Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. But when you give a group of individuals with intellectual disabilities a ‘chupse’, you provide them with a world of love and care and a means of employment.
This year, Chupse returned as one of 66 exhibitors for the second staging of National Baking Company’s ‘A Jamaican Made Christmas’. With every accessory made from the heart and perfectly hand crafted, Chupse gives its customers a story of love and affection in each piece of lanyard, key ring, bracelet, earring and necklace produced using coffee beans donated by the Jamaica UCC Blue Mountain Coffee Company Limited.
Rasheda Tennant, Production Supervisor at Chupse said that when she looked around the room at the Jamaica Pegasus and saw the magnitude of what the National Baking Company was doing for small and medium sized businesses in Jamaica through their ‘A Jamaican Made Christmas’ initiative, the feeling was an overwhelming one.
“In this room (Jamaica Pegasus), you have a wide array of different persons from all walks of life and different countries that are conglomerating in this one space, so it makes you realise how much you can impact not only Jamaica but the global scale,” Tennant said.
Chupse started back in July 2011, when the idea of integrating intellectually disabled individuals into society by helping them to transition from special needs schools to the world of work- producing craft items for sale. This would provide an opportunity for them to contribute to the Jamaican society and to have sustainable livelihoods.
“Instead of pumping students out of the institutions and then expecting them to go find jobs in a culture that doesn’t readily accept or understand them, we decided to develop a company or a brand rather around our persons with disabilities hence Chupse began,” Tennant said.
With eight intellectually disabled (some with either Down’s Syndrome or Autism) individuals currently employed to the organisation which operates out of the Jamaica Association of Intellectual Disabilities (JAID), the Chupse brand has grown and now has its products in stores in Japan and Canada.
Tennant said last year Chupse participated in ‘A Jamaican Made Christmas’ and when they received the invitation to return as an exhibitor this year, they were excited to return. She noted that the opportunity afforded to them is something that they are very grateful for and it is not only about the monetary benefits that they gained at the end of the two day exhibition but it is about the social and personal enhancements that came with it.
“My people (intellectually disabled students) are here with me and they are getting a full blown opportunity of social marketing, marketing on a business level and they will go back with this experience and they share it with all the other persons who did not come here,” Tennant said.
A Jamaican Made Christmas is the brainchild of Chairman and Managing Director of Continental Baking Company, Gary ‘Butch’ Hendrickson aimed at assisting small and medium sized businesses to get exposure and increase sale for the Yuletide season.
“It’s really motivating when a big entity like National can really take such a big risk, investing in entrepreneurs. It gives you the impetus to exceed expectations, because it makes you look wider than just Jamaica… you look at it on a global spectrum.”
Tennant said that for her, when she can tell someone from around the corner or up the road that this is a Chupse brand product and they appreciate it and they are willing to invest in it, it’s a “big thing”.
“People will always like what you create. But when people in your own environment appreciate what you do, it adds a lot more value to it. They (National) are telling us that they not only believe in brand Jamaica, they are willing to invest in brand Jamaica and put everything behind Brand Jamaica,” Tennant said.
This year’s exhibitors ranged from manufacturers of home and lifestyle products to producers of craft and food items, including snacks.
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