Cheers to 2021!

BPO boss excited, looks forward to double-digit growth

In 2021, I hope that Jamaicans can illuminate our Vision 2030, capitalise on our creativity and innovation, leverage the vast opportunities discovered by many since the onset of COVID-19, and chart a course for success in the post-COVID-19 recovery.

The resilience of the BPO (business process outsourcing) operators and the pragmatic and swift actions taken by the association have coloured the road map for greater success in the coming years. The global services sector project, and investment in talent development, will reap positive returns, and double-digit growth is projected – organically from existing players, and from new players and new lines of business.

For me, I have done four years as president of the association and it has been a hard, but rewarding effort. Thankfully, it is symbiotically aligned with my job at the Montego Bay Free Zone. I believe that service is deeply etched in my DNA. I have been serving since I have known myself, and giving back as a service will hit a new crescendo for me in 2021.

I believe our leaders have done us proud in the handling of the pandemic. The response has been relatively great. I am hopeful and excited that we will find that Jamaican courage to advance ourselves out of the economic plunge that COVID-19 and adverse weather conditions in 2020 have caused.

Gloria Henry

President of the Global Services Association of Jamaica

IUC hopes to rebound after COVID-19 hit

COVID-19 has created a new world built on the normalisation of uncertainty. The year 2020 has destroyed many dreams and visions and, therefore, invites one’s life to engage in serious pondering on how to live more purposeful in 2021.

My hopes for the new year are built not on vaccine availability or economic rebound of the nation, however necessary these may be, but on forging a deeper relationship with the God of life and with people.

In my area of work as the new president of the International University of the Caribbean, the continuing health and economic fallout from COVID-19 have demanded radical institutional changes to adjust to the new tertiary market. The only way forward is to change with the times and discover new relevance that meets the needs of people.

Professor Roderick Hewitt

President of the International University of the Caribbean

Raise your glasses to better health for 2021!

The year 2020 has been a very challenging one in many ways, but even more so as it relates to my health. The stress of keeping the business going, without the usual hotel getaways, meeting various expenses with little or no income in some months, took its toll in the latter part of this year on my health, which resulted in hospitalisation and huge medical bills.

For 2021, my focus will be implementing lifestyle changes to ensure that good health is maintained and that ‘my health becomes my greatest wealth’.

I will also be examining health and wellness tourism and how we can assist in developing this area to become an area of focus for our nation. This will assist our economy in several ways, including increased financial returns in tourism and agriculture, as well as reduce our health expense.

My hope for Jamaica is to have a healthier population; that we maximise the use of our natural resources – food, trees and plants – to heal our people; increase tourist arrivals via our healing and wellness packages; and for Jamaica to become the health, healing and wellness capital of the world.

Judith James-Watts

Leisure for Pleasure Holidays & Tours Ltd

Continuing advocacy for women and resolving disputes

Last year has transformed both my professional and personal life.

A few years ago, I made the decision to give up my block-and-steel office and do what I thought would be a virtual office, with the intention that I could practise anywhere under the sun, as long as I had a laptop and a mobile phone.

I also, prior to COVID-19, became the director of a company, Caribbean Law, whose objective is to provide support to persons who live in England as it relates to services here in Jamaica.

When the pandemic came, it was not hard to pivot at all as I was already working virtually. There would be some refinements, including a lot more Zoom calls and hearings via Zoom, and sometimes having to manage the office and home as the protocols required that those dear to me would have to be separate for a time. The learning curve continues.

The lockdown also interrupted the plans for my husband and I to return to England as we intended, so we stayed in Jamaica, and January will be one year .

For my professional life, it will be to continue on my path of being a legal consultant, using my skills gained in my experience in private practice and the public sector to make a positive contribution to Jamaica, involving myself only in the matters that are dear to my heart, advocacy for women who are dispossessed in every sense of the word, and resolving disputes using alternative methods.

Dianne Edwards

Attorney-at-law

Jamaica should walk road of peace with God

Though we have all gone through trials during 2020, I believe that the Lord has a plan for those who endured with thanksgiving, and we will see the manifestation of that plan in 2021. I continue to give Him thanks, and will definitely step through the doors He has opened and seize those opportunities presented to me.

I would like to see Jamaica embrace consistent social interventions to help manage crime in the communities, coupled with reverence for the Lord and all that is godly and righteous.

Cheryl A. Neufville Crooks

JP, counsellor and talk-show host

Exploring new opportunities with hopes that Jamaica will beat pandemic

Last year was very challenging for me, a small business owner, as I saw a decline in the number of clients that use my service in this pandemic.

I have used the opportunity as a stepping stone to venture into new areas and will continue to do so this year. As the saying goes, I’m making more lemonade as life gives me lemons. I am grateful for life and the time I have to spend with my family.

My hope for Jamaica is a severe reduction in crime and that we live in unity. Also, I hope that we will be able to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Chloe Watson

Owner, Novia Nailz

Wishing for a return to good values and doing more for neighbours

This year, I would like to adapt more to the virtual space to network and make partnerships; to upgrade professionally; and to expand my ENT practice.

I want to spend more time to seek God. His guidance is crucial in these times.

I desire to do outreach, as more caring hands are needed now more than ever. I will endeavour to reconnect with persons neglected in 2020.

COVID-19 should remind us of how vulnerable we are.

I hope Jamaica’s economy will rebound. I pray for the safety of all our people, especially the children, elderly and disabled. I wish for a return of good values and attitudes, and that we love and respect our fellow citizens.

Dr Glendine Malaika Browne-Brown