Rise of women in Jamaica’s customs brokering and logistics

As customs clearance and logistics processes modernise to serve global supply chains and cross-border trade, the acumen required to keep pace with the disruptive technologies of the Fifth Industrial Revolution such as artificial intelligence (AI) are evolving at a rapid pace.

Technical, regulatory knowledge and operational discipline, roles often reserved for men due to cultural norms, now require the value-added skills of emotional intelligence, negotiation, relationship building and collaboration.

This shift has opened doors for women, who have greater access, and are excelling in roles ranging from frontline customs agents to executive leadership positions in multinational corporations, customs administrations like the Jamaica Customs Agency, and professional bodies like the Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association of Jamaica (CBFFAJ).

Tesonia Green and Jacquline Mason-Reid, who moved up in the leadership echelons of the CBFFAJ at its 59th annual general meeting (AGM) earlier this month, represent the changing face of an industry traditionally viewed as muscular and male-dominated. Redoubtable entrepreneurs and licensed customs brokers, they are defying the stereotypes that women don’t work well together in a local trade that is known for being fiercely competitive.

SOFT SPOKEN

Mason-Reid and Green are soft-spoken women, quiet in demeanour and naturally guarded about entering into new relationships. So, it was counter-intuitive for them to connect so easily when they met on a customs course at the Management Institute for National Development (MIND) several years ago. “Tesonia used to come to Kingston every Saturday to MIND, and from the first day we met we’ve been communicating ever since. I would assist her leading up to when she got her licence, and then we connected officially at our first CBFFAJ AGM,” recalled Mason-Reid.

Mason-Reid describes herself as the proud single mother of two girls and a grandson. Born in St Andrew and living for most of her life, over three decades in Portmore, from where she runs her customs brokering enterprise specialising in motor vehicle imports.

“In my experience, I have found many of the women in our trade to be selfish and every day has been a learning process for me. But my experience with Tesonia has been different. She operates in St Ann and me in Kingston — we help each other — I clear her shipments in Kingston and ensure delivery to her customers, and she does the same for me whenever I have shipments arriving in Montego Bay — we build trust between ourselves,” added Mason-Reid.

“The trust we share in business flows easily because we are both basically unselfish and ethical,” agreed Green. “Trust and personal values are critical for the future of our businesses as AI will make many of our business processes obsolete. What do we do when that happens? We will need to trust each other enough to pool our ideas and resources to survive,” she added.

INSPIRED BY MOTHER

Tesonia Green hails from a deep rural village called Philadelphia in the hills above Brown’s Town, St Ann. She attended St Hilda’s High, the Brown’s Town Community College, and Northern Caribbean University, where she attained a degree in Management Studies and Human Resource Management. She applied her tertiary education to starting her own customs brokering and courier business for the past 15 years, inspired by her mother, a businesswoman who sold clothes in the market.

In March this year, both customs brokers journeyed to Kyoto, Japan, for the International Federation of Customs Brokers Associations (IFCBA) World Conference, where they learnt about the gender bias and relative under-representation of women in leadership and executive positions in customs brokering and logistics from other countries.

For both women, who have been elevated in the leadership of the Marcia Bent-led CBFFAJ, Green, a newly minted executive member and Mason-Reid, who was promoted to honorary secretary, the association can only become stronger with the influx of more professional women.

More than 40 pet cent of the membership of the CBFFAJ are women, who hold 60 per cent of the executive positions in the association’s leadership. In 2024, the association opened its doors to admit professionals and logisticians, who are not licensed customs brokers as associate members.

Looking ahead, the growth, development and equity in customs brokering and logistics in Jamaica and around the world, depend on the industry’s ability to attract and empower talent from all backgrounds. Women will, arguably, continue to play a crucial role — as innovators, leaders, and changemakers.

Tesonia Green and Jacquline Mason-Reid intend to be a part of that future.