... ‘This is an exchange programme, not a mentorship’

“THIS IS an exchange programme, this isn’t a mentorship, because there is a difference,” said Christine Meyer, public affairs officer at the United States Embassy.

She was making reference to the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative in which a group of Jamaicans will participate. “They might have a mentor in the company (to which they will be attached), somebody that might have more experience, but the idea is that this is truly an exchange. The idea is that the people from Jamaica are going with an idea or with ideas that they are going to share with their counterparts in the United States, and the US people are gonna have ideas that they share with the Jamaican participants or the Mexican participants or whatever.

“So it’s really about creating and growing the network and keeping things going - it strengthens business, and having a strong economy also strengthens our economy throughout the hemisphere. There will be other people from different countries there at the same time, but they won’t all be at the same company.

To this end, the Jamaicans and other non-American participants will be involved in the decision-making process while on the fellowship, and it is anticipated that the things they learn will be applied to their own businesses, which will result in improved economic and other positive outputs.