Diageo is investing a further $10 million to continue its thrust to impact the lives of at least 50,000 persons across Latin America and the Caribbean by the end of the year with an expansion of its successful Learning for Life programme in Jamaica.

Project Tourism, which started on Monday, February 21, 2011 will provide training in the areas of landscaping, housekeeping, food and beverage service, cookery (commercial food preparation), and hospitality training to international standards for 420 unemployed and unskilled persons from inner city communities in Kingston. The project is funded entirely by Red Stripe, a Diageo company, through its Desnoes and Geddes Foundation.

The investment is an expansion of Red Stripe’s initial Learning for Life Programme, which was developed following the West Kingston incursion last year as a response to the need for intervention in the community. So far, over 408 participants have graduated from the initial programme which included Project Bartender, Project Artist, Project Entrepreneur Construction and Project Entrepreneur Design. However, Red Stripe has committed to enrolling an additional 1000 students in the Learning for Life programmes by the end of its 2010/ 2011 financial year. Red Stripe’s communications manager, Dianne Aston Smith said the programme aims to increase its students’ opportunities to find employment and become active contributors to their communities.

“By providing these recruits with these skills we provide them with an opportunity for new and more viable means of livelihood, thereby assisting them to engage in and benefit from the economic opportunities in their communities and beyond,” Smith said.

Project Tourism will be executed in partnership with the Institute for Workplace Education and Development (a subsidiary of Manpower and Maintenance) and the Bars To Go Training Institute. Upon successful completion, participants, aged 18 to 35 years, will receive a certificate of completion from the training agencies and the HEART Trust NTA National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica (NVQJ) Certificate of Competence. The NVQJ qualification is recognised throughout Caricom and some North American countries.

Smith argued that the skills learnt by employees within the tourism sector can be duplicated one location or country to another, and that the service offered through trained personnel can be a way to set a hotel apart from its competitors. “We all know that the hotel industry is fraught with competition, and two-thirds of the jobs available are service jobs,” Smith said.

The initial target for participants in the eight-week training programme was 300 persons, however because of the success of the initial Learning for Life programmes and the high demand for the skills training, over 400 persons were chosen. Dianne Ashton Smith, communications manager for Red Stripe, told Sunday Finance that the company partnered with the Social Development Commission (SDC) to recruit persons from the Kingston communities.

“Between Monday and Tuesday we had over 500 persons coming for the recruitment and we had to sift down to that number,” Smith said. She said Red Stripe took the decision to expand the programme because of the obvious demand for trained professionals given the growth of the tourism industry locally.

“When we look at today’s business climate and the exponential growth in the tourism sector and its potential to impact the economy and society, the need for training is more pronounced than ever,” Smith said. “In the tourism sector as in every other sector it is all about

competence in people. The level of service quality depends on the knowledge, skills and work ethic of employees and this is crucial to the sustainability of an extremely competitive sector,” she added.

Tourism minister, Edmund Bartlett, has also come out in support of the programme, which he said would build a professionally trained cadre of employees and facilitate the development of properly operated businesses within the hospitality sector.

“Linkages with such companies aid significantly in improving Jamaica’s competitive edge as a destination and in building brand Jamaica, while fuelling job creation as well as foreign exchange earnings and retention locally,” said Bartlett.

Red Stripe is a major stakeholder in the success of Project Tourism. The hotel industry accounts for a large portion of the company’s overall business. According to the Tourism Ministry, Red Stripes sale of draft beer alone stands at $600 million annually.

Additionally, Red Stripe invests approximately $50 million annually to train bar staff of hotels and other hospitality establishments in customer service, sales tips and how to serve the locally fermented beer. The company indicates that it costs between $7 million to $10 million to run each program.

“Its goal of stimulating job creation is a noble one, which will aid tremendously in empowering and engaging citizens in inner-city communities and ultimately strengthening micro business in these areas,” Bartlett said of Red Stripe.