The St. George’s College lecture series “ A Knight’s Dialogue”  opens the year with the co-founder of Honey Bun, Michelle Chong, as the guest speaker on Tuesday at 2.00 pm

Michelle Chong co-founded Honey Bun in 1982 with just a few workers and transformed a small bakery into one of Jamaica’s top of class in its field. Honey Bun was listed on the JSE Junior Stock Exchange in 2011.

Today it has over 700 employees and operates from its new 60,000 square foot plant in St. Catherine.

With over four decades in manufacturing, Michelle Chong is a business leader who has served as President of the Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association and the Jamaica Exporters Association.

Honey Bun is a successful family enterprise, and last year, Michelle’s son Daniel was appointed CEO, the torch was passed to the next generation. 

Last year, Honey Bun surpassed J$4 billion in annual revenue and has vastly increased its product offering beyond just bread.

Well-positioned in the local market, Honey Bun is looking to step up exports.

In 2019, Michelle Chong launched the Honey Bun Foundation, which creates models for SMEs.

She continues to be a fine example of the entrepreneurial spirit and has built a recognised, thriving company from the ground up. She remains a champion of Jamaican manufacturing and SMEs. 

“ To succeed in business, you must first understand your financials, and the other is to convert goals into a project. You have to know how to execute.

“In Jamaica, we have big dreams but an execution deficit. If you can execute small bites of success, you can later expand on that, then you can execute a whole business plan,” said the co-founder of Honey Bun.

Michelle has received the national honour of the Order of Distinction. She is married to Herbie and together they have three children.

Past guest speakers at St. George’s “A Knight’s Dialogue” are Jason Sharp, Managing Director of Cafe Blue, Phillip Wong, founder of Deltana Enterprises in Miami and Donovan Lewis, founder and Chairman of the Ideal Group of Companies.