Fifteen-year-old Amoy Jarrett, a student of Immaculate High School; Sidony Brown, a stay-at-home mother; and Sherene Watts, an entrepreneur, have joined seven other Jamaicans to become millionaires in Digicel's Share a Smile Christmas promotion.

The trio, who as part of the promotion also each won an additional $500,000 to share with loved ones, said they were ecstatic to be starting off the new year in better financial standing.

An overjoyed Sidony Brown from St Catherine said she believed her winning was 'divine' as she had left her job as a bartender to assist her 10-year-old daughter who was struggling in school.

"It was just recently that I asked God for help because of everything I was going through and He has answered my prayer," she said.

Start-up business

Brown will be sharing the $500,000 with Omar Clarke, her common-law husband, and is also eager to use her $1 million to start up her poultry business and to invest in securing her own home.

Female entrepreneur Sherene Watts also expressed her plans to put her winnings to good use. As a bar owner in Kingston, Watts is now looking forward to starting the process of securing land for construction of her home. She will also be sharing her winnings with her mom, stepfather, sister and close friends who have always supported her. The youngest winner of the promotion, 15-year-old Amoy Jarrett, is also planning to share her winnings with family members. She will be sharing the additional $500,000 that she has won with her mother, uncle and aunt. Amoy's mother, Dawn Jarrett, collected the cheque on her behalf at the Digicel New Kingston head office earlier this week.

"The spirit of giving back is deeply ingrained in our ethos at Digicel and we are very happy that we have been able to continue to give back to our customers who have supported us throughout the years," said Tahnida Nunes, Digicel sponsorship manager. "Being able to create smiles and make the dreams of so many Jamaicans come true has made this Christmas for us at Digicel truly extraordinary."

The promotion, valued at $15 million in cash and $27 million in credit, wrapped up on December 27 and has seen more than 250,000 Jamaicans winning cash, credit and other prizes.