About Us

How It All Began

Jamaica, despite its comparatively small geographical landscape has established a giant cultural footprint on the world stage; it’s performance in the arts, music, food, and athleticism is the stuff of legends globally; and the envy of countries more than twenty times its size. So if you still ponder the meaning of Jamaicanomics, please re-read the foregoing. Whoever coined the phrase, “We Likkle but we Tallawah,” was a prophet of Jamaicanomics. It’s the clever, resourceful, and relentless nature of the Jamaican psyche added to the economics of his/her situation that inspire us to “Build Something out of Little or Nothing.”

Jamaicans seem driven by a raucous and fierce patriotism combined with pride, which can only be assuaged by beating the competition at whatever skill they may possess, and that will run the gamut from dominoes to robotics. However it’s in the diaspora, whether in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Latin America, wherever Jamaicans have relocated, that the ingenuity, resourcefulness, and enterprise of Jamaicans are seen and felt in profound ways. It is now an accepted fact that should you give a Jamaican an “inch they will take a mile,” it is that mindset which I call Jamaicanomics – the baked in determination “to be responsible for our destiny and build something out of little or nothing.”

In every unique Jamaican diaspora, from London to Guatemala or Sydney, Australia to the Netherlands its members emerge as innovators and trailblazers: business leaders, lawyers, doctors, academics, schoolteachers, college lecturers and administrators; Jamaicans are making lasting impressions wherever they are. So, in response to Garvey’s urging in his essay on African Fundamentalism:

“We must canonize our own martyrs and elevate to positions of fame and honor, black men and women who have made their distinct contributions to our racial history.”

At Jamaicanomics we are committed to curate the stories and achievements of Jamaicans who have exemplified themselves through service to their fellowman, we laud any individual and organization who may have embarked on this noble mission, either before or in concert with our effort. It would be our pleasure to offer support where necessary to accomplish this much needed undertaking – the benefit to the diaspora and to Jamaica is inestimable so far as the transfer of intellectual property, real capital/foreign exchange, technology, philanthropy, and the multiple assets that reside in the diaspora. The will and expertise to take on this much needed project did not come easily; as the founders and Publishers of Whereitzat Magazine, The Business Innovators & Game-Changers Awards (B.I.G AWARDS), & The Strength of Black Women Series, it has taken us over 20 years of information mining and writing to begin to grasp the power and influence of the Jamaican American contribution to both American and global culture. We know, because we have told their stories of growth and achievement, success and failure, redemption, and reconstruction – all of which is our history, designed and written by us!

This serves as an invitation to all Jamaicans in the diaspora who have never stopped fighting for the higher ideals of: Self-Love, Confidence in Ourselves, with One Cause, One Goal and One Destiny; those who have bravely and confidently established businesses, professional practices, Non-Profit Organizations, and have served as educators, nurses/health professionals, community leaders, broadcasters, and journalists.

This is a clarion call to you to make sure you, and your work is enrolled and curated on this historical platform of global “Jamaican Icons.”

Let us expand the conversation now!