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Jamaican Businesswomen
Women In Business

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Jamaican Businesswomen | Thalia Lyn Founder of Island Grill (Photo: loopnews.com)

by Sheree-Anita Shearer | Associate Writer

Jamaicans are known for their entrepreneurial spirit. Almost everyone has a “side hustle” or a “little juggling” even if they have a 9-5, many decide to work for themself all together and dedicate themselves to their business whether it is small or large.

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Not to be outdone, Jamaican women are very prominent leaders in the business space as business owners, managers at various levels and CEOs. Here are some of the most influential and successful Jamaican businesswomen.

Thalia Lyn - Island Grill

Jamaican Businesswomen | Island Grill (Photo Credit: Jamaica Gleaner)

Thalia Lyn created launched her first restaurant, Dairy Castle Restaurants, which then became Chicken Supreme before it changed to the Island Grill chain we all know and love today. Before venturing into entrepreneurship, she was a teacher, securities dealer and marketer in Canada and the United States before deciding to return home. She did and took her experience in the classroom to her Alma mater, Immaculate Conception High in Kingston.

She spoke quite candidly about her decision to leave the teaching profession, saying although she loved it, her first salary was a strong deterrent as she simply could not see a way to raise a potential family on the £17.50.

Quick service restaurants weren’t very popular in Jamaica before Thalia Lyn but counting the number of QSRs on the island now, they definitely took off. She believes even after being successful in so many other ventures the entrepreneurial seed had been planted by her grandfather a Chinese immigrant and her own father who both worked on making their family-owned bakery a household name in Jamaica.

An estimate of the entire staff complement at Island Grill Group is 640 people. Having been brought up in a family-owned business, she tries to cultivate that same atmosphere even in a larger company.

Known locally as the “Chicken Mistress” Thalia shares that one of the names brainstormed for her chain of restaurants was crazy fowl.

They eventually landed on Chicken Supreme in 1991. It became Island Grill in 1998, a chain of restaurants inspired by Jamaican Jerk, with 17 restaurants, 16 in Jamaica and 1 at the Grantly Adams International Airport in Barbados.

Island Grill was one of the first companies to introduce healthier food options and is the first company to switch to eco-friendly packaging in Jamaica.

For her success in business over the past nearly 3 decades Ms Lyn has been featured in CAPE textbooks on Entrepreneurship.

Monique Powell - QuickCart (Formally QuickPlate)

Jamaican Businesswomen | Monique Powell Founder of QuickCart (Photo: Twitter)

Delivery services are a virtually new venture in the Jamaican business space. Of course, you had your local restaurants who would offer delivery if you call, but outside of that, there wasn’t much. QuickCart is one of the first businesses to take advantage of technology and applications to create a food delivery service.

All this was the brainchild of Monique Powell who was before this a contender in the corporate space, having worked at Gleaner, Scotiabank and Digicel as in technology and marketing. As we get more advanced in tech, the more convenient things become and so, Monique used her two great assets to create this business built on providing convenience.

After starting with just five restaurants, QuickPlate now delivers from over 60 restaurants in Kingston including the local and international franchises and speciality restaurants in the corporate area.

In addition to food delivery, Powell added groceries and taxi services to her company’s services as well. Companies like QuickPlate made the pandemic a little more bearable for some as they qualified as an essential service through the ENDS programme implemented by the government to combat the stressful period in which we were navigating.

Powell’s business is still primarily based in Kingston and more recently Portmore. But it is popular even outside of the corporate area where people cannot utilise the services.

We shouldn’t have very long to wait as the ambitious Monique intends to have Quickplate in every metropolitan area in Jamaica within 3-5 years.

This small company has grown exponentially in 6 short years and has the potential for national, regional and international success.

Yaneek Page

Yaneek Page - Founder of Future Services International | (Photo: Jamaica Gleaner)

Yaneek Page has made helping you to build a successful business, her business. Through the Yaneek Page Business Support Services as well as Future Services International Limited (FSIL) Yaneek provides business advice and coaching for budding or established entrepreneurs or corporate personnel as well as legal funding in Jamaica.

I remember waiting up to watch the Innovators, the show which saw budding entrepreneurs solicit the advice and assistance of Yaneek and her co-host Gary Matalon. Page was the creator and executive producer of the show.

Michelle Chong - Honeybun Limited

Jamaican Businesswomen | Michelle Chong Co-Founder of Honeybun Limited (Photo: honeybunja.com)

Named businesswoman of the year and best CEO in 2020, it comes as no surprise that Michelle Chong has achieved this feat after 40 years as co-founder and CEO of Honeybun Limited Jamaica.

The amazing track record of the Honeybun is simply undeniable. The retail bakery was bought by Herbert and has since transcended its two locations and twelve staff for well over 400 staff members and over 40 products under the Honeybun Jamaican brand. Once a privately held wholesale bakery until 2012, the company was listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange that year which only gave it more to improve on its success. The company was able to move from a million to a billion-dollar company with investment.

If we are to follow the order at Honeybun, slow and steady wins the race. Good business takes discipline and good governance even when no one is watching. This being a norm at Honeybun from the beginning, there was no real issue conforming to corporate governance after it was listed on the stock market.

Before starting the family business alongside her husband Herbert in 1982 though, Chong was a math teacher, which is a skill that would help her in her business in the long run. Not only has it helped with keeping a rigid account of inventory but it has also helped with patience which makes for a more personable and understanding CEO who is still able to get things done efficiently and effectively.

Michelle Chong is the past president of the Jamaican Exporters Association. As well as an advisor for the HACAP certification board Honeybun is the first local bakery with a HACAP certification.

Some delicious options offered by Honeybun are the Shorty Bread, cinnamon roll, coconut roll and cheese bun an innovative take on the classic bun and cheese where the cheese is baked into the centre of the bun and conveniently packaged for you.

But the signature product is most definitely the Honeybun do nut which comes in a single-serve package and can be microwaved.

A lunch kit is simply incomplete until there is a honeybun donut perched at the top to not “press out” the delicious jelly centre before recess.

These women have made significant contributions to Jamaica’s business arena through their various businesses and philanthropic endeavours over the years.

References & Sources For Jamaican Businesswomen

CVM TV. 2022. Island Grill's birth, Growth and Services with Thalia Lyn - CVM TV. [online] Available at: [Accessed 26 August 2022].
Flairja.com. 2022. From Quick Plate to Quick Cart: Monique Powell remains steadfast – The Gleaner Flair. [online] Available at: [Accessed 26 August 2022].
Honeybunja.com. 2022. Honey Bun – HoneyBun. [online] Available at: [Accessed 26 August 2022].
Jamaica-gleaner.com. 2022. Monique Powell: The angel behind QuickPlate. [online] Available at: [Accessed 26 August 2022].
Quickcartonline.com. 2022. QuickCart Jamaica (formerly QuickPlate) - Food Delivery & Online Ordering | Kingston. [online] Available at: [Accessed 26 August 2022].
YaneekPage. 2022. Home – YaneekPage. [online] Available at: [Accessed 26 August 2022]

Jamaican Businesswomen | Written: August 26, 2022

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