SOME of Jamaica’s most influential businessmen and women came together last night to form the Institute of Business Leaders, officially launched at the grounds of the Jamaica Observer newspaper on Beechwood Avenue in Kingston.

The members of the institute, comprising former nominees and winners of the Observer Business Leader Awards, are coming together in the face of the global financial crisis.

The Observer Business Leader Awards itself was started at a time when Jamaica was undergoing a financial meltdown of its own, which prompted the national newspaper to “change the conversation” on how businesses overcame challenges and attained success, according to co-founder of the institute, Moses Jackson, the former business editor of the Observer.

Several US banks and a number of institutions around the world have collapsed or received financial bailouts from respective governments after they realised their capital was insufficient to cover liabilities.

The crisis, which started on Wall Street in the US, has affected several businesses around the globe and there is still a lot of uncertainty facing the world financial sector despite the bailouts.

Business persons who have been nominated since 1996 when the awards programme commenced. They have now been called upon to champion entrepreneurship in the face of pending global recession.

“And now another challenge is facing us,” said Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, Observer chairman and co-founder of the institute. “This is the time to bring business leaders together… and pull our resources together to confront this challenge”.

Patron of the institute, Governor General Sir Kenneth Hall believes a key challenge of the institute will be bringing together all the sectors, including academia, which over the years has displayed a level of scepticism towards entrepreneurial endeavours.

Inaugural chairman Ryland Campbell, Observer Business Leader for 2005 and executive chairman of Capital and Credit Financial Services, plans to integrate the role of academic institutions into the drive to foster entrepreneurship in Jamaica through a certification programme that provides students with credits who have undergone placement with a company, during their course of study. The company would assess individuals and essentially grade them for credits contributing to their course of study.

A five-member team will be formed to co-ordinate the activities of the institute and the business leaders that have been inducted. The team will be charged with putting in place the fundamental infrastructure to create a successful and sustainable institution that can share expertise and provide mentoring to would-be and small entrepreneurs, to deliberate on public policies, and generally offer leadership for the promotion of business success in Jamaica.

With nearly 100 nominees over the 12 years of the Business Leader programme – about 80 per cent of whom are still active in business – all the major sectors that make up the Jamaican economy will be adequately represented in the institute. They include: tourism, manufacturing, agro-processing, technology and financial services, as well as retail and distribution.

Future nominees of the Observer Business Leader Awards will have an automatic rite of passage to the institute.