Posts from — October 2010

The global coalation against corruption released their 2010 report on corruption on October 26, 2010. These folks measure how well 178 countries are faring, given the financial instability that is still roiling the world. Money is the mother’s milk of corruption so this index is used as a means on how effectives countries are doing in eradicating poverty.

Nearly 75% of the countries measured fell below a measurement of 5, where 0 is perceived to be highly corrupt, and 10 , comprising a just outside of Eden situation.

Well, Denmark, New Zealand, and Singapore tied for top honors at 9.3. Unstable goverment expectagly lagged, with Somalia pulling up the rear.

Jamaica scored a 3.3 , showing improvement over its 2009 score! Jamaica ranked 78th. in the world, and 16th. in the Americas. Barbados was 17th. in the world, and came in second in the Americas.
Canada led the Americas, and Venezuela pulled up the rear.

Greece, Italy, and the united Stated showed a decline in scores. Transparency International challenged the G20 countries to model greater accountability, and increase in trust to help in turing back the red ride of corruption.

Click to get full report

What admonition would you have for the leadership of Jamaica to improve our score?

Want to get some tears to my eyes, let me see some young person sauntering down the mall with an over-sized T shirt with Bob Marley fully emblazoned across the front. I am saddened because I usually see no sign of a trademark. That same person may have a Nike cap and guest what, the Trademark is there!

Recently I went to the Jamaica Intellectual property office site and saw another sad story. The headline said it all:
Bob Marley family loses copyright fight.

Yes , folks it’s full time we put a spotlight on one our most underdeveloped asset, our intellectual property assets. Patents, Trademarks, and copyrights are a measure of wealth creation capacity.

These elements are the rocks we need to place in our slingshot to defeat the many menacing socio-economic giants that haunt our possibilities.

First let me describe these precious rocks.
Patent: legal protection of a new, useful process, machine, article of manufacture, industrial desgn, or asexually reproduced plant.

Trademarks: is a word , phrase, symbol, design or the combination of these elements . A trademark is used to identify and distinguish one source of goods from another.

Copyright: is a form of protection to the authors of original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic for a fixed time period.

I could not help thinking about Jamaica’s possibilities in creating new revenue streams by applying an additional focus and leverage of its intellectual property possibilities. Agriculture offers lots of momentum in creating new foreign exchange mojo through reduction in imports of food products, and exports. However, there is clearly room to add a dose of intellectual property to multiply the revenue possibilities.

To make my case, let me choose just one food company that get raw products from Jamaica , and add their sprinkling of IP and wah la, a world class winner.

The Hershey Company is a $US12B company that hires 13 thousand folks. They manufacture chocolate and sugar confectionery products. The Company manufactures, markets, sells and distributes various package types of these products in more than 80 brand names. While we are being nostalgic about granny’s coco tea, they are making a fortune!

Think of the many ways they brand themselves.

I am tired of hearing how hot our peppers are and how divine our jerk sauces are. If the French and Italian can have a salad dressing, how about the Jamaican dressing?

How will this happen? It will take an adoption of a new mind set for intellectual property.It is thinking beyond just delivering a product in a functional form with a label. Hopefully the wise will catch the hints.

Let’s stop thinking commodity, and practice adding the ever important intellectual-additive. Let’s stop preaching to the choir and add a new monetary value to our product offerings by adding the new ingredient of intellectual property in a advanced way to let the world wonder admiringly about our possibility.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
Albert Einstein

In every race, ethnic group, societal strata, and country of our globe, boys and young men are becoming an endangered species.

They are increasingly missing on college and learning situations. Instead, they can be found in unsavory places and increasingly in prisons.

What can you and I do to stem this slide? There is a principle that has proven to have transformative power; prayer.
This has been said that more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.
Thus College Educate Our Sons, Inc. (CEOS) has launched an initiative to change this picture through prayer.
CEOS (website) is working toward reversing the slide of men in college which has fallen from 70% in 1949 to 42% in 2006.

College Educate Our Sons (CEOS) is an interfaith organization that strives to educate, form and nurture transformational leaders.

CEOS was founded by Dr. Bertram Melbourne of Howard University

This is your invitation to easily participate in this growing initiative:

WHEN: October 8-10, 2010
WHAT:The Second Annual International Weekend of Hope and Inspiration for Boys and Young Men to make graduation from college a life’s goal

WHY:To Highlight the Absence of young men in higher education and thus future leadership and do something about it

•To pray for boys and young men to regain the interest in academics and begin at the elementary school age to make graduation from college a life’s goal.
•To pray for the numbers to rise above the 60% mark once again.
•To pray for more male mentors to encourage boys and young men to greater aspiration.

WHERE: Anywhere you are. Just Pray on that Weekend for Boys and Young Men to make graduation from college a life’s goal.

Engage your Churches/Mosques/Synagogues .
Ask your spiritual leaders to bring boys and young men to the front during the Service and pray for them.
Invite men of your community to commit to become mentors and encourage them and pray for these mentors too.

WHO: You and everyone within your sphere

HOW: Share, tweet this post to at least twelve friends inviting them to join you in circulating this
initiative and in praying on the weekend of October 8-10.

There is a lot of buzz about a recently released documentary Waiting for ‘Superman.’”. With the dismal performance of the US educational system, this is a call to arms.

The movie title comes from a recollection from Geoffrey Canada an educational reformer, who grew up in the South Bronx and who says, “One of the saddest days of my life was when my mother told me Superman did not exist. She thought I was crying because it’s like Santa Claus is not real. I was crying because no one was coming with enough power to save us.”

The film is focused on resource competition, in this case a lottery in which five children whose lives await news of whether they have won admission to a charter school. The odds are against them – in one example, Francisco, a Bronx first-grader, is one of 792 applicants competing for 40 spots at the Harlem Success Academy.
Your heart goes out to all these kids. Who will inject any sunshine into their potential?

Well, superman and Santa may not come, but there is one super organization who is standing in the gap, and making a difference – Read Across Jamaica (RAJ). The kryptonite Read Across Jamaica face is our apathy and the resulting lack of support.

Read Across Jamaica is not waiting for Superman, but for you! Here are a few simple ways you can join the fight for a hope-filled future for many Jamaican kids.

RAJ has 10 barrels to pack & need volunteers to help with inventory, sorting & filling barrels.
Here are the times you can sign up for this week:
October 5 & 7 from Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm
October 8 from 11:00am – 4:00pm

RSVP if you will be able to contribute some time. (301-672-4133)

If you unable to participate, please consider contributing $40 to help us purchase a barrel or $125 to help us ship. Visit RAJ Network for Good page and make your contributions.
Website to give
Your cape is awaiting you!