developed a comprehensive digital platform that reimagines how the government’s ASPIRE Programme could engage and educate Caribbean youth about investing and financial literacy.
Fig 1. Left to Right – Nikhal Dore, Josiah Davis, Fraimer De La Cruz and Nathan Lewis
The Caribbean STEM Olympiad, hosted annually by the Caribbean Science Foundation, is now in its fourth year and features three competitive categories: Math, Computer Coding (aimed at solving challenges faced by Caribbean communities), and Robotics & Electronics Systems. This year’s competition took place from January 12-18, 2026, bringing together the region’s brightest young minds.
A Platform Born from Real Need
The Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis launched the ASPIRE Programme (Achieving Success through Personal Investment, Resources, and Education) in September 2024, providing eligible youth with $500 in savings and $500 invested in local publicly traded shares. While innovative in concept, the program’s existing interface offered limited visibility into investments and minimal educational support for participants to understand their portfolios.
The inspiration to enhance ASPIRE came from personal experience. As team member Nikhal Dore explained during their presentation, “A few years ago, I received $1,000 through a government program in Saint Kitts and Nevis. But that investment money was just sitting there. I had no idea what it was invested in, what investing really meant, or whether my stocks were going up or down. If I—someone interested in technology and finance—didn’t understand it, then thousands of other young people probably didn’t either.”
This realization sparked the team’s mission: to transform ASPIRE from a simple funding program into a powerful tool for education, responsible investing, and long-term financial empowerment—not just for St. Kitts and Nevis, but for CARICOM youth across the region.
Innovation That Impressed the Judges
Under the guidance of lecturer Enoete Inanga, who encouraged them to channel their strengths in computer science, AI, and coding toward solving a regional challenge, the team worked diligently for months to bring their vision to life. The result was a feature-rich proof-of-concept platform that thoroughly impressed the judges as “a well put-together concept with tremendous potential.”
Fig 2. Left to Right – Nathan Lewis, Enoete Inanga, Josiah Davis, Fraimer De La Cruz and Nikhal Dore
The team’s enhanced ASPIRE platform includes:
- Sparky, a fully functional AI chatbot that serves as an investment companion and teacher, answering questions specific to each user’s portfolio and providing personalized guidance
- A CARICOM-centric marketplace featuring stocks from across the region, including institutions like the West Indies Bank, St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank, and Barbados Commercial Bank
- Interactive learning modules with short courses explaining investing fundamentals, risk management, and diversification—with mandatory lessons required before high-risk actions
- A competitive leaderboard that gamifies the learning experience, allowing students to compete with passionate learners across the region
- Educational games with difficulty levels ranging from easy to expert, unlocking as users progress
- A clean data-visualization dashboard providing clear insights into portfolio performance
As the team emphasized in their presentation, “Innovation doesn’t always mean creating something completely new. Sometimes innovation means improving what already exists and unlocking its full potential.”
Recognition and Next Steps
The team was formally recognized at the Caribbean STEM Olympiad Awards and Closing Ceremony on Sunday, January 18, 2026. Their proof-of-concept demonstrates significant potential for how the ASPIRE Programme can evolve into a comprehensive educational platform. With further development and integration of real-time market data, their vision could expand across CARICOM territories, potentially transforming government-supported youth investment programs throughout the Caribbean into interactive tools for financial literacy.
The project showcases not only technical excellence but also a deep understanding of how existing government initiatives can be enhanced through technology. With further development and access to regional market data, the team’s vision could transform ASPIRE into a cornerstone tool for financial education across the Caribbean.
About the Caribbean Science Foundation
The Caribbean Science Foundation (CSF) aims to enhance the quality of secondary and tertiary science education in the region while creating a technology-savvy workforce through initiatives like the annual Caribbean STEM Olympiads.
Fig 3. Relax at the Prime Minister’s Office