KINGSTON, Jamaica – Leesa Kow, managing director of JN Bank, a member company of the JN Group, says engaging younger generations of Jamaicans overseas is important to the furtherance of the diaspora engagement strategy.
Leesa Kow JN Bank Managing Director
Addressing the launch of the 10th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade in Kingston, Ms Kow said the conference remains a vital tool for keeping Jamaicans overseas connected with Jamaica and she invited their continued participation in the country’s development. However, Ms Kow said youth engagement will be important to sustaining the connection with the country’s estimated 3 million citizens living overseas.
“An important aspect of this conference is to engage the younger members of the Diaspora. These individuals are the future bearers of the Jamaican legacy abroad, and we must seek to inspire them to explore their heritage and consider how they can contribute to Jamaica’s growth,” she said.
The JN Bank managing director, a former head of the largest homegrown remittance company, JN Money, said diaspora conferences over the years have yielded good results that have enabled Jamaica to solidify partnerships that continue to benefit the country.
“Through their diverse skills, experiences, and networks acquired abroad, Jamaicans in the diaspora bring valuable expertise and resources to the table, driving progress in various sectors of the Jamaican economy,” she underscored.
Ms Kow said the conferences over the years have been fertile ground for great ideas and initiatives, and urged participants to ensure each one is nurtured until it has matured.
“Let us not forget that this conference is not only about dialogue and discussion,” she reminded the audience. “It is about action…harnessing the collective power of the Diaspora to help with tackling the challenges facing our nation and to seize the opportunities that lie ahead.”
Her message was supported by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, who, in her keynote address at the launch, said the conferences have been an active space marked by achievements that have redounded to the benefit of Jamaicans locally and overseas.
Pointing to the National Diaspora Policy and the Jamaica Diaspora Engagement Model (JAM-DEM) platform, which will support Jamaicans overseas interested in investing in the country, Minister Johnson Smith said that Jamaica’s approach to engaging with its diaspora over the years has become a model for other developing countries. The $30 million JAM-DEM project, being pursued with the support of the International Organization for Migration, is to be launched in June, she said.
Minister Johnson Smith invited all stakeholders, locally and overseas, to share in the accomplishments of the conferences over the years.
“We are not standing in place, we are not a ‘talk shop’, we are engaging and growing as a diaspora…,” she assured Jamaicans, noting that Jamaica has been able to build its partnership with its diaspora into its foreign policy framework, development plan, as well as into its medium-term socio-economic framework.
Other legacy sponsors of the conference, VM Group and GraceKennedy similarly hailed the power of the biennial conference in solidifying partnerships for development with the country’s diaspora population.
