JMMB Joan Duncan Foundation Partners with Panache Media to Empower Youth through Digital Media Workshop

The JMMB Joan Duncan Foundation joined forces with Panache Digital Media, recently (March 29-30), to assist in empowering 25 youth, drawn from varying backgrounds, including: entrepreneurs and unemployed, at-risk youth, to hone their skills in social media, to advance their digital careers.

The two-day workshop, which took place at the UWI Mona library, was aimed at developing these youth to become digital entrepreneurs and enhance their businesses, employability and/ or advance their careers; by helping them to acquire the requisite digital skills and technical competency. 

Tricia Williamson, CEO of Panache and conceptualizer of this initiative, said, “My desire is that all the participants will use the skills and knowledge gained from the workshop as a springboard towards their own success. I hope that, within a year, participants will become fully-immersed in digital careers, pursuing social media certification and advancing their careers in the field.”  Against this background, during the next year, 10-20% of the workshop participants will be given an opportunity to intern with Panache, on various projects. This internship will further assist these individuals to get hands-on experience, working alongside seasoned practitioners. 

During the workshop, the participants were exposed to several core areas in digital marketing, including: social media strategy, measuring return on investment (ROI) for digital campaigns, social advertising, content marketing, content curation, community building and business best practices. 

The event is apt, as it leverages the pervasiveness of social media platforms and the income - generating potential for youth, who tend to have natural inclination and affinity to this area.   

Jordanne Payne, participant and owner of Tallawah Tours, has credited the workshop for opening doors to enhance his business’ growth and he has already reaped bankable success. Admitting that since attending the workshop just over a week ago, he has put the skills and information learnt to good use, in his day-to-day social media content management and in strategizing for his online campaign to launch his company’s website.  “I have tried to apply the principles (from the workshop) to work out my content strategy, check what my audience appreciates, and make other tweaks to my social media content, (which) has made a big difference.  (In fact) one of my posts got the highest engagement, most likes and I even booked 6 tours.” 

In speaking to the support for this initiative, Kim Mair, CEO, JMMB Joan Duncan Foundation, shared, “we were excited to be a partner, as this initiative aligns with the Foundation’s mandate to assist individuals in achieving their greatness, thereby transforming their lives, and our overall support of youth entrepreneurship. As such, the Foundation, in addition to providing financial support for the workshop, will provide transformational training workshops to assist the participants in an ongoing process of self-reflection and personal development; while gathering the necessary skills and tools to ultimately have positive transformative thinking.”   

Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) and the Development Bank of Jamaica also provided financial backing for the initiative, affording participants to benefit from the training session, at no cost to them.