The St. Thomas Renaissance Foundation used a networking mixer in August to press for a broader vision of economic development for the Jamaican parish of St. Thomas, positioning it as a destination for investment, entrepreneurship and creative industries.
Networking for growth
The Invest in St. Thomas Business Mixer, organised by the foundation, took place on Aug. 14 at the Sun Coast Beach Club and brought together local business leaders, investors, members of the diaspora, development partners and creatives. The foundation, which is marking a decade of activity, staged the event as part of a weekend of activities showcasing the parish’s potential in entrepreneurship, culture and sustainable development.
Photos released by the Jamaica Information Service show foundation officials and participants engaging in conversations and networking. Among those pictured were foundation president Professor Malton D. Edwards, foundation director Janet Harrison-Cousins, JIS Morant Bay regional manager Nyoka Linton and JIS videographer/photographer Janell Henderson. Local business figures such as Jamila McGowan, founder and CEO of MiLynki, and a recruitment officer from HEART/NSTA Trust, Leighton Gregory, were also in attendance.
Vision: look beyond local
At the event, Professor Edwards urged stakeholders to expand their outlook when planning the parish’s future. He summed up the foundation’s approach in a single directive:
“don’t think locally, think internationally”.The message underlined the organisation’s ambition to move past traditional, local-only social interventions and to pursue investment strategies with a wider scope.
The gathering served as a platform for conversations about investment opportunities and the role of the diaspora, creatives and institutional partners in advancing a development agenda for St. Thomas. The foundation’s decade-long work aims to unite different actors around a coordinated plan to attract capital and support entrepreneurship.
- What: Invest in St. Thomas Business Mixer
- When: Aug. 14
- Where: Sun Coast Beach Club
- Organiser: St. Thomas Renaissance Foundation
Event details and local partners
Photographs and reports indicate a mixed attendance of creative entrepreneurs, civic leaders and representatives of training and employment agencies. The presence of an organisation such as HEART/NSTA Trust highlights a focus on workforce readiness and human-capital development alongside capital attraction.
The foundation’s weekend of activities combined culture, creative enterprise and business networking, signalling a strategy that links St. Thomas’s cultural strengths to its economic development plans. That approach is consistent with contemporary development thinking that leverages local identity and creative industries to differentiate jurisdictions in competitive investment markets.
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Host | St. Thomas Renaissance Foundation |
| Date | Aug. 14 |
| Venue | Sun Coast Beach Club |
Implications for residents and diaspora
For residents of St. Thomas and members of the Jamaican diaspora, the foundation’s work signals potential pathways for engagement: investment, partnerships with creative and service sectors, and participation in training and employment initiatives. The foundation aims to translate these conversations into tangible projects, though details of specific investment commitments or timelines were not released in the materials published by the Jamaica Information Service.
As the organisation celebrates a decade of activity, its shift toward international positioning reflects a recognition that local economies increasingly compete in broader markets for tourists, capital and creative talent. The foundation’s call to “think internationally” is a reminder that small jurisdictions must combine local assets with external relationships to capture new opportunities.
The Invest in St. Thomas Business Mixer offered a concentrated moment for conversations; the challenge going forward will be converting dialogue into concrete projects that deliver jobs, business growth and sustainable development for the parish.
