It was a busy Thursday morning last week, but when I saw that Jamaica’s Sandra McLeish was one of the panellists on a UN Women Caribbean and COLEAD conference entitled ‘Climate-Resilient Business Models for Women Entrepreneurs’, I had to make the time.

McLeish and her husband, Richard, owners of Sankhard Company Limited, had been named a ‘Bold One of Manufacturing’ by the National Baking Company and we saw the National trucks carrying colourful photos of her Springvale natural dressings islandwide.

Now McLeish has embarked on a programme to assist women farmers in Jamaica to enjoy the success that her company has been enjoying. She has created a new company, Agro Cold Storage Limited (ACSL), which she says “is creating sustainable cold storage and logistical solutions for the Jamaican agricultural sector, reducing post-harvest losses, empowering local communities, particularly women, and the building of climate resiliency”.

McLeish shared women entrepreneurs’ strategies that work: diversifying products, using renewable energy, digital transformation, shared assets, and flexible models. She called for alliances between UN Women, regional development banks, and the private sector to create a “Gender and Climate Finance facility for the Global South” to support the advancement of women entrepreneurs.

Why is it so important that women be empowered to be independent earners? This is because the more self-sufficient a woman is the safer she can be. Women are denied education in certain countries in order to subject them to patriarchal tyranny. The world woke up to this fact when 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who spoke out against the Taliban in the Swat Valley region of Pakistan, was the victim of an assassination attempt.

McLeish and the other speakers at the conference — from Malawi, Nigeria, and St Vincent and the Grenadines — were passionate about giving women entrepreneurs equal opportunities to access financing and STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education. This because violence against women and girls affects one in three. We need to free our women from the yoke of financial dependence.

End digital violence against women

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (IDEVAW) was celebrated on November 25, launching 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence. As if all the abuse of the past was not enough, one of the fastest-growing forms of abuse is digital violence against women and girls. The theme of this year’s campaign is ‘UNiTE to End Digital Violence against All Women and Girls’.

We should congratulate our lawmakers for passing the Cybercrimes Act which led to the 2019 conviction of a Jamaican man who posted revenge porn, sexually explicit photographs of his former girlfriend. We understand that Jamaica has been ahead of other countries in having such laws.

With the development of artificial intelligence (AI), women and children are having nightmarish experiences seeing their faces on vulgar images described as deepfakes — realistic but fake images, videos, or audio created using AI to make a person appear to say or do something they never did.

In response to the danger of deepfakes, the US Congress passed the DEFIANCE Act of 2024: Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act of 2024. The Bill establishes a civil cause of action for individuals who are the subject of non-consensual digital forgeries depicting intimate activity or nudity.

Victims of deepfakes may not speak about the matter, but may become withdrawn, depressed, or even suicidal. They need to understand that this is a criminal activity that should be reported and they should be supported and reassured that the shame belongs only to the perpetrator and not to them.

Brilliant start for Reggae Girlz

We breathed a sigh of relief last week when we heard that Khadija “Bunny” Shaw would be joining the Reggae Girlz for their first match in their Women’s World Cup campaign. Not in our wildest dreams, however, did we expect such a score: 18-0 against Dominica, surpassing their previous record in a World Cup campaign of 14-0 against St Lucia in 2014. Shaw was joined by Jody Brown and Kalyssa Van Zanten in scoring hat-tricks.

My husband, Hubie, and I joined the Jamaican fans to watch our Reggae Girlz in their first Women’s World Cup in France in 2019. We were impressed by young Jody Brown’s close relationship with her parents, Novelette Hall-Brown and Andrew Brown. Since then she has shown star quality, now playing for Marseilles in Europe.

I noticed there was little excitement around the match compared to the limelight we always shine on our Reggae Boyz. Our girls created their own dazzle and hopefully have begun to earn the respect they deserve.

BOJ wins Best Bank Award

The prestigious Global Finance publication presented the 2025 Best Bank Award to our own Bank of Jamaica last week.

Reporting on this milestone, Jamaica Observer business writer Dashan Hendricks noted, “Global Finance also gave Byles an ‘A’ grade in its 2025 Central Banker Report Card, an annual assessment of nearly 100 central bank governors worldwide. The grade positioned the BOJ at the top of the rankings for central bank leadership in the Caribbean and Latin America.”

Hendricks reported on Byles’ statement, applauding the work of the BOJ staff: “He said it recognised their efforts in delivering on the bank’s mandates, which include inflation control, financial system stability, and the supervision of deposit-taking institutions.”

Even as he deflects to the outstanding performance of his staff, there is no doubt that Byles’ leadership has made this award possible.

He was one of the recipients of the CCRP Living Legacy Award. The citation outlines his decades of excellence in Jamaica’s private and public sectors. “Mr Byles is a rare exemplar of visionary leadership, unwavering integrity, and deep national commitment — attributes that make him…a stalwart of economic governance,” states the citation. “…Mr Richard Byles exemplifies this rare combination. In every role he has undertaken, he has balanced technical expertise with humane understanding, institutional command with personal humility.”

St James and Hanover visits

Our CCRP team had already delivered care items for the elderly in St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, and Trelawny, with a few going to Catherine Hall, Montego Bay. This past weekend we were able to deliver packages for distribution to Dr Norma Taylor, CCRP convenor for Western Jamaica, and visit several elderly people in Hanover. Our parish representative, Nervoline Clarke, had been checking on the elderly, and with her husband guided us to those who had their homes damaged by the hurricane. Contractor Dean Thomas will assist us in roof repairs, using proceeds from the CCRP Living Legacy Awards event.

What impressed us was the spirit of all the good folks we visited. They lifted our spirits with their faith and optimism.

Jean Lowrie-Chin is an author and executive chair of PROComm, PRODEV, and CCRP.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (IDEVAW) was celebrated on November 25, launching 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence.

Richard Byles .

This 2019 photo shows Jody Brown (centre) with parents Novelette Hall-Brown and Andrew Brown in France during the Women’s World Cup.