Dear Editor,
Let me place on the record that I have worked with Access Financial Services for several years. I want to say that its founder and CEO Marcus James is inarguably one of the best and brightest minds I have ever come across in my life.
Despite this, he is an extremely humble and shy young man who has quietly built up a superpower Jamaican business. Rather than tear people like him down we must instead help to build them up and also do our part in protecting people like him from the quick money predators that lurk in Jamaica’s business community.
Most people don’t know that Access was started 14 years ago by James, who was in his late 20s. It was the first company, 2009, to list on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange and the first to list a bond on the bondtrading platform in 2013.
It was also the best-performing company on the Junior Market and the overall winner for 2013. On top of this, it ranks number one in profitability for 2012 and is listed in the Top 100 Micro Finance Organisations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
It even won the Citi Foundation Award for Excellence in Micro Finance Product Innovation in 2013 and won the Excellence in Microfinance Award for 2012 at the inaugural Citi Foundation Micro Entrepreneurship awards for the English-speaking Caribbean.
The company went from zero to $2 billion in market capitalisation, from one to over 150 employees today. And, lest we forget, Marcus James won the Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2011. Jamaica is full of talent, but most young people struggle to break through in what is a truly hostile business environment. Marcus James is one of the few to break through and make us proud. We should support and honour him,
DL
Sunrise, Florida
dwjm801@gmail.com
Let me place on the record that I have worked with Access Financial Services for several years. I want to say that its founder and CEO Marcus James is inarguably one of the best and brightest minds I have ever come across in my life.
Despite this, he is an extremely humble and shy young man who has quietly built up a superpower Jamaican business. Rather than tear people like him down we must instead help to build them up and also do our part in protecting people like him from the quick money predators that lurk in Jamaica’s business community.
Most people don’t know that Access was started 14 years ago by James, who was in his late 20s. It was the first company, 2009, to list on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange and the first to list a bond on the bondtrading platform in 2013.
It was also the best-performing company on the Junior Market and the overall winner for 2013. On top of this, it ranks number one in profitability for 2012 and is listed in the Top 100 Micro Finance Organisations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
It even won the Citi Foundation Award for Excellence in Micro Finance Product Innovation in 2013 and won the Excellence in Microfinance Award for 2012 at the inaugural Citi Foundation Micro Entrepreneurship awards for the English-speaking Caribbean.
The company went from zero to $2 billion in market capitalisation, from one to over 150 employees today. And, lest we forget, Marcus James won the Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2011. Jamaica is full of talent, but most young people struggle to break through in what is a truly hostile business environment. Marcus James is one of the few to break through and make us proud. We should support and honour him,
DL
Sunrise, Florida
dwjm801@gmail.com