Seprod won a clean sweep of the top three awards for the first annual Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) awards gala on the weekend.

The company won the Prime Minister’s Award for Top Large Exporter and the Governor General’s Award for both manufacturing and exporting.

Richard Pandohie, CEO of the Seprod Group, led members of his team each of the three times to collect their award, and each time the celebration was more joyous than the previous occasion.

New vice-president of the Opposition Peoples National Party Damion Crawford was also a big winner on the night, with his egg company Crafton Holdings winning two seperate awards for best new manufacturer and the Buy Jamaican Award.

Another big winner was Red Stripe, which also won two awards for energy efficiency and corporate social respinsibility. Red Stripe Managing Director Ricardo Nuncio led some of his team to the stage to collect their awards.

Other winners on the night included Newton Fersan for breakthrough product of the year – with its Potatolizer starter and finisher, and Diane Plummer – founder of Your True Shade cosmetics company – who won the Peter King Award for New Exporter of the Year.

President of the JMEA, Metry Seaga in his address noted that the “macroeconomic indicators are looking good. I personally am very bullish about Jamaica”.

He then invited all the exporters present to stand up and repeat after him the words “Produce local and export global”.

— Richard Browne