Jamaica-born billionaire, Dr Trisha Bailey, will outline her recipe for business success at the Re-Align Business and Investment Conference slated for June 28 at the AC Marriott Hotel in Kingston.

Scheduled to address the topic ‘Unleashing Entrepreneurial Success’, Dr. Bailey will outline the lessons learned and the critical steps and responses that catapulted her from rural life in Jamaica to Home Medical Equipment (HME) Woman of the Year USA finalist.

She remains the first black person, and only woman, to have a building named in their honour on the campus of her alumnus, the University of Connecticut.

The conference is being organised by Entrepreneurial Partners Limited in conjunction with the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE).

As the first black woman to own commercial real estate in Edgewood and Vero Beach Florida, and reputedly the wealthiest woman of Jamaican descent, Bailey overcame many hurdles in her journey towards success.

Her early years in St Elizabeth growing up on a farming homestead was in some ways a preparation for her future success as she learned principles such as putting in hard work to reap benefits in the future.

“I would spend hours on the farm with my uncle, harvesting all the crops in the middle of woodland. It was my sacred place. It would take hours to get there and once we arrived it was a joyous time,” she said reflecting on her childhood.

Migrating with her family to Hartford, Connecticut at age 13 was an awakening for her as she experienced an abrupt change of culture. She was forced to dig deep and discover inner strengths she never knew she had on her journey to becoming a self-made billionaire. Along the way she worked as a stockbroker, real estate broker and owned a recruiting business.

As a mogul in her own right, Bailey currently operates several pharmacies across American, sells medical equipment and is currently investing heavily in the Jamaican real estate market.

A believer in paying forward, she has donated to several charities and through her philanthropic efforts has sent 270 Caribbean students to college, as well as making the largest cash donation in the history of the University of Connecticut, which she credits with giving her a full scholarship.

Her unique perspectives are sure to enlighten the conference and is geared at reigniting a transformative approach for Jamaican businesses, particularly against the background of emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic and to support micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMES) to gain resilience against future economic shocks.

Joining Bailey will be respected financier Keith Duncan, group CEO of JMMB; Gordon Swaby, founder of EduFocal Limited; Dr Marlene Street Forrest JSE managing director; Indera Persaud, Honorary Consul at the Guyanese Consulate in Kingston; among other leading business heads, thinkers and technocrats from the private and public sector in Jamaica.