Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA), celebrating anniversary 75 hosted Saturday, its annual Manufacturers & Exporters (M&E) awards in association with Victoria Mutual Group.

The event, under the theme ‘Re-igniting Jamaica for Greatness’, saw members of the business community being rewarded for their work and contributions. JMEA president John Mahfood opened his presentation with video footage from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. “Tonight, I draw inspiration from an area that we are all proud of as Jamaicans — our athletes. We need to take inspiration from our athletes so that we can compete with the best in the world. We know that we are great in sports and music. We know that our tourism sector is world-class. But why do we underachieve in [so] many other areas? Why have we under-delivered for the people of Jamaica during the period of our Independence? We need a change in mindset by our leaders, politicians and private sector. We all need to remove politics from our thinking and put our country first,” he charged.

“The JMEA continues to push our members to expand their businesses by exporting to our Caribbean neighbours so as to reduce the large trade imbalance with Caricom. There is great opportunity for us, as the combined population is similar; their purchasing power is three times ours. We need to identify and capitalise on real opportunities; for instance, it is projected that Guyana’s economy will grow by 67 per cent in 2023. We should all be focused on this market to start establishing our products there… Our companies are much stronger and more competitive having survived COVID, so there should be nothing stopping us!” he concluded.

The evening’s top awardee was beverage producer Red Stripe, who copped four of the awards from the 19 categories, including The Vision 2030 Corporate Social Responsibility Award, The Nicola Gordon Rowe Buy Jamaican Award (sponsored by Jamaica Business Development Corporation), The Robert Lightbourne Award for Productivity and Competitiveness, and The VM Group-JMEA Legacy Award.

Wednesday Social shares highlights from the awards ceremony as well as spotlights some attendees who stepped out in their best formal wear.