Novar McDonald receives the President's Award for Excellence from Jamaica Employers' Federation (JEF) president, Audrey Hinchcliffe, at the federation's Evening of Excellence Awards Ceremony, held at The Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Avenue, on Tuesday.
COMPANIES AND individuals, active in encouraging entrepreneurship and enterprise development in Jamaica, were last Tuesday honoured by the Jamaica Employers' Federation (JEF).
The event, an 'Evening of Excellence' at the Little Theatre, was a continuation of the JEF's celebration of National Employers' Month.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Alister Cooke, chairman of the HEART Trust/NTA board of directors, expressed confidence in the ability to shape a world-class Jamaican workforce through strong partnership with the employers of Jamaica. "I am confident that we can work together to achieve HEART's goal to train and certify up to 100,000 Jamaicans by 2008," he said.
IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION
The Minister of Industry and Tourism, Aloun N'Dombet Assamba, commented on the impact of globalisation on the Jamaican economy. She combined the roles of enterprise and entrepreneurship in preparing Jamaica to compete on the world market, and pointed out that innovation and creativity are imperative to business and entrepreneurial growth, and ultimately the creation of wealth in the country.
After Minister Assamba's address, the Master of Ceremonies, Mark Thomas, who is also director of communications at HEART, invited Mrs. Jacqueline Coke-Lloyd, executive director of the JEF, to make the presentations to those being honoured. She was aided by Audrey Hinchcliffe, president of the JEF, and Minister Assamba, in handing out plaques to the thirty-one persons, each selected by their respective organisations, in recognition of their exceptional work and contribution to their respective companies.
ENTERPRISE-BASED TRAINING
Following this, the executive director of HEART, Mr. Robert Gregory, presented the top 13 organisations in Enterprise-Based Training, as selected by the JEF, with plaques in commemoration of their work. The ceremony was punctuated with performances by several young Jamaican acts, including young men from Bridgeport High School, who did a contemporary dance, poet Ishion Hutchinson, pianist Yannique Leiba, and Kathy Brown and Friends.
The final segment of the awards ceremony was the presentation of the JEF awards. The categories were Staff and Long Service Awards, Company Membership Awards, JEF Ambassador, Public Sector Leadership Award, Meritorious Award, the Presidential Award for Excellence, and the Media Award which went to The Gleaner Company for exceptional coverage of enterprise and employment-related issues.
