Fellows of the Young Leaders of America Initiative (from left) Dennis Fyffe, owner of Denni Visuals; Jannell Alexander-Reid, founder and director, JAR Institute; Janielle Todd, CEO of Generation A+; director of God’s Investments for Today (GIFT); and Digital Danes CEO Carlyle Grant share a frame after their return from the six-week program in the United States of America.
Jamaican fellows from the 2022 installation of the Young American Leaders Initiative (YLAI) in the United States of America believe that Jamaica is missing out on opportunities for investment and business partnerships in Latin America due to a lack of bilingual professionals.
While sharing their experiences in the YLAI program, which included four weeks of professional placements in various states across the US, the entrepreneurs admitted they gained a greater appreciation for different cultures based on interactions with other peers. In an interview with The Jamaica Observer on Thursday at the ROK Hotel in downtown Kingston, five of the YLAI members expressed interest in learning a second language, preferably Spanish and/or French.
A product of the US Department of State, YLAI is geared toward empowering entrepreneurs in Canada and over 40 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean by building their capacity to launch and advance business ventures that contribute to social and economic development. of their communities. Since its inception in 2015, the program has engaged more than 1,000 associates between the ages of 25 and 35 through YLAI’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Curriculum and individualized professional placements.
To date, approximately 40 young Jamaicans have participated in YLAI, learning how to accelerate the success of their commercial and social ventures while developing action plans to implement back home and connecting with entrepreneurs from other countries.
TODD…the opportunities are great for partnering with the Latin American community.
When asked what they wanted to bring back to Jamaica after being exposed to a variety of nationalities, Janielle Todd, founder and CEO of Generation A+, said she would advocate for more Jamaicans to speak Spanish.
“The opportunities are great for partnership with the Latin American community. Even in the US they have known the Hispanics and they are willing to work; the cooperation is there. But we do not know Spanish and so what is happening is that we are cutting So , more than anything, if we really want to see our businesses grow, make sure we learn Spanish,” she said.
Her YLAI colleagues agreed.
For filmmaker and photographer Dennis Fyffe, who is also the owner of Denni Visuals, learning Spanish should be mandatory.
“If they are asked to learn English [to do business], why aren’t we required to learn Spanish? They must know English and Spanish, so we must [to speak] Even Spanish,” he said Sunday Finance.
FYFFE…if they are asked to learn English [to do business]why aren’t we required to learn spanish?
Although Jamaica is surrounded by most Spanish-speaking countries, with the exception of French-speaking Haiti in the north-east of the island, only a small number of the population claim to be fluent in Spanish or French. This, despite the fact that both languages are taught at the secondary level.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness has, on several occasions, proposed that Spanish become a secondary language in Jamaica since 2016. In 2018, he would announce that foreign direct investment from the Kingdom of Spain was the highest in the tourism industry of Jamaica, reaching $1.7 billion and contributing to the construction of 25 percent of hotel rooms on the island.
Educator and psychologist Keenen Senior, who runs God’s Investment for Today (GIFT) – a social enterprise focused on youth empowerment – argued that the “demand” for more Jamaicans to learn Spanish is not unreasonable. She emphasized her new appreciation for other cultures after being placed in a diverse group that included her friend from the Dominican Republic and other friends from Peru and Brazil.
However, she complained that while Latin Americans were forced to use English to communicate, given their location and the requirement to network, her Caribbean participants complained of feeling excluded.
“I felt like there were a lot of complaints from the Caribbean group about feeling left out when the truth is there’s some work we need to do to be included. So while we think we were outnumbered, at the same time AGE [time], how were we prepared to enter those spaces? So that’s something we definitely have to consider,” she argued.
On that note, Jannel Alexander-Reid, founder and director of the JAR Institute, agreed. Her social enterprise focuses on helping women seek their economic and social independence through training in event planning and decoration, flower arranging, makeup, entrepreneurship and cake baking.
Since returning from YLAI, she has incorporated the institution into a cross-cultural network of institutions that care for women.
“So, of course, for the Women’s Empowerment Network, we have people from Spanish, from French and, of course, here, from English-speaking countries. So we’re collaborating, we have sessions where [have] exchange in our languages…” she said,
“We have discussions about how we’re going to connect with women in French-speaking countries because, of course, if you want to make a global impact, it can’t just be English. You can’t be a global leader with just one language. You have to ‘connected,’ Alexander-Reid continued.
With her business also targeting women who have been victims of domestic abuse, she has partnered with an organization in Bolivia adopting their model and using their best practices to introduce new training programs at the JAR Institute .
She concluded that since communication is an essential part of travel, it made sense for Jamaicans to learn another language.
