Category: outreach

Digicel Foundation Appoints New CEO

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The Digicel Foundation has appointed Dane Richardson as its new chief executive officer, following the recent resignation of Samantha Chantrelle.

Richardson is now responsible for taking the organisation to the next level and building on the solid momentum achieved under the leadership of Chantrelle who resigned from the position late last year.

Oversight and management of a US$3+ million annual budget ­– focused on education through improvement in literacy and (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) STEM; the development of the special needs sector; and community development/social entrepreneurship.

Richardson joined the foundation as programme manager for education in 2013 and was later promoted to head of programmes. Richardson assumes the new role from his position as director of operations.

Over the years, he has developed a reputation for strong people, project and resource management. With more than 10 years of experience in the social development sector in Jamaica, Richardson has served the public and private sectors in addition to civil society.

The 33-year-old has contributed significantly to the growth of Digicel Foundation, leading the implementation of a three-year strategic plan.

“The foundation has given me a tremendous platform to challenge myself in ways I never did before. Stepping up to the helm is both an honour and a charge,” Richardson stated in a release from the organisation. “The needs in Jamaica are great and varied. What is clear is that all my efforts must remain focused on how to better serve those who are most in need.”

Richardson started his career at Digicel in 2001 but spent much of his time in managerial roles in secondary and tertiary level education, before joining Jamaica AIDS Support for Life as its programme development and grants manager. The Wolmer’s Boys’ graduate is described by his peers as a dynamic and innovative team leader who has consistently displayed honourable work ethic.

“This is an exciting time for the foundation as Dane charts a road map for expanding our reach to touch more lives. I know that he will be a strong leader, with the passion to guide our foundation towards achieving more for our communities,” expressed Jean Lowrie-Chin, chairperson of the Digicel Foundation.

Last year, the Digicel Foundation invested more than $3 billion in communities islandwide, impacting over 580,000 Jamaicans since inception.

In the release, the Board acknowledged the “outstanding contributions” of previous CEOs Major General Robert Neish and Samantha Chantrelle.

Chantrelle was CEO of the foundation since November 2011, having previously worked as a project manager for the NCB Foundation. She holds an MSc in the Sociology of Develpment from the University of the West Indies, Mona, and a BA in Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley in the United States.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Digicel-Foundation-appoints-new-CEO_85486

Dane Richardson Takes Reins At Digicel Foundation

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Leadership is an innate quality entrenched in the DNA of 33-year-old Dane Richardson, who officially took the reins as chief executive officer at Digicel Foundation on New Year’s Day.

Digicel Foundation is a non-profit organisation that distributes and utilises funds on a charitable basis for the sole purpose of building communities and community spirit in Jamaica.

Richardson will be tasked with advancing the goodwill organisation by adding to the legacy achieved by his predecessor, Samantha Chantrelle.

The Wolmerian joined the foundation in 2013 as programme manager for education and quickly climbed through the ranks to be promoted to head of programmes in 2015, and, subsequently, director of operations in 2016.

Before joining the foundation, he was programme development manager and grants manager at the Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, one of the largest health care agencies in Latin America and the Caribbean, addressing the socioeconomic challenges facing, and advocating for, Jamaicans living with and affected by HIV and AIDS, STIs, and intimate-partner violence.

In speaking with The Gleaner about his ascension to the helm of the foundation, Richardson said: “Happy would be an understatement. Deeply ecstatic better sums it up.”

He added: “Receiving such an opportunity to lead an organisation has been a lifelong aspiration. Having witnessed and learnt from many outstanding development specialists, I have always wanted a chance to make my own mark contributing to positive changes in my home country.”

Richardson’s appointment comes on the heels of the foundation being awarded the Non-profit Organisation of the Year by the Council of Voluntary Social Services (CVSS).

Richardson contributed greatly to said recognition through procedural improve-ments and efficiencies, improved cost effectiveness, as well as increased scope in programme design and reach; his most noteworthy achievement being his leadership of the implementation of the foundation’s largest project with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) valued at J$600 million, which contributed to the achievement of the Ministry of Education’s goal of 85 per cent literacy in 2015 at the primary level.

SUITABLE PERSON

Krystal Tomlinson, public relations and engagement manager at Digicel Foundation, expressed that upon hearing the news from outgoing CEO Chantrelle, she wept joyfully.

“He’s the most suitable and deserving person. Dane knows the foundation inside out. We are coming out of a three-year strategic plan and he wasn’t just a part of it, but he led it from the jump. He’s inclusive and he encourages a sense of creativity. He allows you to challenge his own ideas, and that style of leadership is ideal.”

Neville Charlton, fellow CVSS awardee (young leader award) and public relations and engagement assistant at Digicel Foundation, echoed similar sentiments.

“Dane is an optimist and a go-getter. He’s not the conventional leader; he tries to get everyone’s opinion. He’s very passionate about anything he does,” he told The Gleaner.

Foundation Chairperson Jean Lowrie-Chin also expressed confidence that Richardson’s passion and leadership strength would propel the organisation towards achieving more for communities.

Richardson credits his immediate family for fostering his growth and development while citing his mother as a daily tower of strength and motivation.

In speaking to his vision for the foundation, the shrewd executive said: “It is important that I build on our solid 12-year history. The former CEOs have created a fantastic platform for creating more positive change in Jamaica. I see Digicel Foundation contributing to a sustainable Jamaica for all. Through a shared-value proposition, the foundation can deepen its efforts in tackling serious national issues through alignment with key government and non-government agencies to ensure investments are impactful and sustained.”

The end of 2016 saw more than

J$3 billion invested by the foundation in communities islandwide, impacting more than 580,000 Jamaicans since inception.

syranno.baines@gleanerjm.com

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20170102/dane-richardson-takes-reins-digicel-foundation

Digicel, JCPD Grant Christmas Wish

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An enterprising young Jamaica living with cerebral palsy will remember this Christmas as the time he entered the workforce as an entrepreneur, after receiving a new computer, printer and external hard drive for his start-up technology firm, Ventura Tech.

While more than 3,000 children will ‘Get Gifted’ with toys, courtesy of Digicel during Christmas treats to be held islandwide.

The gift to Roshane Foster, who has refused to let the cerebral palsy crush his dreams, was made possible through collaboration between Digicel Foundation and the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD).

A recent surprise visit to Roshane’s house in Manchester brought tears of joy from his mother Gennie Facey, who was happy to see her son’s entrepreneurial dream come to life.

“Roshane has always wanted to start his own business and I have always known that he had it in him to be successful, but as a single parent it has been difficult to give him all he would need to succeed. I am so very appreciative. I could not ask for more,” said Facey.

A GOOD START

She noted that this was a good start for Ventura Tech, a name hand-picked by her son for his business.

Roshane already supports his community through graphic design and other digital services. However, with new gadgets, he will now have better equipment to extend his business portfolio.

As Roshane spoke it became clear that he had great passion for his business. “Ventura Tech is very unique because I try to make sure each design is different and I listen to my customers, so that I can give them what they ask for. I put my heart and soul in each design so that makes a big difference.”

He was eager to share his vision for the future, saying, “I see myself in the next five years with at least two computer shops and giving back to the persons who helped me to make my dream come true.”

“We want to celebrate the resilient spirit of champions like Roshane, who want to contribute meaningfully, despite the hurdles along their way,” said Dane Richardson, director of operations at the Digicel Foundation.

Through several initiatives, the foundation supports organisations to help address challenges in the disability sector.

FAR-REACHING EFFORTS

“Working with key agencies like the JCPD helps to ensure that our efforts are far-reaching and impactful,” said Richardson.

From his certification in information technology and business administration to his own volunteerism in becoming the first active Rotaract Club member living with cerebral palsy, Roshane has made great strides.

In speaking about his next steps, he was steadfast in sharing how he wants to channel his own success to actively supporting members of the special-needs community.

“What I want is for persons to stop looking down on people with disabilities. We have a lot to offer, just like anyone else,” said Roshane.

In the meantime, Digicel will continue giving toys to children tomorrow, with the Usain Bolt Treat in Sherwood Content Trelawny

Digicel Jamaica CEO David Butler said toy-giving has become a happy tradition of the company.

“Nothing warms our hearts more at this time of the year than seeing the joy a toy brings to children’s faces. We are always very happy to support our ambassadors and community organisations that work hard to ensure we extend smiles right across Jamaica during the Yuletide,” said Butler.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20161225/digicel-jcpd-grant-christmas-wish

‘Q Is The Key To Cash 4 Life’ – Enriching Lives For Christmas

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The lives of five lucky Jamaicans have been enriched this festive season, thanks to cash prizes they have won for the month of November in J. Wray & Nephew Limited’s ‘Q is the Key to Cash 4 Life’ competition.

Laffern Anderson, Kervin Bryson and Keisha Bennett were randomly selected as the first, second and third-place winners with cash prizes of $500,000, $250,000 and $150,000, respectively.

When 55-year-old Anderson, who had already won $10,000 in the competition, was informed that she won $500,000, she could not contain herself.

“I can’t even explain how mi feel. Mi really, really glad! I love to buy my white rum and drink it with Pepsi because it drink really good, so this just make me feel even better,” Anderson, who is from Highgate, St Mary, said with a laugh.

Anderson, a domestic worker, explained how timely the cash prize was in helping her to accomplish her goal of finishing the construction of her home.

“I am going to finish up mi house with the money. Mi a poor smaddy, enuh, so me house nuh done yet. Mi a go continue enter because me want to win in the finals come January also, because me have an operation on my eye, and that money woulda do me good,” she added.

Like Anderson, Bryson was over the moon when he was informed that he won $250,000. The 28-year-old who is from Trelawny and works in the construction business said: “I feel good about it. Mi glad mi did buy the flask of [Wray & Nephew] White Overproof Rum and entered.”

“I have not spent the money as yet. What I want to do is to build a one-room, but I have no land. I will try to make something out of it. Mi ah go put it to use,” he said.

Bennett, a nail technician from St Ann, said she has plans to invest the $150,000 she won.

Pietro Gramegna, marketing manager, J. Wray & Nephew Limited, said the company is happy to have enriched the lives of hundreds of Jamaicans with the competition.

WEEKLY CASH PRIZES

“This year we are happy to be providing 14 weeks of daily cash prizes of $10,000, mobile phone credit, and monthly cash prizes of $50,000, $100,000, $150,000, $250,000 and $500,000. In January 2017, there will be a grand prize draw for two persons to each win $1,000,000 per year for the next 10 years,” Gramegna said.

“Already, more than $5,000,000 has been won by entrants from the competition, with our first, second, third, fourth and fifth-place winners of $500,000, $250,000, $150,000, $100,000 and $50,000; 110 winners of $10,000, and 8,540 winners of $100 phone credit for the months of October and November,” he added.

The 14-week competition features dancehall’s Real Rich sensation Tanto Blacks and will award nearly $30 million in prize money between October 2016 and January 2017 to winning players who purchase ‘Qs’ (200 ml bottles) of Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum, Charley’s JB Overproof Rum, Appleton Special or Campari, once they peel their labels, text the codes to the number provided and are selected.

Photo: Alia Atkinson pays courtesy call on GraceKennedy

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Jamaica’s swimming sensation and GraceKennedy Brand Ambassador Alia Atkinson has been occupied this festive season with visiting organisations that have supported her, and expressing her gratitude. Among these was GraceKennedy (GK) Group, whose headquarters she visited in downtown Kingston on Monday, December 19. There she spent quality time with Don Wehby, CEO, GraceKennedy Group, and the staff members. Here, as part of her visit, Wehby shows her a photograph he still cherishes which includes him, Atkinson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, another GK brand ambassador.

CCRP Shares the Love this Festive Season

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On Tuesday, December 13, members of the Caring Committee of the Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP) visited the Golden Age Home in Kingston where they handed over items of toiletries to the residents of Cluster D which were donated by their members at their Christmas Party held on December 6. Here, Morelene Moncrieffe (left), Supervisor of Cluster D accepts one of the bags with the donations from Hanna Dixon.

CCRP Celebrates with PriceSmart at Sovereign Centre

CCRP CELEBRATES WITH PRICESMART AT SOVEREIGN CENTRE: Executives from the Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP) (from left) Donna Singh, Marketing & Development Consultant; Jean Lowrie-Chin, Executive Chair; Denise Eldemire Shearer, Honorary Chair and Dorett Linton, Acting CEO, join with Jodi Lee Oakley (center) of PriceSmart in cutting a celebratory cake at the CCRP Christmas Bazaar at Sovereign Centre in Liguanea, St Andrew on Tuesday, December 20. Through the generosity of the management of Sovereign Centre, members of the seniors’ organisation were invited to display and sell their Jamaican made items at a store in the shopping centre during the Christmas season. The space was provided to CCRP rent and maintenance free.

Here are some highlights from the location.

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GraceKennedy Fetes Seniors In The Spirit Of Christmas

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Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

The senior citizens were the ones being feted, gently tapping the desk or rocking to the beat of Christmas carols as they caught up with friends from neighbouring communities at the De La Vega Community Centre in Spanish Town, St Catherine, recently, but Don Wehby was clearly having just as much fun.

“This is the nicest part of my job,” the GraceKennedy Group chief executive officer shared with The Gleaner in-between greeting some of the more than 60 persons who turned out for the annual Christmas treat hosted by the Grace and Staff Community Development Foundation.

Former GraceKennedy employee Desreen Mighty caught Wehby off guard when she proudly showed him two identification cards from her days with the company, having spent 28 years on staff.

GREAT MEMORIES

As she started right out of school, the older of the two cards showed her with an Afro hairstyle and with her maiden name, Allen.

However, she proudly pointed out to Wehby that it had been signed by the late Carlton Alexander, former chairman and chief executive officer of Grace.

The retired 75-year-old described the company as “outstanding” and was quite willing to share stories about her time spent there.

Drawn from March Pen, Lakes Pen, Lime Tree, Quarrie Hill and De La Vega City, the beneficiaries are selected by members of the Grace and Staff Community Development Foundation who work in these communities, and the event is eagerly anticipated, according to Joan Black, treasurer of the De La Vega City Benevolent Society.

“It is always well received,” she disclosed.

All the senior citizens were treated to Grace gift baskets, as well as lively interaction with members of the GraceKennedy Group and the Grace and Staff Community Development Foundation, who combined their singing talents to form a company choir, serving up rousing rounds of carols and Yuletide cheer.

It was obvious that, for the retirees, some of whom had been bussed to the location, it was a welcomed intervention.

Wehby really made their day when he promised that as long as he is head of GraceKennedy Limited, they would always have a Christmas treat. For this, he earned a sustained round of applause.

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20161221/spreading-christmas-cheer-grace-fetes-seniors-spirit-christmas

Atkinson cites sponsors, such as Rainforest Seafoods, as key to her success

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MONTEGO BAY, St James — FINA Short Course world record holder Alia Atkinson has lauded the assistance from her sponsors Rainforest Seafoods and the Amateur Swimming Association of Jamaica (ASAJ) in helping her reach to the top of word swimming.

At a luncheon held in her honour yesterday at the offices of Rainforest Seafoods in Freeport, Montego Bay, Atkinson, who won three medals at the recent FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in Windsor, Canada, presented her sponsors with one of her medals from the World Cup held in Doha, Qatar. She told them she would not have been able to accomplish most of her targets this year without their help.

“Swimming was not that big here in Jamaica and I needed the finance, I needed the help,” she admitted. “Not only did it help me reach to meets that I could not reach before, but it made me feel somewhat like I was on the same level playing field as the rest of the world.”

Atkinson, who suffered a major disappointment after finishing last in her pet event, the 100m breastroke at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August, said the swimmers from other countries got everything they needed to enhance their performances. “The silliest things that you can even think of,” she said, before noting that even the arrangements by the world governing body for swimming favoured those from the more developed countries.

“At the last World Championships, there were six different hotels and all the countries that were expected to medal were in the best hotels, and the others were in the rickety ones around the corner. Everything, from the food and the environment, was a step down.”

It was the support from her sponsors and the ASAJ, she said, that made the difference for her. “If it was not for the support from Rainforest and from Jamaica swimming and Jamaica itself, I would not be able to bring myself up to that level and know that I could do well,” she said.

“It’s not just about you giving someone money…it’s hard to say, but it embodies who I am and it keeps me fighting.”

This season has seen ups and downs, she said, from the Olympics let down to breaking a World Short Course 100m breaststroke record and finish the season strongly. But she said she will fight on.

“There have been ups and down; life is a fight and we can’t give up because life throws you a curveball when you are expecting a straight one,” she said. “I want to build up swimming for people of colour, and for Jamaica; I want to build up children’s characters and teach them that they must try to excel and not just to give up.”

Roger Lyn, marketing manager for Rainforest Seafoods, called Atkinson a “true ambassador, the type of person we want to align our brand with, not just being an athlete, but the example that you set”.

In his welcome he said the alignment between the swimmer and the brand was perfect. “We are seafood and all about the ocean, so we are happy to make the partnership happen this year.”

Ernest Grant, general manager of Rainforest Seafoods, said Atkinson had raised the profile of the sport. “You are now a household name and have inspired many others,” he said, as he reminded Jamaicans that athletes are not just those who run and jump.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/Atkinson-cites-sponsors-as-key-to-her-success_83728