JAMAICA’s leading furniture and appliance retailer, Courts Jamaica Limited, on Thursday announced a $14-million sponsorship of the National Youth Service’s new sales and administration camp.

The company’s managing director, Hayden Singh, made the announcement at the signing ceremony at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.

The sponsorship will cater to the training of 175 young Jamaicans who were selected through an islandwide recruitment campaign for the one-month training camp, which begins next month.

Upon successful completion of the camp, participants will be placed in 27 Courts stores across the island as sales representatives and customer care agents for a six-month period.

According to Singh, some of the participants would be placed in the company’s stores for a longer period, which he described as “a positive move for Jamaica”.

Said Singh: “This year, as we celebrate our 45th anniversary, our slogan is ‘Contributing to Jamaica’s Development’ and we at Courts believe this is an effective way in which we live this commitment. In addition, we do it with the confidence that it will provide value to the young people and our country.”

He added that the partnership symbolised the organisation’s continued belief in young Jamaicans, as well as its commitment to providing suitable employment for youth.

“In conjunction with the NYS, we have compiled a curriculum that we believe is relevant to today’s business environment needs which, coupled with valuable on-the-job training and experience to be gained from placement in our stores, we are confident will augur well for their future,” he added.

Executive director of the NYS, Rev Adinhair Jones, said it was the first time that the service had engaged another entity in its selection process.

The recruitment drive, he said, had provided a pool of applicants fitting the profile determined by Courts, and once given the training, they would add significant value to the organisation’s workforce.

“What is special about this Courts/NYS initiative is principally the expression of faith in a training and orientation process that has worked in the past,” he said.

At the same time, in encouraging other private sector entities to forge partnerships with the NYS, Singh pointed out that it was only through support of programmes and institutions, like the NYS, that they could build a brighter future and leave a legacy for which all Jamaicans could be proud.

The new sales and administration camp is the second new camp to be implemented by the NYS since the start of the year, as a result of private sector partnerships.

In May, the NYS successfully trained its first batch of customer care participants who are currently undergoing on-the-job training in private sector entities such as Digicel, Cable & Wireless Jamaica and the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.