State Minister in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Delano Seiveright, is urging university students to adopt a more realistic and proactive approach to career and business development, cautioning that the modern global economy is evolving too quickly for traditional thinking.

Speaking last Thursday at the University of the West Indies Mona campus during a forum hosted by the Mona Campus Youth League in collaboration with the UWI Guild of students, Seiveright said young Jamaicans must recognise that the environment they are entering is fundamentally different from that of previous generations.

“The world you are stepping into is faster, more competitive and far less predictable,” he said. “You cannot approach it with the same assumptions that worked 20 or 30 years ago.”

The State Minister traced the evolution of major global technologies, noting that the printing press, developed around 1440, took centuries to transform societies, while electricity systems introduced in the late 1800s and innovations such as the telephone in 1876 and the automobile in 1886 took decades to achieve widespread adoption.

He pointed out that more recent technologies have spread much faster, with the internet—established in 1983 and expanded through the World Wide Web between 1989 and 1991—reaching global scale within roughly 10 to 15 years. Social media platforms such as Facebook (2004) and Instagram (2010) transformed communication and commerce in under a decade.

“Now, with artificial intelligence taking off from around 2022, we are seeing changes happen in real time,”  Seiveright said. “That means you do not have the luxury of waiting. You have to move, learn and adjust continuously.”

 Seiveright stressed that young people must also broaden their perspective beyond Jamaica, noting that the island’s population of approximately 2.8 million is part of a much larger global marketplace, including the Caribbean’s estimated 45 million people, the United States and Canada with roughly 390 million, and Latin America with more than 660 million.

“If you limit your thinking to your immediate surroundings, you are limiting your opportunities,” he said. 

“Technology has removed many of the barriers. You now have access to markets that previous generations could not easily reach.”

The State Minister also highlighted the growing economic potential of Jamaica’s creative industries, pointing to major events such as Reggae Sumfest, Dream Weekend, Best Weekend Ever, Sandz and Zimi. He cited the success of entrepreneurs such as Andrew Bellamy, Romeich Major and Kamal Bankay as examples of individuals who have built viable businesses by leveraging culture.

“These are not overnight successes. These are people who understood the environment, adapted and built over time,” he said.

Seiveright further cautioned students against relying solely on traditional employment, noting that the “9-to-5 alone is not always enough” in a context of rising costs and increasing global competition.

“You have to be realistic. A job is important, but many of you will need to develop additional income streams, whether through business, digital services or other ventures,” he said.

He also underscored the scale of global investment in artificial intelligence, projected at approximately US$2.5 trillion in 2026, compared to Jamaica’s gross domestic product of about US$22 billion.

“This gives you a sense of how significant the shift is. You have to position yourselves to benefit from it, not be displaced by it,” he said.

Seiveright encouraged students to make practical use of the resources available through the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce and its agencies, including the Companies Office of Jamaica, Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC), Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) and the Trade Board.

“The information and support systems are there,” he said. “The responsibility now is on you to take action, make use of what is available and start building.”