Jennifer Sharrier’s social enterprise

SHE’S an outgoing, friendly, positive and bubbly energiser bunny with a passion for working with social enterprises to impact communities.

Born in London to Jamaican parents, Jennifer Sharrier came to Jamaica in the early 2000s by way of the Cayman Islands and St Vincent after her then employer, Cable and Wireless, sent her to the region to work with its interests in such markets. She subsequently fell in love with the region and decided she didn’t want to go back. But she also didn’t want to live on too small an island and after some due diligence among friends she made the move to Jamaica in 2002.

“When I was relocated to Cayman I knew I wasn’t going back. You know they say the grass is greener on the other side? It was a new lifestyle, weather and culture which I absolutely loved. However, I didn’t want to stay on a small island because there wasn’t enough to do, so I was referred to Jamaica with advice that I could do basically as much as I wanted to do and choose between the country, city, mountains and other things,” she told All Woman.

And so, her journey as an islander began where she worked in corporate Jamaica for a number of years, before dedicating her time to developing social enterprises — established and emerging organisations that are committed to the social and economic development of communities.

Sharrier, who has been the project manager for the Jamaica National Foundation Social Enterprise Boost Initiative (SEBI) since 2012, said prior to working with SEBI, starting in 2013, she knew more about convincing people to increase consumption than convincing them to give back to their communities. Now transformed as a result of her work with social enterprises, Sharrier said she is effusive about how the experience has changed her outlook on life forever.

“When you work in the corporate world you’re often busy trying to increase sales and consumption of a product, but when you work directly with social enterprises and the community it’s more about social and economic development of people and where they live. You improve lives and give hope, and it’s more fulfilling. It feeds the soul,” she said.

She added that part of her conviction stems from the fact that many of the communities which the programme reaches are often overlooked and just need to be taught self sustenance.

“What we do is to teach business development and provide technical support to these organisations to help them grow. You look at alternatives other than funding to help them generate income and show them other ways to survive and help them to scale out. All the organisations have a social purpose,” Sharrier said.

“As the programme swings into full gear the challenges are many. You are exposed to a myriad of issues as you seek solutions, learn about the projects and get to know the participants and see their passion and drive, which makes you want to contribute meaningfully,” she said.

With a mantra that says ‘helping hands are holier than praying lips’, she says through her work she has realised the need for young people to get involved and make a difference in their communities.

“We often pray a lot about things, but what would happen if we got involved? There are many lives that could be improved. Helping is not just about money, it can be your time, your mentorship, your support,” she said. “Don’t undermine your contribution, it comes down to service above self. We can’t have so many groups with no purpose or direction. We need to go into communities and impact people’s lives, create opportunities for everyone, which contributes to social and economic development. If more programmes like this existed we would see the benefit. When we invest our time and energy it’s for their benefit.”

Also a self-taught artist and health enthusiast, Sharrier, during her downtime, can be found painting, drawing, playing tennis or going for a run. This, she said, also ties in with her zeal to contribute to development and come up with new ideas that lean towards the creative side.

“I love creative things and I’m always looking to continuously develop and bring new things to the fore,” she said.

On the matter of art, she created Art on the Run in 2009 to bring fashion and visual arts together. The project was supported by Visual and Performing Arts Jamaica and the Jamaica Fashion and Apparel Cluster.

Sharrier, however, maintained that for her the focus is on building social enterprises and inspiring people that regardless of how bad things may be there is always a silver lining.

“Find the positive in every situation,” she said.