Businesses Encouraged to Implement Apprenticeship Programmes for Unattached Youth
By: , April 27, 2023
Photo: Dave Reid
Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill (left), having a light discussion with (from second left), Managing Director, Make Your Mark Group, Dr. Jacqueline Coke Lloyd and Pastor, Transformed Life Church, Reverend Dwight Fletcher, on Wednesday (April 26), day one of the Make Your Mark two-day Conference, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston.
Photo: Dave Reid
President, Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), Metry Seaga, speaks at the 13th staging of the Make Your Mark Conference, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston, on Wednesday (April 26). Listening (from right) are Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill; Managing Director, Make Your Mark Group, Dr. Jacqueline Coke Lloyd and Pastor, Transformed Life Church, Reverend Dwight Fletcher.
Photo: Dave Reid
Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill, gestures while addressing middle managers from several public and private entities, during the 13th staging of the Make Your Mark conference. The conference started on Wednesday (April 26) and will end on Thursday, April 27, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston. Listening are (seated from left) Pastor, Transformed Life Church, Reverend Dwight Fletcher and Managing Director, Make Your Mark Group, Dr. Jacqueline Coke Lloyd.The Full Story
The Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill, is encouraging businesses to implement apprenticeship programmes for unattached youth.
His call follows the Government’s desire to address labour shortages across several sectors.
“We [as a Ministry] support businesses. We support you in middle management but you in business must train a lot more and must upskill our people,” the Minister said.
He was addressing stakeholders at the 13th staging of the Make Your Mark two-day conference, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston on Wednesday (April 26).
Senator Hill informed that the Ministry is working with the HEART/NSTA Trust to provide training and certification opportunities, “to help expand the workforce through apprenticeships”.
He noted that the Government continues to allocate resources to the education sector and improve the programmes currently available. The most recent include waiving administration and tuition fees from courses up to level four (associate degree) at the HEART/NSTA Trust.
The conference, which ends on Thursday, April 27, is being hosted by Make Your Mark Group (MYM), under the theme ‘Leading from the Middle with Courage, Authenticity and Vision’.
Against this backdrop, Senator Hill encouraged the managers to be intentional about addressing the problems in their organisations, maintain authenticity and be reflective against criticisms.
Meanwhile, Managing Director of the Group, Dr. Jacqueline Coke Lloyd, said the conference is designed to “prepare managers for the future, given cultural, global, economic and social shocks being experienced”.
“The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) also calls for new thinking, reorganisation of our businesses, continuous evaluations and retirement of obsolete systems and processes,” she argued.
Mrs. Coke Lloyd noted that opportunities exist to expand Jamaica’s economy through “intense targeted training, revision of school and tertiary curricula, and imputation of special skillsets”.
For his part, President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), Metry Seaga, said the labour sector continues to evolve with rising demands for managerial and supervisory roles, according to findings obtained by the organisation.
“A key finding was that 42 per cent of the respondents selected management leadership or project as the primary skill required by their company. This finding was further supported by data from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security last year, where of the top occupational jobs advertised, 185 of them were managerial and supervisory,” he noted.