The Editor, Sir:

I trust that The Gleaner contributor Deon P. Green or some other contributor will keep the rest of us informed about recent suggestions that would see experienced and appropriately qualified Jamaican nationals from within the diaspora being permitted to bid for government contracts in Jamaica.

I could not agree more with the published quote: "Participants also stated that giving contracts to those foreign nationals is no benefit to the country as, in many cases, the money flows out of Jamaica as foreign-based entrepreneurs often have their own foreign employees in top jobs, leaving substandard work and income to the locals."

I too, have discovered the very same attitude from my own professional experiences. Working with a United States-based company bidding on a contract to perform professional services in Jamaica, it eventually became very clear that the owners of the U.S.-based company only paid 'lip-service' to the idea of contributing to the local economy and the country in general.

While making a profit ought to be the driving force for any business opportunity local or internationally, what is so wrong with making a profit and impacting lives and local economies at the same time. If we would only stop to think and realise that more business opportunities and profits may flow even more if your enterprise commits to and actually delivers exceptional services as well as create opportunities for others in the local market. Instead, some foreign-based companies are focussed on extracting and milking everything from the local market and dismiss returning any benefit to the local economy similar to the actions of our former colonial masters.

I am, etc.,

TREVOR JACKSON

trevorajackson@hotmail.com

Snellville, GA

Via Go-Jamaica