Denis St Bernard. Business Contributor
The success of Jamaican athletes such as Usain Bolt have inspired more black entrepreneurs to look for lucrative business opportunities in the run up to the London Olympics.
With the world’s biggest sporting event, the Olympic Games coming to London in two weeks, the athletes have helped create a “resurgence of identification” that has prompted Jamaican born UK residents and black Britons from other backgrounds to look towards the Olympics for more business opportunities.
Suddenly we have a lot of people who are entrepreneurial identifying with Jamaica because of what Jamaica presents to the world now.
Come the Olympics, a billion people will be looking at the biggest show on earth… so everybody wants to get a piece of that. You will see a surge of those kinds of things.
I think more should be done to document the successes of current Jamaican owned businesses in the UK. Jamaican businesses cover a vast range such as catering, film, music, sports, property, finance, retail and trade.
While Jamaican owned businesses may not be highly visible, they are nonetheless quietly achieving success in their respective markets.
Naturally we would like to see more of these things come to the forefront and being recognised.
Fastest man alive – Usain Bolt
I heard a recent Jamaica Gleanerinterview in which Jamaica’s High
Commissioner to the UK Anthony Johnson said that Jamaicans “are not entrepreneurial.”
I was surprised especially as I know of several high profile Jamaican business people such as Levi Roots, Wilfred Emmanuel Jones, founder of the Black Farmer food products chain and entrepreneur Tim Campbell, the first winner of BBC’s The Apprentice.
Further, a recent report from the Bank of England on minority businesses in the UK, shows that Jamaicans in particular had one of the highest percentage of entrepreneurial skill sets or entrepreneurial attitude than any other minority community in the UK.
Additionally a recent Barclays Bank report also highlighted that in the UK Black and minority ethnic minority (BME) business owners are increasingly recognised as important contributors to the small business population. Their entrepreneurial efforts are noticeable across many regions in the UK. Recent policy developments have established the significance of BME enterprise as a vehicle for promoting economic inclusion as a generator of social and financial capital and as an activity meriting dedicated support initiatives.
There needs to be more collaboration and networking among Jamaican businesses so we can leverage and be stronger in business. I’m sure you know of many Jamaican businesses that are doing well, maybe you’d like to share the names with us.
INFORMATION:
Denis St Bernard is an official Team Leader for the Summer Olympics 2012 and will be heavily involved with the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA) London Engage activities August 8th – 9th, 2012 at Grosvenor House, London, United Kingdom.
