KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica’s Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia Grange, is urging the nation to seize on the opportunity to build on the achievements of the nation’s Olympians at the Beijing Summer Games in China, in August.
Addressing a post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House on October 1, Miss Grange said that the athletes’ exploits have put Jamaica at the centrestage of world attention.
“It has enhanced Brand Jamaica…assisted tourism, assisted Jamaica, as a country, assisted the private sector with their brands, and it is now an opportunity that we all should seize, to build on.because Jamaica has proven that it’s little, but awesome,” the Minister said.
Hon. Olivia Grange
Jamaica’s Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports
Regarding the private sector’s response to the Government’s appeal for partnerships in staging the activities to celebrate the Olympians’ success, Miss Grange noted that, initially, this was slow in coming, but soon picked up, adding that “we are going to be acknowledging those contributions publicly.” Some of these organisations include: Digicel, Scotiabank, National Commercial Bank (NCB), Alumina Partners (ALPART), and the Spanish-Jamaican Foundation.
She pointed out that the private/public sector partnerships and the resulting support which they yielded, were not confined to the Olympic homecoming celebrations.
“We’re talking about long-term relationships (and) partnerships. For example, NCB has indicated that they want to continue to work with Government, to work with the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Sports, in using this success to further motivate and help to develop sports in schools, and educational institutions. We really think that this public/private sector partnership is going to be far reaching, and it’s going to make a difference,” Miss Grange said.
