Toastmasters in Jamaica have been working to convince business leaders of the benefits of promoting the clubs within their organizations, says Toastmasters International District 81 governor, Essie Gardner.

With 22 clubs in Jamaica, Toastmasters International (TI) is a non-profit educational organisation that helps to build public speaking and leadership skills, and has a worldwide membership of 270,000. Gardner said that many companies worldwide had learned to harness TI to serve their interests, but that this was not common locally.

“Corporate Toastmasters Clubs do not do very well in Jamaica,” she said at the ceremony where she presented Orett Douglas, Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) Half Way Tree branch manager and president of the JN Toastmasters Club, with the TI charter. About half of all Toastmasters Clubs globally are sponsored by businesses or organizations; and well known international businesses with in-house clubs include Microsoft, Bank of America, Google and eBay.

“Sometimes corporate decision makers are not aware of the value of a Toastmasters Club in their organisations so they don’t give it encouragement,” she said. The result is that when organizational attention focuses heavily on their own particular projects, “the clubs tend to fall apart,” she stated.

Despite this, she said, “I believe JN Toastmasters can really be a model club for the District.”

The club’s charter ceremony was held at the JNBS headquarters in Half-Way-Tree, St Andrew on Thursday, February 16.

JN Toastmasters is a club for staff members of JNBS, the third largest financial services organisation regulated by the Bank of Jamaica, and its subsidiaries. And Gardner said that one of the bases for her optimism for this club was the strong support it had received from the management of the building society.

JNBS general manager Earl Jarrett told members and guests at the charter ceremony that, “We want to position the JN Toastmasters Club as an incubator that will develop, shape and refine a cadre of leaders who are change agents within the organisation and the wider society.”

He urged those who are not yet a part of the programme, particularly the senior management and executive team members, to become members of the JN Toastmasters Club. He also suggested that they should “use the platform provided by the club to sharpen their communication skills.”

Jarrett demonstrated his commitment to the success of the club by announcing that the Society would provide financial support to defray membership fees over the next year.

Gardner commended Jarrett for the financial support being offered to JN Toastmasters, saying “It is a strong signal, and I wish more of our corporate executives would see the value of the Toastmasters programme.”