THE SUNDAY GLEANER, MARCH 6, 2022 | BUSINESS C4 n ADVISORY COLUMN: RISK & INSURANCE Notice Of Annual General Meeting The Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers Ltd (JACAP) JACAP is pleased to give notice that our Twenty First Annual General Meeting will be held virtually via online platform “Zoom” on Sunday 27th day of March 2022 commencing at 10:00 a.m. Members who wish to participate in the online Annual General Meeting are required to register to attend by clicking on the link https://bit.ly/3I8fpbv or enter the meeting code 840 0594 1580 with passcode 733625 and provide the information requested including your CAE/IP number. Registration will open at 8:00 am on the 1st of March 2022, and close at 4:30 pm on 25th, March 2022. For assistance with registering, members may send an email to info@jacapjamaica.com or by calling the membership department at 876-948-5937. NOTICE This serves to advise the public that Deonne Wilson is no longer employed to Lawe Insurance Brokers and is not permitted to conduct any business on our behalf. Signed Management HAVEYOU ever wondered whether there is a real difference between the performance ethic of men and women? You don’t want to be biased, but if all things are not equal, it would be silly to pretend that they are. Here is my experience – not a law or rule by any means, but some more data for you to consider. Recently, I noticed a gap between the way women and men prepare to present at online conferences. Some background: my company has delivered five three-day virtual events in the past couple of years. They attracted over 4,000 attendees, causing us to work with over 400 presenters. Typically, we invite quite a much larger number of applicants. The best are offered speaking slots, which involves the production of a pre-recorded video. We offer ample instructions in the form of checklists and other aides to complete the process, which can take several hours from start to finish. In our first conference, I noticed a difference between the way the male and female speakers completed their individual projects. For the most part, but not in every case, women were models of diligence. They followed the steps laid out and met assigned deadlines. Their work product was complete, and they asked fewer questions, which were pre-answered in the provided materials. I think the men would have been surprised to hear that they were the laggards by any measure. I was certainly shocked. Four events later, I can say that the trend has continued. Whether the conference was Caribbeanbased or not didn’t matter. The same behaviour preva i l ed as men made a mess while women anxiously overperformed. In fact, many of the latter were concerned that their final product might not be good enough. By contrast, men’s submissions came in at the last minute, with no apparent concern for its quality. EQUAL ROLE Fortunately, I function as part of a team with my wife, who has been on this journey from the beginning. Playing an equal role to mine, she is not surprised at all. After several conversations, I have concluded the following. • Female presenters are putting in the hard work. Coming from a background of outright discrimination and exclusion, they have learned to eliminate the errors that would lead to them to ‘not being picked for the team’. Furthermore, they are more likely to ask to be coached and are willing to accept guidance and put it to use. They seem to believe that the system is fair, leaving them free to focus on doing a good job. • Male presenters appear to assume that deadlines are vague guidelines rather than operational requirements. As such, the consequences of doing their own thing are few. Feedback is rare, and if it’s offered, they are prepared to overlook it. What are the sources of these very different behaviours? Here, I can only speculate and I won’t generalise to entire genders in all situations. However, I do know that in my next conference, it would be a mistake to ignore the evidence. That would be bad for business. So take the following insights with a grain of salt, but maybe, use them. My male presenters have floated on a cushion of privilege. It truly is a man’s world – at least in their experience. As such, they can get away with rule-breaking at our events, just like everywhere in life. They need not pay close attention to changing times or expectations. The subconscious assumption is that things will always work out in their favour. As a man, I can confirm that this rings true. However, some of my female presenters would be shocked to hear this account – at first. Upon reflection, they may realise that it explains prior experiences. Some can even cite supreme efforts to reach a high standard only to see the selection of a man reaping the rewards of his sloppy work. It’s unfair. If you’re a man reading this, I encourage you to check your privilege. That safe cushion is probably being steadily deflated, and when it finally goes away, you may be in trouble. If there’s any good news, it’s that in some cases – like the one I described above – the facts are plain to see. The key for us all is to adjust our actions accordingly so that we are dealing with reality and helping others do so as well. As managers, it makes no sense to ignore these truths. The fact that there are more female than male professionals in Jamaica is only one aspect of the picture - the part I thought was most important. Now, more than ever, I believe performance matters. Therefore, men will need to step up just to keep up. n Francis Wade is a management consultant and author of ‘Perfect TimeBased Productivity’. To receive a summary of links to past columns, or give feedback, email: columns@ fwconsulting.com Resolving the discrepancy between male and female work ethic GUEST COLUMNIST Francis Wade THE DATA collection phase of a 20 to 24-week project designed to foster the development of insurance capacity, specifically for local farmers and investors in the sector, was recently completed. The analysis and processing of the data will be ending soon. Despite a consistent record of failure in the provision of insurance coverage for members of the farming community in the past, the initial results from the pilot project, which began during the last quarter of 2021, suggest there is a high probability of success this time around. Farming is a risky business. Jamaican banks are notoriously risk averse. Businessman Gassan Azan’s comments last year about his inability to get loans from commercial banks to fund his Lakes Pen, St Catherine, venture is par for the course. He was quoted as saying: “Not one dollar has been loaned to this project by the banks.” Mr Azan and his partners, according to the Jamaica Observer, plan “an $11-billion, state-of-the-art agricultural development on 400 acres of land that is to be rolled out over several phases. The project includes 25 acres of greenhouses, 50 acres of orchards and open fields in the first instance. When it is up and running, the project will enhance Jamaica’s involvement in the global ready meals market, which was estimated at US$219.69 billion in 2018”. AGRICULTURAL RISKS The pilot project will soon be entering the product-design stage. If it is successful, and insurance coverage becomes available, banks and other lenders should have one less excuse not to make loans to the sector. The insurance facility should help them to manage more effectively some of the risks associated with farming and, possibly, to begin making loans to commercial farmers. These things could help spur economic growth. Lenders and insurance companies are close allies and often share the same parents. There is evidence to support this in the existing structure of the local financial system. A similar situation exists overseas. For example, the sanctions that are being imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine have prevented Russia from accessing the global financial system to access capital and/or to transfer risks to Western insurance markets. A 2010 World Bank report described agricultural risks in Jamaica as “very high”. They were grouped into production risks, market risks, and other kinds of risks. Included in the latter category were personal, health, property, and financial risks. It is very difficult to predict when they will occur or their intensity. Climate change is also complicating the situation. Either singly, or collectively, these risks have the potential to hamper the income-earning capacity of farmers. Losses and damage to Jamaica’s High-tech insurance solution for local farmers shows promise PLEASE SEE HIGH-TECH, C5 GUEST COLUMNIST Cedric Stephens n ADVISORY COLUMN: PRODUCTIVITY FILE A young Jamaica Red Poll bull struggles to walk through the mud on a farm in Lakes Pen, St Catherine in November 2020. A project is under way to develop an insurance solution for Jamaica’s farmers, whose livestock and crops are often damaged by floods and storms. The following members of Broadcast & Allied Services Credit Union are asked to make immediate contact with us (876)-754-6661/ 754-5352 NOTICE MEMBER’S NAME JERMAINE ANDERSON NICOLE SCOTT JERVIS TOMLINSON ROHAN HARRISINGH JASON JEFFERSON KEISHA BURKE-DOBSON SOPHIA KELY MCCOMTHY KEVIN BENJAMIN KEMAR HARRIS EDGAR LEWIS DWIGHT LEE SEAN WALKER NOEL BARTON SHELDON HARRISON EVERTON THORPE HOWARD BLACK
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