Thirteen employees of Sagicor Group Jamaica who have spent the past 18 months in the company's leadership development programme graduated two Fridays ago.

Sagicor explained that the programme, SagicorLEAD, is a performance-driven initiative designed to prepare outstanding team members from across the group to take on leadership roles in the organisation. The participants were each assigned two mentors to provide personal and professional guidance throughout the course of the programme.

Christopher Zacca, president and CEO of Sagicor Group Jamaica said SagicorLEAD is important to the company, as it provides a great platform for young, bright and dedicated team members to become even better prepared to step into leadership roles and harness their leadership skills.

“I encourage you to put the skills you have garnered into practice as you go forth in pursuit of accomplishing your personal and professional goals. You have set goals, worked towards them and today is a testament that with dedicated focus, commitment and hard work, you can achieve what it is you set your mind to,” he said to the cohort during the March 6 ceremony at Courtleigh Hotel.

SagicorLEAD honed particiapnts' leadership skills through a series of engagements including formal training sessions from Mona School of Business and the Dale Carnegie Training Series, as well as on-the-job training, rotations within various departments across the group, quarterly review sessions, and selected reading materials.

John Bryan, cash receipting associate said SagicorLEAD proved transformational for him and has set him on a path to build his career.

“I enrolled because I saw it is an opportunity to grow; I believe I have something to offer and the experience has made me a purpose-driven leader. This was a life-changing experience and I am happy I had this opportunity to work with and learn from the leadership of the company,” he said.

Seventeen new team members were inducted into the programme during the ceremony.

Senior vice-president in charge of human resources and corporate services, Karl Williams, charged the new SagicorLEAD cohort to embrace the opportunities for learning and development through the initiative.

“We believe in you and want you to feel empowered to contribute to the success of our company. This initiative is one of the ways we build on the culture of continuous learning here at Sagicor as together we will be strong through generations to come,” he said.

SagicorLEAD was launched in April 2018.