Today Sunday Finance shines the spotlight on seven under-30 professionals on the rise in our second Annual “Under-30 Power Players” feature. These are among the young turks who represent the future. They have shown excellence in their respective fields and have been earmarked to reach the top.

Christopher Lawe, 28

Unit Manager,

Sagicor Life Jamaica Limited

Director – Jamaica Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (JAIFA)

Education

Fellow of the Life Underwriter’s Training Council (Lutcf)

Wolmer’s Boys’ (High) School

Christopher Lawe couldn’t have achieved more since joining Sagicor as a 23-year-old financial advisor in 2004 — His list of accomplishments in the life insurance business reads like a honour roll of a young professional destined for the top. He was awarded Rookie of the Year in 2005 and qualified for the firm’s Million Dollar Round Table every year as an agent. Lawe’s skills were duly recognised in 2009 when he was appointed unit manager at the tender age of 27 — At the time of appointment, he was Sagicor’s youngest unit manager by many years.

Lawe is driven by his passion for the life insurance business; a passion that has no doubt been even more profound since he became unit manager. Indeed, he won both the Unit Manager’s Trophy and Productivity Trophy in his first year on the job and has also produced, under his stewardship, the top two rookie agents (Rookie of the Year and runner-up) for the entire company. With an appetite to achieve much more, Lawe is currently pursuing a Financial Service Specialist designation and is on track to receive it in 2011.

Sunday Finance: When did you know that this is what you wanted to do?

Lawe: Upon learning and understanding the concepts of insurance and the tremendous benefits it affords families and persons in general especially in a time of need, combined with my love of people and life, it was a natural choice.

Sunday Finance: What has been the most meaningful experience in your career so far?

Lawe: It’s hard to select only one. There have been three experiences that I consider quite meaningful. Once as an agent when I processed a death claim for a widow…the sheer happiness and gratitude expressed was quite touching, and knowing what I was providing for that family after the major breadwinner had been lost. There have been two more such instances while as a manager where 1) one of my advisors sat me down and expressed gratitude for bringing him in to the business and exclaimed saying “no one else could have convinced me into this business” 2) another of my advisors at a public forum during a presentation expressed her extreme gratitude and described me as her warrior based on the support I have given and the training I provided.

Sunday Finance: Any tips on how one should choose a life insurance company?

Lawe: The choice should be based on one’s needs…what’s in the individual’s best interest, how one’s spending dollar will be efficiently maximised, the returns that can be garnered, and the overall benefits the company has to offer. This decision of course should be backboned by general research and knowledge of the company’s exposure, experience and certainly stability and so on. As such, who else to do business with than Sagicor.

Paul Simpson, 27

Assistant Vice President,

Head of brokerage

Proven

Education

University of the West Indies

-MBA-General Management

University of the West Indies

-Double Major computer science and Geology

Ardenne High School

Paul Simpson is no doubt a rising star in Jamaica’s financial sector. He gained tremendous recognition earlier this year after playing an integral role in the successful private placement of Peter Bunting’s investment company Proven, where his core competence in raising funds and marketing was evident.

Indeed, Simpson said he fell in love with sales and marketing during an internship at Brunel Ford Motor in England, where he was employed as a database executive, sharing responsibility for a sizeable portfolio. He gained more experience in the field after finishing his first degree at the University of the West Indies. He was asked by the then head of Mona School of Business to help raise funds for the alumni, and later became the chairperson of the fund-raising committee for the school’s Alumni.

Simpson then made a name for himself as a wealth advisor at Guardian Asset Management — starting as a personal financial advisor in 2007 and by 2008 becoming the executive personal financial advisor for the company. Realising his talents, the Rotary Club of Mandeville invited Simpson to become a member and in less than a year he was asked to take up the post of director for Vocational Services. In December 2009, Simpson was approached by Proven to raise funds for the new company that was formed by Bunting, Mark Golding and Christopher Williams. This was a huge step for the 27-year old, who had offers from at least two other companies.

Sunday Finance: At what stage of your life did you know that this is what you wanted to do?

Simpson: After finishing my MBA, I was introduced into the market by Karrian Hepburn, a power player herself. She later introduced me to my current mentor who steered me in the direction he thought prudent for my professional and personal development.

Sunday Finance: What skills are needed to get involved in your field?

Simpson: For one to excel in my area of the business, which is brokerage and marketing, you have to be very structured and team-oriented, very disciplined, have a sound technical background, prudently aggressive coupled with sex appeal and swagger.

Sunday Finance: How do you deal with being so young relative to many of your peers at the senior executive level? Do you get intimidated?

Simpson: I am never intimidated. I am more concerned with gaining respect through my competence, knowledge and execution. This industry is not zoned by age, but more so by performance and results because at the end of the day performance is what keeps you here, or what should. I must say what has always been my arsenal is surrounding myself with mentors who have successfully proven themselves.

Sunday Finance: What do you see ahead? Should long-term investors be buying equities? Why?

Simpson: What is impatient of debate is that market climate will get better. Long-term investors should definitely be buying stocks, especially at this time when the world is still in a recovery phase. There are many good companies on the market, both local and international, that are trading far below their intrinsic value, which will provide superior returns over the medium to long term.

Ishion Hutchinson, 26

Creative Writing Lecturer

University of Baltimore

Poet

Education

University of Utah

-PhD in English Literature and Creative Writing

New York University (NYU)

-MFA in Creative Writing

University of the West Indies, Mona

-BA in English Literatures

Titchfield High School

A recipient of a Derek Walcott Fellowship, a Calabash Literary Fellowship, and a Cropper Foundation Fellowship, Hutchinson is a founding member of The Workshop, a UWI-based collective that held writing workshops on the Mona campus. He has taught creative writing at NYU and tutored high school students at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Hutchinson has presented his work at many venues, including the Emerging Writers Series at NYU, the Brandeis University Festival of the Creative Arts, Calabash and the Working Dog Reading Series at the University of Utah, where he holds a vice presidential Scholarship and is completing his PhD in english and creative writing. His poetry and essays have appeared in such publications as Callaloo Journal, Caribbean Review of Books, Expressions, The LA Review, Poetry International, The Wolf Magazine, Southern Humanities Review and Pathway. In 2006, the Calabash Trust Fund published his chapbook, Bryan’s Bay. In spring 2010, Peepal Tree Press (UK), published his first book, Far District.

Sunday Finance: Why did you choose this career?

Hutchinson: I discovered literature in my late adolescence, through teachers who were very kind towards my fascination. Essentially, they tolerated me and I had a chance to talk about what moved me in what I was reading. I didn’t see any kind of life I wanted once that began. I did not make the choice to become a teacher, therefore; literature and a few good teachers paved the path I am now in. As such, I consider my work as a teacher as paying homage to them, both those teachers and literature of my youth. As for being a poet, it not a career: it is something one could never retire from or have the desire to quit — even though those threats are frequent; nor can one really make a living (financially) from it. My life as a writer was something I awoken to around the time I started reading seriously; it is the thing that won’t make me sleep comfortably now.

Sunday Finance: What skills are needed to do what you do?

Hutchinson: Generally I teach creative writing and occasionally literature courses. Both demand a great deal of reading. The first skill is the ability to read and read deeply between students’ work and that of a professional writer. The pain is to find a reasonable bridge between the two, so what I do is point students to reading material I feel could provide direction to their own writing. All the other skills one need to be a teacher can be summed up in one word: restraint. The poet needs to possess and develop his personal anthology, his own intrinsic reading library to which his own poetry sublimated.

Sunday Finance: What is the biggest challenge in the industry?

Hutchinson: A career as a teacher is very demanding and do cut into the time one wants to dedicate to writing — not only in terms of taking from the time one sits down and labour over a blank paper, but the kind of psychic intrusion one feels reading students’ work, marking, advising and so on. The great challenge is to find a way to balance career duty and devotion to the making of poetry. But the challenge is sometimes as elementary as opening my mouth in front of a room full of young writers looking for a miracle.

Sunday Finance: What is your long-term career goal?

Hutchinson: Ideally I want to be in the Caribbean, to be part of the many transformations going on in the arts. Specifically, I would like to see the development of a creative writing programme at Mona. As a poet and writer, the outlook will always remain the same: to write as well as possible wherever my career takes me.

DANE SPENCER, 28

CEO/ Managing Director

SMS – Smart Mobile Solutions

Mobile Technology Company

Director – West Indies Radiology Outsourcing Limited (WIROL)

Education

* University of the West Indies

— BSc (Hons) in Computer Science & Management Studies

* Campion College

A burgeoning young entrepreneur, Spencer had the foresight to capitalise on the BlackBerry phenomenon. At just 25 years old in 2007, he formed his own company, Smart Mobile Solutions (SMS), which distributes BlackBerry accessories to wholesalers and retailers in and outside of Jamaica, and provides solutions to BlackBerry related problems and needs. The company has established itself as a successful force in the local mobile communications market, where the BlackBerry dominates the smart phone market. SMS is the only Alliance member of BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) in the English speaking Caribbean and has continuously expanded its offerings to include more BlackBerry solutions — services that include repairs, software support and development.

Sunday Finance: Your company’s principal activity is to import and distribute BlackBerry accessories to wholesalers and retailers in and outside of Jamaica. What inspired you to go into this business?

Spencer: The inspiration came from a need. My business partner Marlon Hudson and myself had been part of the early adaptors for BlackBerry in 2006. And by 2007, we convinced the company we were employed to at the time, SuperPlus Food Stores, to improve mobilise communication through BlackBerry. We acquired the devices and noticed that they didn’t really come with simple accessories that we wanted, like a carrying case. We sought out some cases for ourselves and found that there were so many others like us that wanted cases so we bought for them as well and thats where it started — from the need, it sparked the idea.

Once on our way, we tried to make contact with BlackBerry in order to establish a relationship and after months, and close to a year of trying, we finally got the in.

We were then approached by RIM to develop more software solutions for them as we created a simple online catalog for our accessories; they saw the potential and have pushed us in that direction.

Much more to come from SMS – Smart Mobile Solutions in the future.

Sunday Finance: What major challenges have you encountered so far in running your company?

Spencer: The greatest challenge is to keep surpassing our customers’ expectations – giving them more than what they bargained for, for all the different aspects of our business: Distribution, Retail (One stop shop for Blackberry), Repairs and more recently Software Development, creating products that can compete across the globe.

Sunday Finance: What encourages you about the future prospects of your industry?

Spencer: Our Strategic Alliances with our suppliers and technology partners have given us great encouragement, where they keep us abreast and allow us to give our customers the best value before anyone else can.Though highly competitive, our staff complement — sales team, customer service, technical and software engineers — being very motivated to be the best keeps us growing from strength to strength.

Sunday Finance: Ever see yourself working for someone again?

Spencer: No, I don’t think this is possible, never considered turning back after branching out on my own

Andrew McLeod, 24

Investment Banker,

Equity Capital Markets, Syndicate

UBS Investment Bank

Education

Hampden-Sydney College

– BSc in Chemistry / Economics & Commerce

Manchester High School

Andrew McLeod is a rising talent among the gifted new generation of Jamaica’s financial minds. McLeod currently works for arguably one of the top five global investment banks on Wall Street in New York City. Being only two years removed from undergraduate studies, the summa cum laude graduate has already worked on originating and executing over US$15 billion in public equity. He interned with UBS in 2007 in its Equity Research Department but started full-time in Equity Capital Markets in origination in 2008 before being moved to work in Equity Syndicate, arguably one of the most coveted positions in the sector. From Tarp Repayment to balance sheet deleveraging to sponsor sell-down trades, he has worked on some of the most sophisticated initial public offerings, follow-ons and blocks trades to hit the equity capital markets over the last two years. McLeod will eventually pursue his MBA and quite possibly return to Jamaica to work in the ever-growing financial sector.

Sunday Finance: When did you know that this is what you wanted to do?

McLeod: To be honest, I’m still not sure it is but I’m yet to find a reason to suggest it’s not, so I’ll keep going. The state of the global economy and rapidly evolving financial markets create so many learning opportunities. It’s hard to get bored.

Sunday Finance: What drives you?

McLeod: The fact that I hate failure. In my opinion, a lack of desire to be the best you can be is simply failure. I’ve also benefitted from always being around family members who have tirelessly worked very hard. My mom is a testament to that, and I owe her a lot for my strong work ethic.

Sunday Finance: Why is your job fun?

McLeod: Because it never gets old. The dynamic nature of the global equity capital markets always brings a new challenge and thus a new way to

implement a solution. Corporations will always need to raise capital and very often it will have to be through equities versus fixed income.

Should you invest in stocks or companies?

McLeod: It all depends on your risk appetite and capital constraints. If I knew of a solid business model and an opportunity to successfully grow a

company, I certainly would. I would never however suggest investing in stocks unless you’re willing to do your homework. You can’t make your money work for you if you don’t understand how your money will work for you.

Adam Harris, 28

Consumer Portfolio Manager

Retail Banking Division

National Commercial Bank (NCB) Jamaica Limited

* Education

o MBA specialising in Finance, Marketing, Management and International Business (University of South Florida)

o BA in Finance – Summa Cum Laude (University of South Florida)

o St George’s College / Hillel Academy

Adam Harris has always been ahead of his time; no wonder he’s so at ease occupying a managerial post at Jamaica’s largest bank at just 28 years old. Take heed: Harris completed his undergraduate studies at age 19, when a lot of us are just graduating high school; he completed his MBA at age 21 and joined NCB as a Management Trainee at 24!

Among his lofty accomplishments as consumer portfolio manager, he revised its entire suite of consumer loan products to ensure relevance to customer needs and a superior competitive position in the marketplace. He led the development of the NCB Reward Loan, which still represents a unique value proposition in the marketplace (Unsecured loan of up to $5 million exclusively for customers of the NCB Group for at least two years); he led the development of the NCB online personal loan and credit card application system, which allows customers to create and submit personal credit applications electronically to their branch of choice for further processing via the NCB website (Unique distribution channel in the marketplace for accessing personal credit facilities); he led the re-branding of the NCB Fixed Deposit product (NCB MAX Deposit Account); and managed the Division’s net interest income spread generated on a $105 billion deposit portfolio.

Sunday Finance: When did you know that this was what you wanted to do?

Harris: After taking my first finance class in university (Principles of Finance), I immediately knew that I was destined for a career in the Financial Services Industry. Prior to taking this class, I was studying generally in the College of Business as I wasn’t sure which area to specialise in. Principles of Finance grabbed me immediately and left me wanting to learn more. The whole concept of devising strategies to achieve a business objective, assessing the financial feasibility, and then executing to achieve the desired outcome was intriguing to me and therefore, exactly want I wanted to do. Investments is also of great interest to me. However, this is more of a hobby for me. As a result, I stick to providing investment advice to my family and friends.

Sunday Finance: What drives you?

Harris: My strong belief in continuous improvement in whatever I do is what drives me from within. Being self-motivated is imperative to success.

Sunday Finance: How do you deal with being so young relative to many of your peers at the senior executive level? Do you get intimidated?

Harris: This is an intentional non-issue for me. Once you are humble, respectful, and maintain integrity at all times, people will in turn treat you with respect and willingly follow you as the leader regardless of age.

Neil Lawrence, 28

Project Manager, IT

Digicel

Education

Project Management Institute Doctor Bird Chapter

– Project Management Professional (PMP) certification

University of the West Indies

-MSc Computing and IT

-BSc Computing and IT

Wolmer’s Boys’ (High) School

Still just in the dawn of his career, this Wolmerian has made huge strides up the IT hierarchy and now occupies a very important role with the most dominant mobile operator in Jamaica. Lawrence joined Digicel in 2008 as project manager in operations and then later moved on to project manager in IT. In recognition of his splendid on-the-job performance, he was last month promoted to business manager reporting directly to the CEO. An avid lover of music, Lawrence said he finds that playing the piano is one of his past times to “decompress”. Today, he sits on the PMI Chapter as IT director and also lectures BSc students at UCC part-time. Prior to joining Digicel, he worked at National Commercial Bank as a programmer and later as technical support officer.

Sunday Finance: More often than not, persons don’t land their dream job. Did you always want to be in IT? How did you end up choosing this field?

Lawrence: I have always loved IT — though I have an innate passion for music. I love the idea of automation, working smarter not harder and IT supports that philosophy 100 per cent — if not, defines it. This passion led me to pursue formal training in IT.

Sunday Finance: What drives you?

Lawrence: I am driven by a self-motivating passion for success. Whether it’s a small immediate goal or huge long-term, I keep my thoughts focused on the success and work towards that; I always say to myself, “Begin and proceed with that end in mind”. However, my mom has always been one of my greatest inspirations, and when she passed in 2006 to cancer, that event served as an even greater driving force for me to continue to make her proud.

Sunday Finance: Why is your role with Digicel so important?

Lawrence: As the business manager, my role at Digicel exposes me to a wholistic view of the company. I am challenged to analyse and improve processes across the business, I am also challenged to think and provide opportunities. Overall, in my current role, I have responsibility for coordinating with the CEO to identify cost optimisation projects and providing full support to the CEO in the implementation of strategies across all departments throughout the business.

Sunday Finance: What’s your long-term career objective?

Lawrence: In the coming years, I’m looking forward to continuing to make a stellar contribution to Digicel and ensuring that we continue to deliver the best customer experience to all our customers. But my mind is also always working, so I am also looking forward to venture into entrepreneurship to bring some of these ideas to life.