Some 88 young Jamaicans are set to benefit from a new industry-led apprenticeship initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s hospitality workforce and creating a direct pathway from training to employment.
The Hospitality Apprenticeship Programme (HAP), a partnership between the HEART/NSTA Trust and Sandals Corporate University (SCU), was officially launched during a ceremony at the Cardiff Hotel and Spa in St. Ann, on July 13, under the theme ‘Bridging Training and Industry Excellence’.
The inaugural cohort, drawn from St. Ann, St. Mary and Westmoreland, will receive structured training in food and beverage restaurant service management, housekeeping operations, culinary arts and hotel property maintenance before being placed at Sandals resorts in St. Ann and Westmoreland for hands-on industry experience.
Managing Director of the HEART/NSTA Trust, Dr. Taniesha Ingleton, said the initiative reflects the organisation’s commitment to equipping young Jamaicans with the practical skills and workplace experience needed to meet the demands of one of the country’s most important economic sectors.
“This programme has been designed to provide young Jamaicans, including NEET individuals (not in education, employment or training) and recent graduates of the Sixth Form Pathways Programme, with structured work-based training in hospitality apprenticeship,” she said.
Dr. Ingleton noted that tourism continues to play a critical role in Jamaica’s economy, pointing out that the country welcomed a record 4.15 million visitors in 2024, generating approximately US$4.3 billion in earnings.
“The world continues to choose Jamaica, but when visitors choose Jamaica they’re not only choosing our beaches, our food, our music or our landscape. They are choosing our people,” she said.
The Managing Director emphasised that apprenticeship provides a practical solution to youth unemployment by moving participants “from potential to productivity, from interest to competence and from training to real employment”.
For her part , Deputy Managing Director of the HEART/NSTA Trust, Dr. Cheryl McLaughlin, said months of planning and collaboration between the two organisations laid the foundation for the programme’s successful launch.
She underscored that participants were recruited following an extensive selection process and have already completed orientation sessions covering workplace health and safety, sexual harassment prevention, financial management, and the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees.
Dr. McLaughlin said the apprentices will first undergo intensive employability skills training, including Team Jamaica Member certification, CPR and First Aid, and Hotel Guest Practitioner instruction before transitioning to occupational skills training, leading to nationally recognised National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica (NVQ-J) certification.
“This programme represents much more than training, it represents opportunity. It demonstrates what can happen when industry and training institutions work together with a common purpose, and that is to build a pipeline of skilled talent that can contribute immediately to service excellence while at the same time creating meaningful livelihoods for our people,” she said.
Senior Corporate Director at Sandals Corporate University, Dr. Luz Longsworth, described the initiative as a landmark partnership that will help prepare a new generation of hospitality professionals capable of competing globally.
“Today is not just launching another training initiative. Today is about opportunity. Today is about partnership. Today is about transforming your potential into achievement and today is about ensuring that Jamaica continues to produce world-class hospitality professionals who can compete anywhere in the world,” she said.
The Hospitality Apprenticeship Programme forms part of ongoing efforts by the HEART/NSTA Trust and Sandals Corporate University to strengthen workforce development by aligning training with the evolving needs of Jamaica’s tourism industry.