BUINESS: Diageo helping innercity youth create jobs

The world’s largest alcohol drinks business Diageo, owners of Red Stripe, has committed to issuing 20,000 scholarships valued at about J$350 million to Jamaican students by 2016.

The scholarships are being made under the company’s ‘Learning for Life’ programme, according to a release issued on behalf of the company.

As part of the initiative, 1,400 scholarships valued at US$168,200 (about J$15 million) are being provided in recognition of Jamaica’s 50th year of independence.

They will be divided equally across all 14 parishes and will go to inner-city youth.

The release said the Jamaican programme is part of a wider initiative covering Latin America and the Caribbean, whereby Diageo is providing scholarships for 50,000 disenfranchised young people to be trained in key areas to enable them to obtain jobs and improve their well-being.

The ‘Learning for Life’ programme, which started in Jamaica in 2008 with the launch of ‘Project Bartender’, saw 35 persons graduating.

The release said that as part of the programme 95 students from Trench Town benefitted from scholarships last month.

The scholarships were given in the areas of chef de partie – station chef or line cook – as well as in merchandising skills, which require training up to level III certification at the HEART Trust NTA for between six and nine months.

“What this means is that in just nine months we can set the stage to turn unemployed youths into employable professionals,” said communications manager at Red Stripe, Dianne Ashton-Smith.

“This we believe is one of the most sensible ways of reducing the high rate of unemployment among Jamaican youth, which has retarded the country’s growth in recent times and led to increased poverty and crime,” she added.

business@gleanerjm.com