Jamaican Diaspora Palm Beach meeting: Random thoughts

The last few weeks have been quite hectic putting the December issue together as well as doing the rounds promoting the magazine. I also attended a Jamaican Diaspora meeting in Palm Beach. During the meeting I asked the question about the crime situation in Jamaica. I also asked about the view that the Jamaican government takes of the Diaspora movement.

To clarify, it is not my intent to say forget the Diaspora movement because of the crime or because of any personal political views. But I do have my reasons for asking these questions. Here are my thoughts.

Let’s face it. Jamaica does have a crime problem. But as someone at that meeting pointed out crime is a factor everywhere. In fact, it was mentioned that some elements of crime in Jamaica starts here in South Florida. So we who live here need to stay vigilant as well.

My second question concerned just how seriously is the Jamaican government taking the Diaspora. My concern is that the role of the Diaspora must transcend the government. To that end, the Diaspora must seek to be more than just championing the Jamaican government. It should serve to push the existing government for positive change whether that is political or social change. To be fair the tone of the meeting echoed the thought that the Diaspora can work in concert with the Jamaican government and effect change above and beyond the government as well.

I did agree with the other people at the meeting who pointed out that the Diaspora is only as effective as each participant. So each individual must seek to effect change in his own circle.

A final point on the Diaspora meeting is this: Representative Marlon Hill indicated that the Diaspora is beneficial to both Jamaica as well as Jamaicans living abroad. This is important since there are Jamaicans here in the United States who could benefit from the Diaspora movement as well.

When I interviewed Hill for the September issue he did allude to a game plan to mobilize the Diaspora movement. So far the game plan seems to be taking shape. It would appear things are headed in the right direction. And I am looking forward to playing my part in this movement.

Criticisms

As with anything there are always criticisms. Now, most times you hope that they are of the constructive variety or at least you should try to view them in that light. Well some of the criticisms that I have had (or feedback for a less negative word) include:

1. There needs to be a section that contains jokes
2. There needs to be a more even spread across the tri-county area (a lot of the content came from Broward addresses)
3. There needs to be less emphasis on the obvious.

There may have been others but I will concentrate on these 3 (specifically item 3 above).

Adding a section that contains jokes might not necessarily fit the model of the Caribbean Business Digest but a cartoon of some sort might work. So while I don’t intend to transform this into a comic, a cartoon that has some relevant business tone might be a good attraction. In fact, other business publications do have an editorial cartoon (Business Week has Drawn and Quartered). So I will consider this for a future issue.

The comment about a lot of Broward material is true, and will be addressed. However, the intended reach is even beyond the tri-county area so there may come a time when the content may not have a South Florida connection all together!

The third item above seems abstract. Here is how it came about: I was asked “how do you decide on what to print?” My answer “I try to print items that I believe people will be interested in and know about. For example the Marlon Hill article was chosen because of his name recognition and people know who he is.” Well there in lies a problem. While I think the article mentioned above was timely and useful, it would be a mistake to continuously print articles on people that the readers already know about. After all, in most Caribbean publications and even some non-Caribbean oriented ones Marlon is featured quite often. So the advice given to me was to not print what everyone else is printing, find a different approach.

This will be evident in the Christmas edition in December. That issue will feature a nice mix of articles that are both Caribbean in nature as well as non-Caribbean. The aim is not to confine the magazine to just Caribbean oriented stories but to bring reach and variety to the Caribbean readers and to take the Caribbean beyond the Caribbean community. This approach reflects the basic tenet of the Caribbean Business Digest. So I am eagerly awaiting the release of the December edition to see what the reaction will be.

Applying lessons learned so far

In talking with various people in connection with the magazine whether for a story, advertising or just plain networking I have learned some lessons along the way. Two of those lessons came from the September issue with Marlon Hill and Chef Hugh Sinclair. Hill stated that you should always market your business as if it the largest in the world and to position yourself for any expansion and opportunities that may come your way. Sinclair believes that it helps to document your business plans meaning write it down and revise as necessary. That structured approach lends a formal feel to the idea instead of just winging it or “try a ting.” This allows for a better way of evaluating different scenarios. So as a result of thinking about these two bits of advice I decided to revamp and rewrite my plan for the Caribbean Business Digest. This proved to be quite a revelation!

In doing this I was able to more carefully consider options that I tossed out mentally before. Now those previously tossed ideas are coming back and in some cases presenting themselves in a different light. For example, the decision as to whether to have a print or an online magazine has once again brought itself to the forefront. I still feel that within our community there is a market for the print version. But that does not preclude the online version. While I am not ready to fully offer the magazine online as yet, I am however seeing the need for an online presence and will have a website up and running within the next few weeks. (More on the website in an upcoming post). The previous attempt at an online presence was this blog. Now I have the opportunity to use both (in different ways but in tandem with each other) to promote the Caribbean Business Digest.

The website will be used to promote the print version of the magazine and will seek to draw surfers to subscribe to the magazine. This strategy will be used for the short term (6 months or so) and then the question of an online version will be considered once again. I am of the view that an online version would have to be issued monthly at a minimum and since the magazine is currently bi-monthly it may not be feasible to move into that option of the online forum just yet.
However, once the website is up and running, I will have an opportunity to evaluate the online feasibility. More on that so stay tuned.

Request a copy of the latest issue of the Caribbean Business Digest by sending an email to maxwell@caribbeanbusinessdigest.com.