“Jamaican Entrepreneurship” is my kinda book. It is heavy on facts and very people-centric. Its 239 well-organized and easy-to-read pages profile 15 Jamaican entrepreneurs from different segments of society, provides a short history of the island’s economy and business environment, and reviews policies that favor entrepreneurship.
The profiles form the bulk of the book. They include the entrepreneurs’ background, family connections, education level, and business accomplishments. Most books such as this focus on the subjects' business backgrounds and typically provide just cursory background information. Bravo to the author for including a full view.
Some of my favorite profiles are Audrey Marks, the founder and CEO of Paymaster Jamaica, the island’s first multi-payment agency; and Norman Wright, the Founder of Perishables Jamaica, who is helping to revitalize Jamaican farming by packaging, branding and exporting locally-grown herbal teas. Others are Rita Humphries-Lewin who founded and chairs the Barita Group of Companies, one of Jamaica’s largest investment banks; and high school dropout Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart who started the Sandals hotel chain and revitalized tourism on the island. - -Michael McGaughy
Books
It delivers a fascinating glimpse of Jamaican island life-past and present.
I read “The Hero of Fern Gully” in one long evening, and since I was immediately taken by it, I have now completed a careful read of it. .. The book shows a really deep knowledge of Jamaica and some of its people, mostly as it was when it was still a colony of Britain, even though many things haven’t really changed since then!
It is a sort of compendium put in a narrative and very entertaining form, with stories covering a wide variety of topics – history, geography, agriculture, cuisine, religion, varying life styles, vocabulary – you name it, it is there! Humour too – I laughed most at the “upside-down burial” story.
Jamaicans, wherever they are, or whatever age they may be, would find “The Hero of Fern Gully” a most interesting and entertaining book, and for tourists, it could be a “real souvenir.” – Rev. Dr. Barry Davies
Jamaican Entrepreneurship • Historical Fiction • Cultural Stories
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