Caribbean Business Report has learnt that leading television business journalist Owen James is resigning from the production of business programmes on TVJ to strengthen his own business interests.

James has authored the Business Day, The Business Review and the Financial Week with distinction and his work and reputation have been sought after by the business community which continues tooverwhelmingly support his body of work including his wholly-owned personal financial programme On A Personal Note.

Owen James has over 38 years experience in journalism and newsroom management (City Editor of the Star Newspaper from 1978-1983 and Director of News and Current Affairs for JBC Radio Television up to mid-1997 when that station was divested).

However it’s for business programmes on television that Own James became better known.

In February 1998 he introduced daily business reporting and a weekly programme — the Business Review to the then Super Supreme Television — the fore-runner of TVJ.

James through The Business Review — was the first on television to regularly feature many feats of Jamaican entrepreneurship, including the Audrey Hinchliffe story (Manpower and Maintenance); the Paymaster story; Heather Little-White’s venture into business following her shooting (a story which a woman said prevented her from committing suicide); Chapeaux (hat-making); the business exploits of the Jamaica Business Development Centre which include such success stories as the Grants pen duo who became successful clothing designers, and GraceKennedy’s feat of replacing the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever which contributed over 20 per cent to the group’s profits.

The programmes — The Business Day and The Business Review eventually became the standard for business programming on Jamaican television with some of the features emulated by others. Independent research by some of the island leading financial institutions consistently showed James as the leading purveyor of business news in the electronic media and television in particular.

Advertisers became so attracted to the programmes that many of them have stuck with them for over a decade.

In mid-2003 James introduced a personal financial programme ‘On A Personal Note’ — the first half-hour personal finance programme on Jamaican television. That year the programme won the Press Association’s top award for financial journalism.

Owen James has single-handedly gone above the call of duty to parade legitimate business and entrepreneurship as the way forward for the average Jamaican and has played a major role in promoting entrepreneurship among young people — a fact recognised by the Young Entrepreneurs Association which gave him a major award in 2010.