The landmark corporate office of the Jamaica Olympic Association at 9 Cunningham Avenue in Kingston, styled “Olympic Manor” by the Samuda led new administration, will next year be “transported” to Tokyo. There it will become not only a cultural, cuisine and entertainment hub but also a business forum where brand Jamaica will be monetized, athletes exposed to commercial interests and the international media and business partnerships established.
“The Olympic games offer historic medal podium achievements for our men and women in enriching our sporting heritage. Olympic Manor will be unmistakably a Jamrock landmark in Tokyo where the business, commerce, culture, cuisine, music, art and simply the joie de vivre of sport will be wrapped attractively and monetized in the black green and gold” said Samuda.
The JOA last year at the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia, successfully staged for the first time “Olympic Manor” at the popular and snazzy Helm Bar and Bistro Surfers Paradise and Samuda promises that the Tokyo experience next year will be revved up.
“It will not be for us a “sweat down” party. It will be first and foremost a corporate forum in strategically showcasing our sporting talent and commercializing brand Jamaica. It will offer local and international media and business interests a laser yet funnel insight into the bankable talent a yard in sport and “bang for buck” investment partnerships”
The JOA continues to break new ground in the local world of sport and is writing a new script for the business of sport, talent performance in sport and indeed the governance of sport three critical pillars which have to be established if Jamaica is to be serious about sport development.
JOA Secretary-General and CEO, Ryan Foster, in his characteristic business acumen mode, assesses the landscape “Olympic Manor, for us, in Jamaica is a fixed asset and when exported by us to Japan or elsewhere it is a floating asset which is continually increasing in value. What is clear to us is that in both cases it is an earning asset the value of which is measured in brand recognition and monetization, a new and vibrant stock in trade, goodwill and legacy creation”
Foster further stated unwaveringly: “The JOA show is on the road. No turning back. We have a job to do and goals to accomplish and with our supportive and dynamic membership, more manors will be built for this and future generations”
The JOA in late 2017 on a visit to Japan signed a historic Partnership Agreement with the Tottori Prefecture Government which was covered extensively by the provincial media and Samuda hails this as a milestone that “goes beyond the brick and mortar of sport and captures the humanity and unity of sport across the apparent cultural and geographic divides”.
