Thirteen years ago this column remarked on the insights of Dr Kwame McKenzie, then medical director at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Canada. He said that several decades ago, the UK, when studying the major challenges to its economy, came up with the idea of ‘mental capital’. “They knew they could not out-manufacture their competitors,” said Dr McKenzie, “so they set out to try to ‘out-think’ them.”

Last month Professor Errol Morrison, speaking at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) Research Day Expo, spoke on this urgent need, calling for a ‘brain gain’ to counteract the ‘brain drain’ suffered by Jamaica in the 70s and beyond. In a Jamaica Information Service report by Glen-Wayde Brown, the professor noted that Jamaica is well below the World Bank recommendation of 2,000 individuals per million needed to successfully engage in research and innovation.

The professor commended the Government’s “appointment of a scientist and researcher, Dr the Honourable Andrew Wheatley, as minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for science, technology and special projects…60,000 individuals in the diaspora have been identified who possess the requisite training and qualifications to enter the R&D [research and development] sector”.

However, we should not discount the advances made by nimble public and private sector leaders who make continuous R&D key elements of their operations. For example, the National Health Fund is a model of efficiency, the Electoral Office of Jamaica has advanced facilities for voter identification and a protocol which protects every ballot, and Bank of Jamaica and the Jamaica Stock Exchange are effectively governed. In the private sector we have seen Jamaican companies like Sandals Resorts, National Baking, GraceKennedy, Red Stripe, Wray & Nephew, JMMB, and Wisynco rise to regional and international recognition.

It was fortuitous that Professor Morrison was speaking at CASE, because there is much R&D needed for Jamaica’s unique agricultural offerings. We have done well with coffee, but Jamaican ginger is so exceptional that my late colleague Lester Woolery noted that it was the only one extracted for use in UK pharmacology.

Spur Tree Spices has been making inroads in the US market, but there are so many other opportunities that need to be tapped. Now that we are in the mango season, how much will be wasted instead of being processed?

I am always surprised at the square footage of various government ministries. Like University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech), they could offer incubator facilities to promote research, development, and productivity in alignment with the mandates of the respective ministries.

The Mental Health Factor

Dr McKenzie had noted in his lecture that there was something more important in business than the much-vaunted intelligence quotient (IQ), explaining, “Microsoft had the tablet before Apple did, but Apple had EQ [emotional quotient] — the ability to know what you want before you want it!” This EQ, he said, is largely determined by mental health.

Therefore, despite extensive R&D, our productivity will be hamstrung without sound mental health. Dr McKenzie named significant risk factors:

• people who smoked 50 joints of cannabis before 18 have triple the risk

• children who were separated from their parents for one year or more before the age of 15 had a similarly dramatic increased risk

• being born in the city and raised in a stressful environment

• social adversity and bullying in childhood.

Therefore, to support this ‘brain gain’, our social issues need urgent attention. A nurturing environment will help our children develop the EQ to take them forward in the workplace. Thank goodness then that the families still in shelters due to Hurricane Melissa will be comfortably housed next month. Similarly, we hope the schools damaged by the storm will be more swiftly repaired.

Productivity Puzzle

While we have some very hard-working ministers of government, we are concerned about the slow rate of progress in the completion of urgent projects. The tragic death of the blind elderly man trying to negotiate a broken bridge in St Thomas brings this into painful focus. We could hear the concern in the voice of St Thomas Western Member of Parliament James Robertson as he remarked on the slow procurement process.

We have heard calls for greater productivity, but as the late GraceKennedy CEO and senator, Don Wehby, declared, “What gets measured gets done.” Let the calls be translated into concrete assessments so we can push the performance envelope.

Our tried-and-true athletes

If only productivity could be measured in the same way as the performance of our athletes. Whether in track and field, football, or swimming, there are strict guidelines, even for wind speed, to determine results. Despite this pressure, our high school athletes shone at the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) last month and again at the Carifta Games, with Shanoya Douglas emerging as a world-class sprinter, along with several other young stars.

Yes, we were disappointed in the exit of our Reggae Boyz from World Cup eligibility, but were buoyed by the victory of our Reggae Girlz over Antigua and Barbuda last Friday. Kadijah “Bunny’ Shaw”, who delivered a magical hat-trick, is a football legend. With her captaincy of the team, we look forward to watching them shine at the Women’s World Cup in Brazil next year as we did in France in 2019.

Our young athletes and their coaches challenge us to train and strive as they have, making ourselves ready for the challenges that our chosen careers may present.

CDT thrills here and abroad

The Company Dance Theatre (CDT), in celebrating the memory of its founder Tony Wilson, thrilled audiences in Jamaica and Florida last month. In the spirit of the International Women’s Month theme, ‘Give to Gain’, they were supported by the Women in Law Foundation and the Scotiabank Women Initiative.

The enthralling evening offered a rich repertoire, including Streams, choreographed by Tony Wilson; Khalia Campbell’s The Return; Dr Sade Bully-Bell’s Gamma Gamma; Renée I McDonald’s One80; and Steven Cornwall’s Baddie Language.

It was a joy to see the younger dancers keeping pace with principal dancer Andrew Bailey and other experienced members.

Congratulations, CDT!

Jean Lowrie-Chin is an author and executive chair of PROComm, PRODEV, and CCRP. Send comments to lowriechin@aim.com.