Self-empowerment through e-learning
The dominant theme at the St Andrew Business and Professional Women’s (BPW) induction of officers last Thursday at the Devonshire Resturant was self-empowerment through e-learning. Guest speaker, Jennifer Anderson, human resource manager with CIBC Jamaica Ltd said it is an area which is “near and dear to her heart”.
Anderson emphasised that training and development are integral for the success and advancement of professionals and businesses in the 21st century.
“As society tends toward computerised methods of learning more each day, e-learning has become the most efficient and practical way to train oneself. Many of us who shy away from computers, will have to get into bed with them,” she told her colleagues.
Anderson shared studies from the past two years with her audience and emphasised the need for constant training in order for employees to help their companies impact a more competitive marketplace. She also said that though we often think that training equips us for the next couple of years, however, with the pace at which businesses develop nowadays, the reality is that it often only prepares the individual “for the next two or three weeks”.
“Employees are no longer being spoon-fed in the current business environment, she continued, but are being encouraged to further develop themselves with the organisation acting as a facilitator.”
Fellow CIBC employee Monica McNeil, manager at the New Kingston branch was inducted as BPW president, with Venita Walker as 1st vice president; Sylvia Spaulding-second vice president, Essene Lewis-treasurer; Jean Ewart-assistant treasurer; Maisie Gore-recording secretary; Ruthlyn Villiers-assistant recording secretary, and Dr Jennifer Cadogan -correspondence secretary.
Presiding over the induction ceremony was Mavis Watts, BPW founder, retired attorney-at-law and repesentative in Jamaica for the International Association for Volunteer Efforts (IAVE). Watts took the opportunity to bestow on McNeil, an honorary membership in the IAVE, in recognition of her achievements and years of service.
In her presidential address, McNeil echoed Hilary Clinton’s sentiment in her address to the United Nations’ Fourth World Conference on Women, where she said: “Human rights are women’s rights, let us not forget that among these rights is the right to speak freely, and the right to be heard.”
Among the BPW’s stated aims are to promote the interests of business and professional women and secure combined action by them; to encourage women and girls to acquire education, occupational training and advanced education; to work for equal opportunities and status for women in the economic, civil and political life in their country as well as the removal of discrimination.
