You really can’t beat vision. And when the conceptualiser of an idea is endowed with the capacity to translate vision into reality, the natural outcome is success.

This newspaper watched with pride as Jamaicans flooded the inaugural staging of Continental Baking Company Foundation’s Jamaican Made Christmas at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Sunday and again yesterday.

Our pleasure had its foundation in a number of facts made obvious by the success of the event.

First was that so many people turned out to the expo. Second, that their attendance indicates a belief in and commitment to supporting local industry. Third, the resilience of local manufacturers, particularly from the small and medium-sized sector, who impressed the patrons with quality products. And fourth, the foresight of the expo’s conceptualiser, Mr Gary ‘Butch’ Hendrickson, chairman and managing director of Continental Baking Company.

By any measure, Mr Hendrickson is easily one of Jamaica’s most successful entrepreneurs. His company, known for its baked products under the National brand, is a household name in Jamaica and among the Diaspora in North America and the United Kingdom.

His success did not come easily. In fact, Mr Hendrickson will be the first to admit that he and his team made mistakes along the way. But they learnt from those mistakes.

Mr Hendrickson could easily have decided to use all that experience to strengthen and expand his business only. However, that is not the nature of this true nationalist.

His staging of this Jamaican Made Christmas expo is his way of helping other Jamaican manufacturers survive the often turbulent climate associated with doing business here and abroad.

Readers will recall that he spoke of that desire to assist in an article carried in this newspaper last month in the run-up to the expo.

“As a company we’re trying to open our doors and our hearts to these small companies to tell them what we did, where we went wrong, it’s kind of our give- back. They don’t need to make the same mistakes we did,” he said.

That demonstration of selflessness is deserving of commendation and speaks to the belief held by Mr Hendrickson, and other people in this country, that the small and medium-sized sectors are vital to the economic growth that we all want for Jamaica.

Unfortunately, there are people among us who frown on the idea of supporting local industry. If we are brutally frank, there is some amount of justification for that position because, just as in most sectors, there are a few neophytes and unprofessionals who turn consumers off. But that is not unique to Jamaica.

However, no one can successfully argue against the fact that this country is blessed with entrepreneurs across a range of sectors who produce goods and services of the highest quality and who operate at world standard.

The tourism and manufacturing sectors alone account for a vast majority of the quality for which Jamaica has gained worldwide fame and appreciation. The locally owned and well-run entities in those sectors are testament to the fact that buying Jamaican means value for money.

That is the message that Mr Hendrickson is resolute about spreading. And if he is successful in taking this expo to other parishes outside of Kingston, he will likely achieve that goal.

We congratulate him on this initiative and for a job well done.