Flow joins the KSAC in Rejuvenation of Downtown in 100 year anniversary

The historic Ward Theatre and the St William Grant Park in Downtown benefited from a facelift on Labour Day, Wednesday, May 23 with the support of Flow. In the spirit of the theme of Labour Day 2012, ‘Step Forward, Make Jamaica Beautiful’ the broadband service provider did just that in its partnership with the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation. A team of Flow employees joined other volunteers from the community to carry out maintenance and beautification of sites around the town.



Mayor of Kingston, Senator Councillor Angella Brown-Burke gets assistance from Nova Hamilton (right), client relations manager at Flow to clean the interior of the Ward Theatre during Labour Day activities on Wednesday, May 23.



Town Clerk Errol Green welcomed the participation of the Flow team. “These national projects reflect the pride we take in our communities and the love and respect that Jamaican do indeed have for one another. We are happy to have Flow’s support, and that Jamaicans participated in the many Labour Day efforts across the island.”

“Ward Theatre and St. William Grant Park are landmarks of Downtown Kingston and we thought it important that our Labour Day activities in the year of the 50th anniversary of our independence should include this area,” said Denise Williams, director of corporate and government affairs for Columbus Communications Jamaica Ltd., operators of the Flow brand.  



Yanique Forbes (left), marketing manager at Flow and Mayor of Kingston Senator Councillor Angella Brown-Burke (centre) work tirelessly to beautify the garden of the Ward Theatre, while Flow employee Pamella Fishley gets ready to join in.

  “We believe in the power of community partnerships and are proud to be a part of the activities in preparation for the very special celebrations.  We are firmly committed to being a part of the national mission of celebrating Jamaica’s tremendous achievements for the past 50 years. The Labour Day projects this year gave us the perfect opportunity to partner with the citizens as they prepare their communities for the Jamaica 50 celebrations that will take place here,” she added.

Labour Day 2012 is another in the series of national events that Flow is supporting as part of its overall programme of activities for Jamaica 50. Flow employees joined citizens, the fire brigade, service clubs and NGOs in various projects in five jurisdictions across the island. The Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC), May Pen, Mandeville, Montego Bay and St Ann’s Bay were the beneficiaries of Flow’s assistance.

Labour Day Boost for St. Ann’s Bay from Flow

 St. Ann’s Bay benefited from a facelift on Labour Day, Wednesday, May 23 with the support of Flow. In the spirit of the theme of Labour Day 2012, ‘Step Forward, Make Jamaica Beautiful’ the broadband service provider did just that in its partnership with the St. Ann Parish Council. A team of Flow employees joined other volunteers from the community to do maintenance work on drains and general beautification of sites around the town.  

Counsellor Desmond Gilmore, Mayor of St. Ann welcomed the participation of the Flow team. “I’m happy for the assistance because St. Ann’s Bay is in a bad state. Like the rest of the country we face challenges in maintaining the town and the help received on Labour Day goes a far way in overcoming these,” he said.

Mayor Gilmore revealed that during periods of heavy rain, roads become flooded making life difficult for motorists and pedestrians alike. He acknowledged that the support from Flow has come at a most appropriate time with the official start of the hurricane season being just days away and for Jamaica’s 50th anniversary celebrations in August.

“St. Ann’s Bay is a vibrant community with a rich history, and we thought it important that our Labour Day activities in the year of the 50^th anniversary of our independence should include this town,” said Denise Williams, director of corporate and government affairs for Columbus Communications Jamaica Ltd., operators of the  Flow brand.  “We believe in the power of community partnerships and are proud to be a part of the activities in preparation for the very special celebrations.  We are firmly committed to being a part of the national mission of celebrating Jamaica’s tremendous achievements for the past 50 years. The Labour Day projects this year gave us the perfect opportunity to partner with the citizens as they prepare their communities for the Jamaica 50 celebrations that will take place here.”

Labour Day 2012 is another in the series of national events that Flow is supporting as part of its overall programme of activities for Jamaica 50. Flow employees joined citizens, the fire brigade, service clubs and NGOs in various projects in five jurisdictions across the island. The Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC), May Pen,  Mandeville, Montego Bay and St Ann’s Bay were the beneficiaries of Flow’s assistance.

Flow partners with Manchester Parish Council to enhance Mandeville

Mandeville’s town centre benefited from a facelift on Labour Day, Wednesday, May 23 with the support of Flow. In the spirit of the theme of Labour Day 2012, ‘Step Forward, Make Jamaica Beautiful’ the broadband service provider did just that in its partnership with the Manchester Parish Council. A team of Flow employees joined other volunteers from the community to carry out maintenance and general beautification of the town centre, park and streets leading off.

Mayor of Mandeville Councilor Brenda Ramsay welcomed the support of the Flow team.  “Labour Day is a good opportunity for volunteers to come in to help; that is why we welcome Flow’s support. Every labour day Flow is onboard to assist us not only financially but with manpower,” she said.

“Mandeville is a vibrant community, and we thought it important that our Labour Day activities in the year of the 50^th anniversary of our independence should include this town,” said Denise Williams, director of corporate and government affairs for Columbus Communications Jamaica Ltd., operators of the Flow brand.  

“We believe in the power of community partnerships and are proud to be a part of the activities in preparation for the very special celebrations.  We are firmly committed to being a part of the national mission of celebrating Jamaica’s tremendous achievements for the past 50 years. The Labour Day projects this year gave us the perfect opportunity to partner with the citizens as they prepare their communities for the Jamaica 50 celebrations that will take place here,” she added.

Labour Day 2012 is another in the series of national events that Flow is supporting as part of its overall programme of activities for Jamaica 50. Flow employees joined citizens, the fire brigade, service clubs and NGOs in various projects in five jurisdictions across the island. The Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC), May Pen, Mandeville, Montego Bay and St Ann’s Bay were the beneficiaries of Flow’s assistance.

Flow partners with St. James Parish Council to beautify Sam Sharpe Square

Sam Sharpe Square in Montego Bay benefited from a facelift on Labour Day, Wednesday, May 23 with the support of Flow. In the spirit of the theme of Labour Day 2012, ‘Step Forward, Make Jamaica Beautiful’ the broadband service provider did just that in its partnership with the St. James Parish Council. A team of Flow employees joined other volunteers from the community to carry out beautification tasks around the square.  

Deputy Superintendent of Road and Works at the Council Saad Campbell welcomed the participation of the Flow team. “Flow was one of the first companies to come on board this project, and we are very grateful for their support. Our hope now is that the renovated park will increase civic pride among residents of Montego Bay. The park has often been vandalized in recent years. Hopefully, after it has been spruced up, people will be proud of it and seek to protect it,” he said.

“Montego Bay is a vibrant community, and we thought it important that our Labour Day activities in the year of the 50^th anniversary of our independence should include this town,” said Denise Williams, director of corporate and government affairs for Columbus Communications Jamaica Ltd., operators of the Flow brand.  

“We believe in the power of community partnerships and are proud to be a part of the activities in preparation for the very special celebrations.  We are firmly committed to being a part of the national mission of celebrating Jamaica’s tremendous achievements for the past 50 years. The Labour Day projects this year gave us the perfect opportunity to partner with the citizens as they prepare their communities for the Jamaica 50 celebrations that will take place here,” she said.

Labour Day 2012 is another in the series of national events that Flow is supporting as part of its overall programme of activities for Jamaica 50. Flow employees joined citizens, the fire brigade, service clubs and NGOs in various projects in five jurisdictions across the island. The Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC), May Pen, Mandeville, Montego Bay and St Ann’s Bay were the beneficiaries of Flow’s assistance.

Flow NBL Players Score Points for Reading on Read Across Jamaica Day

Members of the Flow National Basketball League took their skills off the basketball court and spent time reading to students at primary schools across the island as part of Read Across Jamaica day. The players, Jamaica Basketball Association executives and Flow employees participated in reading activities during visits to primary schools in Kingston, Mandeville, Montego Bay and Port Antonio. The visitors attended each school to bring the message about the joys and benefits to be gained from reading.

Kevin Buchanan of Clan Carthy Primary School reads from The Dinosaurs Race  with the assistance of Yanique Forbes, marketing manager at Flow during the JTA Read Across Jamaica Day on Tuesday ,May 8. The Flow employees and players from the Flow National Basketball League were on hand to  read with the students. Flow used interactive  on-screen technology to make the experience exciting for the children.

“We are pleased to be involved in yet another activity that enables the development of youth,” said Denise Williams, director of government affairs at Flow. “Only through inspiring, encouraging and supporting our young, and allowing them to tap into their creative imaginations will we help them to reach its full potential.  This is the value of reading and when these youngsters see their sports stars in the Flow NBL engaged in reading they will understand that it is a wonderful door that leads to all kinds of possibilities.”

The involvement of the Flow NBL players allows children to see another side of many of their role models which should actively increase their interest in reading. Literacy is one of the critical skills to building tomorrow’s leaders and as such, Flow’s participation with Read Across Jamaica is in keeping with its mandate of seeking ways to enhance the educational experience of our children.  Through the Building Leaders Programme, which exposes students, parents, teachers and community groups to the value of digital tools in the learning process, Flow has provided free internet and cable to over 150 public primary and high schools in Jamaica.

Leaon Nash, communications and public relations officer of the JTA points out that the students are always enthused to have visitors. "They always like to see new faces around them, assisting in enlightening them through developing a greater level of interest in terms of their own reading skills and the importance of literacy at a national level,” he said.

Mr. Sheldon Richards, principal of Clan Carthy Primary endorses this view. "We welcome the Flow National Basketball players. Their presence had a tremendous impact, especially knowing that we are a heavily sports-oriented school. Having the sports figures creates heightened interest and fosters a greater level of admiration. Sports stars’ reading with the students encourages them to read more," he said.

Marland Nattie, general secretary of the Jamaica Basketball Association echoed similar sentiments stating that “The students will look up to these athletes with excitement and see that education is the key to achieving their goals” he said.

The participating schools in the Southern conference were Clan Carty Primary, Jessie Ripol Primary, Holy Family Primary and Dupont Primary. In the central conference, the players visited Garlogie Primary and Junior High while those from the western conference visited Corrinaldi Primary. Port Antonio Primary was the participating school in the Eastern Conference.  Participating teams included Buff bay Hawks, Portland Pistons, Pure Playaz and Railway Tigers.

Read Across Jamaica was proclaimed on April 30 at King’s House, making it an official part of the national calendar. The programme was initiated by the Jamaica Teacher’s Association (JTA) in order to promote literacy and encourage children to read. RAJ has been steadily gaining attention and interest from the political directorate and NGOs.  

Significant progress demonstrated under the Universal Access Partnership

Stakeholders in the Universal Access Fund’s programme to build the northern segment of the broadband wide area network today announced the completion of the installation at 61 sites now powered with high speed internet supplied by broadband service provider Columbus Business Solutions (CBS), the business arm of Flow. Schools along the north coast are connected to Flow’s  fibre optic broadband network which delivers internet access at speeds of up to 100 Mbps. CBS has provided the infrastructure as part of an agreement with the Universal Access Fund, signed in August 2011. 

A delegation led by the Hon. Phillip Paulwell, Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, observed demonstrations of the practical applications of the broadband technology. The group, which included Minister of State Julian Robinson, Hugh Cross, Managing Director of Universal Access Fund, Michele English, president and chief operating officer of Flow and Avrill Crawford, Chief Executive Officer of e-Learning Jamaica, observed students and teachers using the technology to receive and deliver instruction as part of the e-Learning Jamaica Project.

“Today is a tremendous occasion. The deployment of broadband technology into the schools represents the ability of the institutions to have full connectivity, to be fully a part of our e-learning project. This is an internet based facility that allows for the sharing of  materials, and new approaches to teaching in the classroom, as well as access to a wealth of information to the teachers and of course to the students,” said Minister Paulwell commenting on the significance of the occasion. “This partnership with Flow is quite important as it represents a paradigm shift in the way our institutions are delivering education. This will make them far more efficient, its going to make the process of teaching and learning a lot more seamless and it will encourage our young people to remain in the classroom and to achieve a lot more.”

Students at the connected schools will be able to access the e-learning data bank hosted on servers, review pre-recorded lectures and take on-line examinations, at their leisure, while teachers will benefit from technologies such as video-conferencing and virtual training sessions – simultaneously.  CBS’s 100 Mbps broadband facility will enable faster downloads of streaming videos, images and large data files which is necessary to support the content delivery of e-Learning projects.

Flow and Columbus Business Solutions’ president, Michele English, expressed satisfaction with the developments stating that the broadband company is committed to providing the infrastructure to improve the access to technology needed to thrust education in Jamaica forward. “We are fully committed to the social and economic development of Jamaica and focused on supporting education any way we can, so that everyone has an equal opportunity to become future leaders.”

Speaking to the impact of the technology out education outcomes, Hugh Cross Managing Director of the Universal Access Fund said, “Broadband technology will facilitate the improvement in the learning and teaching experience. It will inspire interest by the students and ultimately will allow them to perform better at examinations. We will ultimately have much better results, better educated students and we will be moving towards a knowledge based society.”

The Universal Access Fund, (UAF), fuelled by a cess charged on overseas companies for telephone calls terminating in Jamaica, is the main source of funding for the project aimed at creating an island-wide broadband network providing public access to the internet through schools, public libraries, post offices and other agencies.

It was recently announced that the initiative, originally intended to be implemented in selected secondary schools, libraries and post-offices across Jamaica, is to be extended to 700 primary schools, following  a review of the current programme.

Flow Powers GOJ/World Bank Digital Job Generation Initiative

Young Jamaicans will soon be a step closer to accessing the lucrative business opportunities available on the worldwide web, thanks to a partnership between the Government of Jamaica, The World Bank, telecommunications service provider Flow and other multilateral partners.

Minister of Youth and Culture, The Hon. Lisa Hanna on Tuesday launched Digital Jam 2.0, a project aimed at exposing the potential of new technologies and trends in the virtual marketplace. The programme which is financed by the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID),has the specific purpose of creating jobs and enabling budding entrepreneurs.

Speaking at the launch of the project, Michele English president and COO of Flow said “I think that Digital Jam 2.0 will demonstrate very tangible ways of how we can create more jobs and participate in this emerging market.” English went on to describe the activities of the programme, “Participants will join app development workshops, hone their skills as entrepreneurs and take part in a hack-a-thon to demonstrate the skills picked up throughout the process. They will also learn from global experts and attend a job fair where they will be presented with international job opportunities. ”

Speaking at the launch, Minister Hanna welcomed Flow’s commitment to Digital Jam 2.0 adding that the service provider’s involvement will help Jamaicans to take advantage of the virtual market place which has been described as a US$1 billion employment industry. This she says is especially timely in light of the high level of unemployment that currently exists on the island, and the ripple effect of these statistics.

“According to the Planning Institute of Jamaica, 70 per cent of the nation’s young people are not trained; 55 per cent left high school without attaining the requisite qualifications for matriculation into higher education (also) young people under the age of 30 are responsible for 75 percent of the nation’s crime.”

Fabio Pittaluga  senior social development specialist at The World Bank sees Flow as a vital partner in the new project remarking, “I think this is a wonderful partnership that we have established with Flow. Flow is central and critical to the happening of this event, and I look forward to a longer term partnership with Flow beyond this event.”

Flow’s involvement in Digital Jam 2.0 is the latest in the company’s effort to foster national development by enabling innovation. The telecommunications provider has also provided support to the PSOJ’s Youth Upliftment Through Education (YUTE)initiative, JAMPRO’s Jamaica Investment Forum Information Communication Technology (ICT) round table.

According to Ivan Gonzales ICT analyst for the World Bank, the organization was not only impressed by the fact that Flow came on board, but at the short time it took the telecommunications company to agree to be part of the initiative. “How fast they made the decision to come on board shows how fast they can see an opportunity and make decisions for the youth of Jamaica.”

Gonzales was also very impressed with the company’s reach to go behind basic support remarking, "Flow is providing an amazing opportunity for youth to get involved, they aren’t just providing connectivity but one year free internet for the youths that win prizes and internships at Flow. Since it is a regional company, we think it Is great to give youths an opening into the international job market.”

Over the last six years Flow has brought an extensive fibre optic network, which delivers the fastest, internet to Jamaica. This capacity will enable the kinds of innovation and participation in emerging job markets that Digital Jam 2.0 will highlight.

Ingrid Riley, project coordinator for Digital Jam 2.0 stated “Flow has been very helpful in this process. We are so happy to have Flow on board for what is really a national initiative for engaging young people and putting before them the informational experiences that will enable them to think about employment and entrepreneurship in the digital age.”

Women Business Owners Networking Event

(l-r) Michael Look Tong Director of Media Services at Flow and Jeanette Lewis Public Relations Manager at Flow listen intently to Carol Pryce CEO of RedBk Jamaica Limited, at the Women Business Owners  networking event held on Thursday April 19 at the Knutsford Court Hotel. At the event executives from Columbus Business Solutions discussed opportunities for data recovery, the use of business internet to find new markets and Columbus' remote IP surveillance for security purposes with over 150 women entrepreneurs.

(l-r) Beverley Thompson, director of residential sales at Flow, chats with  author Dr. Marcia Forbes and Michael Look Tong, director of  media services  at Flow, at the Women Business Owners networking event held on Thursday April 19 at the Knutsford Court Hotel. At the event executives from Columbus Business Solutions, the business arm of Flow, discussed opportunities for embracing technology for business success with over 150 women entrepreneurs

(l-r) Andrea Cowan CEO at Lillian Limited,  Michael Look Tong director of media services at Flow, and Denise Williams, director of government and corporate relations at Flow show their support of females in business at the Women Business Owners  networking event held on Thursday April 19 at the Knutsford Court Hotel. At the event executives from Columbus Business Solutions discussed opportunities for embracing technology for business success with over 150 women entrepreneurs.

Angelica Barrett (left) of Glad Helpers, recently named as one of  “3 to Watch” at Moguls in the Making, receives a Gift Basket from Stephanie Bryan of Columbus Business Solutions which she won at the CBS sponsored  Women Business Owners Networking event held on Thursday April 19 at the Knutsford Court Hotel. At the event executives from Columbus Business Solutions discussed opportunities for embracing technology for business success with over 150 women entrepreneurs who attended the event.