MONTEGO BAY, St James – The Social Enterprise Boost Initiative (SEBI), the joint JN Foundation and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) venture, in conjunction with the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) will today host a panel discussion at the University of the West Indies, Western Jamaica Campus, on the effective use of social enterprise to create safer and more sustainable communities.The discussion, which is scheduled to start at 6:00 pm, will share with attendees, lessons learnt thus far by both implementing partners and local practitioners.
At this session, leaders and representatives from communities such as Flanker, Norwood, Salt Spring, Canterbury, Mount Salem and Rose Heights, will be introduced to the social enterprise business model with a view to learning how the hybrid model can create safer and sustainable communities.
Locally, social enterprise is already changing the face of several vulnerable communities such as that of the deaf, blind, physical and mentally challenged through the creation of jobs and new opportunities.
Panellists include: Saffrey Brown, general manager JN Foundation, Charmaine Brimm, technical specialist, Planning Institute of Jamaica and Clover Gordon, Bunker’s Hill Cultural Xperience, Social Enterprise Practitioner and SEBI Incubator member.
“The successes of Jamaica’s burgeoning social enterprise community over the last four years have proven that the model is effective in addressing some of Jamaica’s most pressing challenges,” said Brown.
“Not only has it been beneficial in increasing productivity within some of our most underserved communities, but it has allowed people who were largely outside of the productive sector to gainfully contribute to Jamaica’s GDP (gross domestic product).”
