May Pen residents were able to engage with several of Jamaica’s key commerical institutions this week, thanks to Project STAR’s “Financial Reasoning Session”.

Project STAR (Social Transformation and Renewal) is a local initiative sponsored by the Private Sector of Jamaica (PSOJ) and Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). Its goal is to enable total socio-economic transformation in under-developed Jamaican communites through ‘targetted interventions’.

The Financial Reasoning Session is one such ‘targetted intervention’, taking place at Project STAR’s May Pen Office. In attendance were representatives from Sagicor and Scotiabank, alongside several small business owners, members of the youth, and ‘nanograms’ – self employed individuals with no steady source of income.

Many of these individuals had been previously given a grant of $100,000 Jamaican dollars, aand were seeking guidance and how to properly manage these funds. Unlike other Business fairs, Project STAR made a major effort for the meeting to be heavily interactive and conversational, ensuring that local men and women could be upfront and gain information in a clear and concise manner.

“We dubbed it a ‘financial reasoning session’ because we wanted to make it a dialogue, not a lecture,” said Akeem Wilson, Business Development and Financial Inclusion Officer at Project STAR. “It was not a highfalutin talk, just real conversations that the community can relate to. We want residents to understand how to open bank accounts, access insurance, explore pension plans, and talk directly with financial institutions.”

The Financial Reasoning Session was only part of the wider “Community Hub” programme, a monthly event hosted by Project STAR across multiple Jamaican parishes. These meetings are the cornerstone of Project STAR’s outreach, but also serve as a channel for feedback and criticism, which Romel Gordon, the programme’s May Pen Officer, was quick to point out.

“After our first session a year ago, residents told us they needed more interaction. They didn’t just want to hear about financial products; they wanted to ask questions about their situations,” Gordon noted. “We realised that people were struggling with real issues like bad debt and didn’t understand things like debt consolidation. So, this time, we designed the session to be personal, practical, and solution-oriented.”

Gordon pointed out that above all else, the ‘Financial Reasoning Session’ was providing an opportunity for the people of May Pen to get back on their feet, triumphing in spite of the recent problems they had faced and the negative impacts that followed.

“Some people had to shut down their shops during COVID-19. Others don’t even have bank accounts, which limits job opportunities and long-term stability. We’re trying to help shift people from a hustle mentality to long-term planning and security.”