GEN E R ATIONS One Alum’s Commitment to Developing Countries
Saint David’s alumnus Jamal B. Lucas ’92 is committed to growing tourism, agriculture, infrastructure, and entrepreneurship training standards in developing countries. His aim is to use superior agricultural food security technology to contribute to government policies for medium-term sustainable economic growth in emerging markets across the globe. Since 2006, using private funding and personal contributions, Jamal has been researching and incubating programs to activate Greenfield agriculture projects in indigenous traditional areas where natural soil has the capacity to fill the organic production deficit needed to meet the world’s organic consumption demand. Says Jamal, “Rural areas are attractive micro-climates for the production of premium specialty commodities, especially where governments support the use of superior eco-friendly sustainable technologies for food security and environment sustainability.” In December, Jamal returned from an ‘Invest in Haiti’ conference held by the Clinton Administration and IDB. One of the companies that he sits on the board of is Metovex International, which is working with local Haitian businessman Frantz Saint-Phat on a number of construction projects in Haiti. Together the companies are rehabilitating a community park to produce a place of pride for Cite Soleil, once a beautiful area. Since the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Cite Soleil has become one of the areas most riddled with bandits and crime. The Pride for Cite Soleil project could breathe life into a devastated community. The group is also constructing a shopping mall and dormitory right across the street from a new 10,000 student university in Northern Haiti. The university will be the largest in the Caribbean and attended by Brazilian, Dominican, and Haitian students. “I would never have been able to invest in this kind of project without the knowledge of Frantz and other local partners,” said Jamal. “Market intelligence is indispensable.” To gain an understanding of how he could breed economic growth working with local leaders, Jamal endeared himself to traditional leaders in Namibia in 2009 when he hosted a traditional headman from the Ovambo tradition in New York City for one month. As a first-time visitor, Headman Erwin “Chief Nation” Nashikaku was enlightened by the variety of customs traded and accepted by consumers in New York City. In Africa, Jamal is working with governments of Namibia, Angola, and with Africa 2.0 on his initiatives. His initiative with Africa 2.0, a leading think tank on Africa, is to create new mobile tablets embedded with custom curriculum. “Private sector entrepreneurs have to support governments who have taken initiatives to encourage out-of-the-box thinking. As global citizens, we must take a proactive approach to encouraging all youth to become productive elite members of society. Every citizen has elite qualities and there are infinite possibilities if we can access them,” Jamal says. With his progress, Jamal is beginning to integrate the use of sentiment about the lands of indigenous societies beyond “stories of origin” to stories about superior sources of original products for global citizens. This past October, Jamal became a Goodwill Ambassador of the Mayara School in the rural village of Rundu, Namibia. He is the first Ambassador of a school in Namibia’s history. The principal of the Mayara School said, “Jamal Lucas provided necessary technology for the school teachers to give the children an opportunity to pass their exams. Students were beginning to fail because children did not have worksheets and the teachers could not make copies or print forms. We are very thankful.”
Jamal Lucas ’92 with Sam Nujoma, founding president of Namibia.
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