JUXTAPOSING two of the country’s most successful industries, sport and culture, in this Jamaica’s 50th year of Independence will be a highlight of the second The Business of Sport seminar to be held on May 3-4 at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.

The seminar, which had its inaugural year in 2011, was launched at the JAMPRO headquarters on Braemar Avenue, yesterday.

Twenty speakers moderated by six professionals will present over the two days of the event which was originally earmarked to be held biennially but was moved up a year to coincide with the anniversary of Jamaica’s political freedom from Great Britain.

President of The Business of Sport, Carole Beckford, told the Observer that where success has been reaped is already known and what needs to be done now is to devise a way to take advantage of that.

“We think it was important to have that discussion. It’s a celebration for Jamaica. We continue to do well on the international scene in music and in sport and we think it is important,” she said.

She added that the rewards of the inaugural conference, which was held under a year ago, have been seen.

“We now have partnerships with the NFL (National Football League), with the Miami Heats, with the NBA, and we’re getting wealth managers from other industries and they’re coming back,” Beckford stated.

Interested parties have for the last three to four years been pushing the relevant authorities to find a way to capitalise financially on Jamaica’s sporting prowess in the aftermath of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 IAAF World Championships when the country reaped upwards of 11 medals.

Beckford said it is happening slowly but she believed that significant progress would be made in time.

“We are to some extent but I think as a developing economy there are priorities and sports is climbing up because the world is changing and I think the creative economy is growing… within the next two to three years certainly our parliament and our system will recognise and invest more,” she said.

Meanwhile, Minister with Responsibility for Sport, Natalie Neita-Headley, who assumed responsibility for the portfolio in January and was present at yesterday’s launch, said it was important to change the mindset that sport is simply for recreation.

She told the Observer that the groundwork is being laid to form a national sports council which would serve as an advisory board to allow for a harmonising of all the different sporting bodies which currently make independent decisions.

“What is happening now is that every single group, every single association has its own thing going. We want to look very carefully at sports manufacturing, we’re seeking to develop partnerships to be able to put in place a sports manufacturing industry,” she said.

“We’re seen as the sports capital of the world in terms of our sprinting and people want to know what it is that we’re doing so they’re eager to come for the sports tourism product, but it has to be channelled.”

A Sports Marketing And Research Team (SMART) is being put in place to look at how all the factors can be assembled.

Said Neita-Headley: “The imaging and the marketing is going to be critical. That is the aspect that I believe that is missing. We have the natural talent. We have the administrators. We have the coaches. We’re not marketing ourselves properly and that is why we’re not capitalising in a strategic way.”