MORENO…when someone hurts our community, including what occurred in Paris, it affects us all.
United States Ambassador Luis G Moreno described anyone who did not condemn the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, France as “reprehensible”.
Moreno’s comments came in his keynote address at the Jamaica’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED) 2015 celebration last week, as France mourned the death of 129 persons and the injury of more than 350 in the attacks carried out by Islamic State terrorists in the French capital.
Speaking on the significance of community and its importance in creating a safe environment for entrepreneurs, Moreno used the opportunity to make his point about the Paris terror attacks.
“It’s about community.. It’s what we are…When someone hurts our community including what occurred in Paris it affects us all…And those (in Jamaica and abroad) that openly refuse to condemn such acts are reprehensible,” he said.
The ambassador’s comments were apparently aimed at a local radical Muslim leader who was deported from Britain to Jamaica and who was reported to have refused to condemn the attacks.
In keeping with Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, Moreno also lauded Jamaica’s female entrepreneurs, describing them as avid risk- takers who led phenomenal businesses. He stressed the importance of education and greater collaboration among all stakeholders in creating an environment which boosts free enterprise.
The event was hosted under the patronage of Thalia Lyn, founder and CEO of Island Grill and organised by Jamaica’s WED world ambassador for the Caribbean, Cecile Watson. Titled “EmpowHERed to INNOVATE”, it was the second annual local observance of this global movement to empower, celebrate and support women entrepreneurs worldwide.
WED was part of the celebration of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) in which the United States Embassy played a lead role in hosting and participating in several events that highlighted the important role that entrepreneurship plays in a nation’s economic and social development. The week’s events supported US President Barack Obama’s goal to elevate entrepreneurship on the global agenda and inspire new generations of innovators to choose entrepreneurship as a profession, the embassy said.
During the week, the embassy also facilitated the participation of Silicon Valley-based tech and social entrepreneurs Wayne Sutton and Melissa Epler in a series of talks and forums aimed at raising Jamaican awareness on how to accomplish successful entrepreneurial pursuits within a global technological environment. Sutton was keynote speaker at the Young Entrepreneurs Association’s Gala and Awards Dinner on November 13, and Epler participated on the Business Dialogue panel discussion organised by the Jamaica Business Development Corporation at the University of West Indies.
Roundtable discussions at the World Bank – staged in conjunction with Jamaica’s Destination Experience, the Mona School of Business and Management and UTech’s Technology Innovation Centre – generated stimulating dialogue about keys to business success and developing Jamaica’s own nascent entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“The US Embassy continues to partner with the government and people of Jamaica to create an environment which enables Jamaica’s health and prosperity. The events hosted and supported by the Embassy throughout Entrepreneurship Week form part of a greater number of commercial initiatives aimed at creating an environment to attract US investments which are expected to top $500 million over the next five years, and encouraging sustained economic growth across the island,” the embassy said. – Desmond Allen