Excerpt from the Jamaica Observer column published on Monday, October 24, 2022
By Jean Lowrie-Chin
As I watched Private sector Organisation of Jamaica (PsOJ) president and JMMB Group Chairman Keith Duncan presenting the PsOJ Hall of Fame citation to Michael Lee-Chin, Jamaican-born international financier and chairman of the NCB Financial Group, I turned to fellow guests at my table and said, “Look at the new face of banking in Jamaica; 30 years ago we would hardly think this possible.”
We reflected on their lives, these sons of two matriarchs — Joan Duncan and Hyacinth Chen — who laid the foundation on which their children would build their regional and international businesses.
We recall the national honours ceremony last Monday at King’s House at which Duncan’s mother, Joan, was invested into the Order of Jamaica, one of our country’s highest national honours. I remember the comment of a former co-worker of Joan when she started JMMB. She shared that Joan had a deep faith and was a gifted expert in banking so her success was sure. From the beginning she declared love to be the watchword of her business and it continues to this day. JMMB has named their foundation in her memory.
I first met Chen at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto when my shop handled the Jamaican media coverage of the opening of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. When I introduced myself I was pleasantly surprised when she embraced me and said she had been following this column. When I visited her in Mandeville she took me into her kitchen to show me one of my columns stuck on her refrigerator door. She was a woman of great wisdom, always reaching out to the less fortunate. Michael Lee-Chin sponsored the Hyacinth Gloria Chen School of Nursing at the Northern Caribbean University in her honour.
The vision and empathy of their mothers have inspired these two Jamaicans to give back to their country in myriad ways. By coincidence, media cameras were trained on both men last Thursday. Keith Duncan, in his voluntary role as chairman of the Economic P ro g r a m m e O v e r s i g h t Committee (EPOC), presented the quarterly update on Jamaica’s economic status, declaring that we do not fully appreciate that, in comparison to many other countries, Jamaica is a positive example of post-COVID-19 recovery. As usual, Duncan was cautiously optimistic and lauded the Bank of Jamaica for its fiscal policies and the Government for providing funds for Jamaica’s vulnerable citizens.
As a perfect segue, later that evening Lee-Chin, chair of Jamaica’s Economic Growth Council (EGC), shared his guidelines for achieving success, citing the example of his parents and that had nothing to do with me. I didn’t choose my parents, I was blessed; I didn’t choose my country, I was blessed; I didn’t choose the era in which I was born, I was blessed. Therefore, given my blessings, do I have a responsibility to those of my brothers and sisters who are less blessed?” The NCB Foundation was the mentorship of Warren Buffett. The strength of family was evident at the event: his brother, our favourite pop historian, Wayne Chen was emcee, his son Michael Lee-Chin Jr said the grace, and his younger children gave the vote of thanks.
Lee-Chin quoted the early 20th century Chicago architect Daniel Burnham: “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realised. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty.”
He recalled that day, March 22, 2002 when he decided to buy NCB, which had stood for two years on the auction block: “Just before writing the cheque, I thought, ‘How is it possible for the son of an orphan and clerk to be buying the National Commercial Bank of Jamaica?’
“In a flash the answers came to me. There are many factors that made it possible the answer, donating millions of dollars in scholarships and other projects.
Reflecting on his role as chairman of the EGC, he observed, “The big issue we have to solve is the trust deficit between the public and the private sector…We solve problems every day in our role as the private sector so we are problem-solving fit. If we want a better country, we have to find ways to engage with the public sector at all levels, work hand-in-hand to solve national issues.”
How can we ever give up on Jamaica when we have some of our best minds serving voluntarily on EPOC and on the EGC? All of us can take a page from the book of Joan Duncan and Hyacinth Chen by raising resilient, altruistic, and ambitious children who will take this country forward.
Jamaica Highlights 