As part of the Nation Publishing Company’s 50th anniversary of Independence celebrations, the WEEKEND NATION team – through this series – This Is My Story – will be speaking to people who migrated to the island and visitors who have come and fallen in love with our shores. We invite you to share with us or point us in the direction of an interesting person we can feature each week.
OVER 20 YEARS AGO, Dr Marcia Brandon made a decision to leave her homeland of Mandeville, Jamaica and follow her husband to Barbados.
It is a decision she has not regretted.
Now the managing director of the Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Livelihoods (COESL), Brandon has made an indelible mark on the lives of hundreds of Barbadians.
Having previously spent 15 years as the executive director of the Barbados Youth Business Trust (BYBT), she is quite satisfied with what she has accomplished since relocating in her mid-20s.
Her face beams with pride as she speaks about her work at the BYBT, during which time she helped countless young entrepreneurs develop their businesses.
No time for doubts
She is a far cry from that nervous, homesick girl who moved here over two decades ago.
“One of the things which bothered me the most about moving to Barbados was that I was working and I had always worked and I did not want to give up my job [in Jamaica]. I must admit I was a bit homesick at first, but I had a tremendous network of friends in Jamaica who would call me every single day and encourage me,” she told the WEEKEND NATION from the comfort of COESL’s Dayrells Road, Christ Church office.
Dr Marcia Brandon showing the motto of her organisation Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Livelihoods: A Force For Good.
“But to be honest, I really didn’t have time to have any doubts. When I moved here I went back to school and I kept myself busy by volunteering with the Samaritans, Women in Crisis, HIV/AIDS Foundation, as well as mentoring young women.”
Brandon admitted it was especially heart-warming to see the BYBT develop into the organisation it had become.
“The BYBT was a very non-traditional organisation which many people did not know could actually make any sort of change on the landscape of entrepreneurship in Barbados, much less in the Caribbean.
“It was extremely hard work, very sacrificial work, but extremely worthwhile and satisfying. And now that you see entrepreneurship being touted all over the place, it started at the very base of the BYBT,” she said.
“Not many people had a vision for the organisation or knew where it needed to go. It was very new and people knew that it was necessary, but how to get it done and how to do it, the knowhow wasn’t there. That actually opened up a whole new space for creativity to take root and that is exactly what I was able to do with the help of many people.”
One only needs to take a quick look around her small office, and immediately the several awards which adorn her cabinet jump out.
It is proof that Brandon’s outstanding work over the years has not only been acknowledged, but also recognised.
However, one of her most memorable moments took place in November last year, when a group of around 50 young entrepreneurs who she assisted through the years held a dinner in her honour.
The woman behind Ronnie Morris and the Barbados Music Awards and who helped the award-winning Kemar Saffrey establish the Barbados Vagrants and Homeless Society was called a “living legend”.
Positive impact
“I believe everybody was put on this earth for a reason and I also believe that everybody has the potential to make a difference,” she said.
“It really made me feel good to know that I was able to make a positive impact on the lives of those young people.”
The mother of two said she made the decision to take over the reins of the COESL because she felt “she could help more people”.
“I felt that there was the ability to help people to grow and develop even more at what I had done at the BYBT. So I transitioned to the COESL because livelihoods encompass entrepreneurship, it encompasses school-to-work transition and it encompasses someone who wants to go out and make a living by working for somebody else,” she explained.
“So all in all I am extremely satisfied about moving to Barbados. I am even more satisfied because I have been able to make a difference in the lives of people and that is something I hope to continue to do for a long time to come.” (RB)
