Tweet
Country Style to recruit Jamaicans to work in hotels overseas
BY BASIL WALTERS Observer Staff Reporter
Monday, October 24, 2005
DIANA McIntyre-Pike's Country Style community tourism enterprise has been appointed local representatives for the American Hospitality Academy and will be recruiting Jamaicans to work in five star hotels in North America.
MCINTYRE-PIKE... to recruit on behalf of AMA
McKintyre-Pike, the managing director, did not give more details but said the Mandeville-based Country Style had also been reaping success in broadening its operations to other areas of the English-speaking Caribbean,
"We've now taken our institute, which is called the Country Style Institute for Sustainable Tourism, and made it into a very powerful institute not only in Jamaica but throughout the Caribbean," said the niche hotelier.
"We've just come back from St Vincent where we trained six communities and they are calling us everyday and asking us when we're coming back."
She made the disclosure in an address as a member of a panel comprising successful business pioneers discussing challenges to business at a recent career lifestyles expo and symposium put on by Hamilton Knight Associates at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.
"We've set up a foundation called the Sustainable Community Foundation that is all about giving the accountability to anyone who wants to invest in our communities...We've eight chapters already in Jamaica. We're setting up a chapter in Dominica, and St Vincent wants to set up a chapter and we've one in Florida," said McIntyre-Pike.
"We're focusing on training and educating people. So we're setting up now an official community tourism office to give marketing and training support and business advice."
McIntyre-Pike told the expo that the United States Agency for Industrial Development (USAID) had given Jamaica funding for community tourism and agriculture for four years.
"And we managed on our own without government help to get $10m for funding of a one-year programme for community tourism for the entire country of Jamaica. We're going to work on a diploma programme and degree programme for community tourism," she said.
Emphasing that communities were destinations for development, McIntyre-Pike said every citizen was a potential business partner to be trained in small business management, environmental awareness, product development and marketing.
She used the occasion to call for "creative financing" for start up capital for small entrepreneurs, saying without that there could be no meaningful development.
"We can talk until kingdom come, until we provide creative financing for the people of Jamaica, we'll not see Jamaica grow."
BY BASIL WALTERS Observer Staff Reporter
Monday, October 24, 2005
DIANA McIntyre-Pike's Country Style community tourism enterprise has been appointed local representatives for the American Hospitality Academy and will be recruiting Jamaicans to work in five star hotels in North America.
MCINTYRE-PIKE... to recruit on behalf of AMA
McKintyre-Pike, the managing director, did not give more details but said the Mandeville-based Country Style had also been reaping success in broadening its operations to other areas of the English-speaking Caribbean,
"We've now taken our institute, which is called the Country Style Institute for Sustainable Tourism, and made it into a very powerful institute not only in Jamaica but throughout the Caribbean," said the niche hotelier.
"We've just come back from St Vincent where we trained six communities and they are calling us everyday and asking us when we're coming back."
She made the disclosure in an address as a member of a panel comprising successful business pioneers discussing challenges to business at a recent career lifestyles expo and symposium put on by Hamilton Knight Associates at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.
"We've set up a foundation called the Sustainable Community Foundation that is all about giving the accountability to anyone who wants to invest in our communities...We've eight chapters already in Jamaica. We're setting up a chapter in Dominica, and St Vincent wants to set up a chapter and we've one in Florida," said McIntyre-Pike.
"We're focusing on training and educating people. So we're setting up now an official community tourism office to give marketing and training support and business advice."
McIntyre-Pike told the expo that the United States Agency for Industrial Development (USAID) had given Jamaica funding for community tourism and agriculture for four years.
"And we managed on our own without government help to get $10m for funding of a one-year programme for community tourism for the entire country of Jamaica. We're going to work on a diploma programme and degree programme for community tourism," she said.
Emphasing that communities were destinations for development, McIntyre-Pike said every citizen was a potential business partner to be trained in small business management, environmental awareness, product development and marketing.
She used the occasion to call for "creative financing" for start up capital for small entrepreneurs, saying without that there could be no meaningful development.
"We can talk until kingdom come, until we provide creative financing for the people of Jamaica, we'll not see Jamaica grow."
Comment