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PM urges assistance for youth with ideas
Carl Gilchrist
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller on Sunday underscored the importance of entrepreneurship to Jamaica's development, and urged assistance for persons with bright business ideas but without the collateral to help fund their development.
Addressing the closing session of the Jamaica Employers Federation's (JEF) annual convention at the Sunset Jamaica Grande hotel in Ocho Rios, Simpson Miller spoke of a new mindset, which she said was necessary to create employment.
"Globalisation demands an entrepreneurial culture," she said. "People have to develop the mindset of creating their own employment and creating jobs rather than merely waiting for employment."
Her comments were met with applause from the scores of managers and owners of some of the island's leading enterprises.
"We have to move away from the mindset of looking for a job, looking for a factory to open. Rather, I think we must think in terms of creating new businesses, fostering the entrepreneurial spirit and drawing from the well springs from our own creativity," she said.
The prime minister underlined the importance of entrepreneurship, saying it was "crucially important" in national development. Macroeconomic stability, she argued, was not enough to produce economic transformation as only through the mobilisation of people's energies and creativity and the use of their talent to innovate and create wealth, could this stability be achieved.
In urging assistance for youngsters with good business ideas but without the necessary funding to implement them, Simpson Miller said there was no shortage of ideas in Jamaica.
She referred to a 2002 study, which she said showed that entrepreneurs significantly impacted economic activity at a local level through the fostering of localised job creation, increasing wealth and connecting to the wider global economy.
She suggested that in fostering entrepreneurship, primary emphasis be placed on developing a positive, emotionally uplifting mindset. Many studies, she revealed, demonstrated the centrality of positive mental conditioning to success in business and in life.
The prime minister also urged the practice of respect for persons and organisations in Jamaica, the lack of which, she said, caused most of the country's labour disputes.
"It is also affecting us in the wider society - the lack of respect for each other," she said. "Respect for life, respect for others, respect for the churches, respect for leaders, respect for parents, respect for children. It is something that we all have to work on."
Turning to the business managers, Simpson Miller called for a fresh new approach at the way businesses operate.
"We cannot be practising old, discredited management approaches at a time when we need to be globally competitive and on the cutting edge," she declared.
"You cannot be on the cutting edge - it doesn't matter what your technological marketing and intellectual marketing know-how are - unless your people are motivated, inspired and have a sense of loyalty to your company and its vision, then you will never succeed."
At the function, attorney-at-law, Angella Robertson was presented with the JEF's "excellence in service" award for her work in industrial relations.
In accepting the award, Robertson said it was the ultimate compliment that could be paid to a professional.
Carl Gilchrist
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller on Sunday underscored the importance of entrepreneurship to Jamaica's development, and urged assistance for persons with bright business ideas but without the collateral to help fund their development.
Addressing the closing session of the Jamaica Employers Federation's (JEF) annual convention at the Sunset Jamaica Grande hotel in Ocho Rios, Simpson Miller spoke of a new mindset, which she said was necessary to create employment.
"Globalisation demands an entrepreneurial culture," she said. "People have to develop the mindset of creating their own employment and creating jobs rather than merely waiting for employment."
Her comments were met with applause from the scores of managers and owners of some of the island's leading enterprises.
"We have to move away from the mindset of looking for a job, looking for a factory to open. Rather, I think we must think in terms of creating new businesses, fostering the entrepreneurial spirit and drawing from the well springs from our own creativity," she said.
The prime minister underlined the importance of entrepreneurship, saying it was "crucially important" in national development. Macroeconomic stability, she argued, was not enough to produce economic transformation as only through the mobilisation of people's energies and creativity and the use of their talent to innovate and create wealth, could this stability be achieved.
In urging assistance for youngsters with good business ideas but without the necessary funding to implement them, Simpson Miller said there was no shortage of ideas in Jamaica.
She referred to a 2002 study, which she said showed that entrepreneurs significantly impacted economic activity at a local level through the fostering of localised job creation, increasing wealth and connecting to the wider global economy.
She suggested that in fostering entrepreneurship, primary emphasis be placed on developing a positive, emotionally uplifting mindset. Many studies, she revealed, demonstrated the centrality of positive mental conditioning to success in business and in life.
The prime minister also urged the practice of respect for persons and organisations in Jamaica, the lack of which, she said, caused most of the country's labour disputes.
"It is also affecting us in the wider society - the lack of respect for each other," she said. "Respect for life, respect for others, respect for the churches, respect for leaders, respect for parents, respect for children. It is something that we all have to work on."
Turning to the business managers, Simpson Miller called for a fresh new approach at the way businesses operate.
"We cannot be practising old, discredited management approaches at a time when we need to be globally competitive and on the cutting edge," she declared.
"You cannot be on the cutting edge - it doesn't matter what your technological marketing and intellectual marketing know-how are - unless your people are motivated, inspired and have a sense of loyalty to your company and its vision, then you will never succeed."
At the function, attorney-at-law, Angella Robertson was presented with the JEF's "excellence in service" award for her work in industrial relations.
In accepting the award, Robertson said it was the ultimate compliment that could be paid to a professional.