JAMAICA’S PRIME MINISTER ANDREW MICHAEL HOLNESS WILL SET THE TONE at the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) three-day conference billed for the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, Kingston, from January 23 – 25 under the theme ‘The Drivers of Capital: From Concept to Growth’.
PM Holness will address the topic ‘Translating Stable Economic Environment into Economic Growth for All’.
The JSE conference will be an ‘in-person’ event with limited virtual access according to organisers in Kingston who expect hundreds of participants from Asia, Africa, Europe and North and South America, and several CARICOM countries.
World-class leaders and industry experts from various sectors will gather at the annual event to share success secrets and help demystify complex topics in the presence of other leading entrepreneurs and noted professionals in their respective fields.
The beginning-of-the-year meeting is usually a fillip for participants to equip themselves with tried and tested insights to help them succeed. The JSE conference is also timed to ensure participants overcome sector difficulties spawned globally.
PM Holness’ presence at the JSE conference is seen to be a boost for his political ambitions of winning a third term at the forthcoming national polls. Holness was first elected Member of Parliament (MP) to represent the Constituency of West Central St. Andrew in 1997 when he was 25.
At the same time, the PM is currently serving his fourth term as a legislator and will certainly want to extend that to five. He is also his country’s ninth PM after his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) defeated the People’s National Party (PNP) at the polls on February 2016. It was following his rise to the top that he unveiled his blueprint to build real partnerships with the Private Sector, Civil Society, the Diaspora, the Opposition and International Partners to help spread prosperity throughout the 10,992 Km2 (4,244 sq miles) country with a population of almost 3 million.
Holness blueprint foresees inclusive economic growth and meaningful job creation for the Caribbean Island.
Before becoming PM, Mr. Holness held several vital portfolios in the political and governance systems including social welfare, community development, housing and education. On the latter, he distinguished himself as the Opposition Spokesperson on Education, and in the Cabinet as Minister of Education.
As opposition spokesperson on learning and as education minister, Mr. Holness brought national attention to literacy, and has been credited for instituting several programmes to place Jamaica on the path to universal literacy at the primary level.
Under his watch too, Kingston introduced the Career Advancement Programme (CAP), a post-secondary technical and vocational (TECHVOC) training scheme targeting unattached youth. Some of Holness’ more fundamental reforms which have garnered national and regional attention to the learning system include: the establishment the Jamaica Teaching Council, the National Education Trust, the National Education Inspectorate, National College for Education Leadership, the Centres of Excellence Programme and the Alternative Secondary Transition Education Programme (ASTEP) designed to support students lagging in general education.
The Jamaica PM holds who holds a MSc in Development Studies and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Management Studies from the University of the West Indies (Mona Campus), has also been credited with bringing a vibrant, pragmatic energy which has helped transform the Public Sector Administration and making government more agile and responsive.
He was born to working class parents on July 22, 1972 in Spanish Town, St. Catherine. He has the distinction of being his country’s youngest Prime Minister at 43 having serving two full terms. He is also the first PM elected who was born after the country achieved independence from the United Kingdom on August 6, 1962.
He wife Juliet is a first term MP for East Rural St Andrew. She is a Chartered Accountant and Real Estate Developer. The Holness’ have two sons, Adam 13 and Matthew 11.
PM Holness enjoys chess, jogging, cycling and table tennis whenever he can find players capable of testing his skills.
