Jamaican-born Suzuki targets senior Japanese team

NIIGATA, Japan — Imagine a Jamaican-born person representing Japan’s national football team.

But there is at least one this newspaper knows about. His name his Masashi Suzuki, born in Montego Bay, St James, before his Japanese mother Marika Suzuki shipped off to her Far East home with her son.

During the Mexico FIFA Under-17 World Cup in 2011, the Jamaica Observer had located the mother of Suzuki and carried a story with her telling how she came to Jamaica to work as a tour operator on the island’s enchanting north-west coast and fell in love with it.

That wasn’t the only thing she fell in love with. Marika met Masashi’s father, Robert Hamilton, and a romance blossomed in a picturesque part of Jamaica, and it was magic all the way.

Masashi’s mother, in the previous Observer story, told how her son was born at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay, near Union Street, 20 years ago.

She has another son, Sho, by another Jamaican. He is about 15 years old now.

When the Observer caught up with Masashi at the Denka Big Swan Stadium, the home of his J-League club Albirex Niigata, he spoke little English and had to be helped through the brief interview by an interpreter.

But he recalled, more than anything else, his days playing along the Montego Bay coast, and one particular place brings back fond memories for the 6ft striker.

“I used to play on Doctor’s Cave Beach every day,” he said.

He has been back to Jamaica three times after initially leaving at six years old, but though he professes his love for the island, which sparked the romance that brought his parents together, his heart is clearly with Japan.

“I love Jamaica, but I love Japan too because it’s a beautiful country that is safe and there is little crime, plus they have good food here, good people and I love those things about Japan,” said Masashi after watching Japan defeat Jamaica‘s Reggae Boyz 1-0 in a friendly international in cool Niigata.

He thought the game was an entertaining affair, with both teams having their moments.

“I think it was a very nice game as both teams had chances to score… I also think the Jamaicans can play… I remember playing against them for Japan at the Under-17 World Cup in Mexico, and I think that was interesting in a game with the countries of both my parents,” Masashi noted.

The player is highly thought of and is viewed as a future prospect for Japan. In a game-day magazine, he was featured along with the likes of AC Milan’s Keisuke Honda, Borussia Dortmund’s Shinji Kagawa and FSV Mainz’s Shinji Okazaki.

“I am currently in the Olympic team and that’s the level before you go to the senior team, so I am looking forward to that,” he said.

So far this season for his club, Masashi has scored two goals, but has set his sights on more goals and also a possible move to Europe in the future. “I have scored two goals so far this season and I am looking to score more… yes, I would love to go and play in Europe, especially in England where I think the soccer there is so fantastic,” Masashi ended.

– Sean Williams

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Jamaican-born Suzuki targets senior Japanese team

Azerbaijan targets pro-democracy groups

13 October 2014 Last updated at 00:26 By Rayhan Demytrie BBC Central Asia correspondent Azerbaijan currently chairs the Council of Europe, a decision that has angered the country’s critics “We are the last of the Mohicans,” says Leila Alieva. “First the government weakened the opposition, then targeted independent media, and now us – the NGOs.”

Her research institute, the Centre for National and International Studies in Azerbaijan. is one of dozens of pro-democracy non-governmental organisations under investigation by the Azeri authorities.

And the crackdown is taking place as oil-rich Azerbaijan chairs Europe’s leading pro-democracy institution, the Council of Europe.

In most cases the authorities have frozen bank accounts or launched tax inspections, forcing NGOs that received foreign grants to suspend projects.

Other organisations include Transparency International, Irex, National Endowment for Democracy and Oxfam.

So far Ms Alieva has managed to escape prosecution. But many of her peers have been less fortunate.

Azerbaijan is a key European energy partner and Western oil companies have boosted its economic growth Torn apart

In recent months, the pressure on the government’s critics has intensified.

Two prominent human rights activists, Leyla Yunus and Rasul Jafarov, were arrested in late July. They had been compiling a list of Azerbaijan’s political prisoners.

Their names have since been added to the document.

Rasul Jafarov (R) took part in Sing for Democracy protests during the 2012 Eurovision song contest

The list records 98 individuals in detention, among them human rights activists, opposition members, journalists and bloggers.

The charges against them range from espionage and drugs and weapons possession to hooliganism and tax evasion.

Mrs Yunus, a veteran human rights campaigner and an advocate of reconciliation with neighbouring Armenia, won one of France’s most prestigious awards, the Legion of Honour, last year.

Her husband, Arif Yunus, is a respected historian.

Both were charged with high treason.

“After 36 years of living together we are in different cells in different prisons,” Mrs Yunus wrote in a letter to her husband in late August.

“We just never would have predicted that the 21st Century would bring the repression of the 1930s,” she said.

Veteran campaigner Leyla Yunus has advocated reconciliation with neighbouring Armenia

Human Rights Watch has described the charges against the couple as “completely bogus”.

“These are the towering figures of civil society, who we felt were more or less untouchable. But apparently no-one is untouchable in Azerbaijan. At this stage all critical civil society is pretty much exterminated,” says Georgi Gogia, the group’s senior researcher in the Caucasus.

The Azeri government denies the charges are politically motivated.

“The rule of law is guaranteed in Azerbaijan. The case of any individual relates to the specific criminal offences and has nothing to do with their political and human rights-related activities,” said Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev, in a written statement to the BBC.

Critics have frequently been targeted since pro-democracy protests in 2011 erupted on the streets of Baku, inspired by the so-called Arab Spring.

But with Azerbaijan chairing the Council of Europe, questions have been raised about its ability to respect the 47-nation organisation’s founding principles.

“It’s shocking that the chairman is basically a dictatorship using its chairmanship period this summer to arrest literally every three days all the critical minds that defend the very value of the institution,” says Gerald Knauss, who heads the Berlin-based European Stability Initiative (ESI).

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev addresses the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in June

Azerbaijan’s chairmanship may have hurt the Council’s reputation, the secretary-general’s spokesman Daniel Holtgen concedes.

However, he says: “Our member states want us to engage and not disengage with Azerbaijan. None of the member states asked to postpone or cancel Azerbaijan’s chairmanship.”

The reluctance of Council of Europe members to sanction Azerbaijan may in part be down to Europe’s relationship with the oil-rich nation as a key energy supplier and trade partner, and to multi-billion-dollar investments by Western oil companies, which have helped boost Azerbaijan’s GDP to $73.5bn (£45bn; 58bn euros) in 2013.

Fuelling protest

In September, oil giant BP celebrated the start of the Southern Gas Corridor – a $45bn project that will deliver Azeri gas directly to Europe.

Before the ceremony, which also marked BP’s 20 years of co-operation with Azerbaijan, Human Rights Watch wrote to the company’s chief executive to take a stance against the crackdown on civil rights.

BP did not respond to the letter publicly but, in a written statement to the BBC, said that it believed that the government of Azerbaijan had a primary responsibility to protect human rights and that the company was “ready to implement their guidance in this regard”.

So far, there has been little guidance from the Azeri government. It maintains that civil liberties are being respected in Azerbaijan.

Mr Hajiyev, the foreign ministry spokesman, says there are 3,000 domestic NGOs registered in the country that the government is prepared to support.

But those that receive funding from abroad use the money for “dubious purposes, to provoke disorder and instability”.

“We all know how some other countries have seriously suffered from this type of foreign intervention,” Mr Hajiyev says. “Azerbaijan is determined not to fall victim to such kinds of charity.”

Leila Alieva says that in targeting pro-democracy NGOs and other critical voices in the country the authorities wanted to avoid scenarios similar to Ukraine’s Euromaidan movement that toppled the Yanukovych government earlier this year.

“If you look at the pictures of those arrested, they are the cream of our society. Probably in other countries they would have been appointed as ministers.”

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Azerbaijan targets pro-democracy groups

Cotterell targets Windies senior squad

Latest News

Tuesday, August 20, 2013 | 3:21 PM

ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) — Jamaican fast bowler Sheldon Cotterell, who created an impression with his pace during the preliminary round of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), says his burning ambition is to play cricket at the highest level.Cotterell who caused a stir due to his ability to bowl in excess of 140 kilometres per hour, his eight wickets in the tournament as well as his military salute upon claiming a scalp, is also anticipating a pick on the upcoming West Indies A team tour to India.“My ambition? I only have one ambition and that is to play cricket at the highest level (I can),” said Cotterell.“West Indies Test cricket — that is my pride and joy. Whether playing for my club or my country, my goal has always been to make it to the West Indies senior team.”The left- arm bowler who celebrated his 24th birthday on Monday has seen his profile soar after enjoying a tournament that has been successful for him.The Jamaican pacer has also been recognised for his distinctive celebration — a straight-backed military salute.“I am a Jamaica Defence Force soldier and I take pride in my work,” he said. “In Jamaica we would say that it (the military) is my bread and butter and my saluting is just to show my co-workers and my superiors I respect them very much.  I respect what I do and I enjoy it.”Cotterell is set to be a spectator as the LCPL reaches a climax at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad this weekend. “I was hoping to spend my birthday travelling to Trinidad but that was cut short (by defeat to Guyana Amazon Warriors on Saturday in the side’s final league match),” said Cotterell.“I was hoping my team could make the semi-final but unfortunately we did not.” The inaugural Limacol Caribbean Premier League features two semi-finals Thursday and Friday before Saturday’s final.Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

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Cotterell targets Windies senior squad

Stan Up roots drink targets $25m to penetrate market

STRAPPED for cash, the maker of Stan Up Energy Roots Drink is unable to increase its volumes for export as it is only able to service one-third of the demand for the product.

Furthermore, the local producer of the drink has shelved plans to export to eight additional countries, including the UK and Canada.Access Marketing and Development, which owns the blend of roots beverage that has been patented by the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office, currently sells to New Jersey, Florida, and the Cayman Islands. The company recently turned down a distributor in Trinidad and Tobago, that wanted to add Stan Up to its portfolio of products.“We had to turn them down because we can’t even satisfy our current markets,” said Glenroy Brown, president of Access Marketing. “We don’t want to waste people’s time.”Should Brown get the US$250,000 ($25 million) he is seeking in investments, to expand the production and marketing of the beverage, the cash flow of the company will be improved, and he would be able to increase output at a cheaper rate, he said. The businessman said he is currently engaged in discussions with potential investors.Brown confessed that the company can hardly pay the factory to put 1,000 cases or 24,000 bottles to the markets per month, which is 2,000 cases fewer than the current demand for the product, he said. The factory has the capacity to make 1,500 cases a day.Customers love the drink, according to Brown.“We’ve been through the hurdles of making the product accepted,” he said. “Sales are coming, but we cannot grow sensibly with a weak capital base.”Moreover, there is a shortage of factories that have the equipment needed to make the carbonated drink under the appropriate conditions, with the technique.“It takes special care to produce the drink and not many companies can spend the time to boil the roots,” Brown said. “It’s complicated, that’s why we don’t want to shift, and jeopardise the integrity of the drink.”Roots tonics have long been staples in the Jamaican grass roots culture, with wild claims of the many ills the drink can cure, and significantly, about its ability to enhance sexual performance.Stan Up is not like other roots drinks, which usually come with an acquired taste, Brown told Caribbean Business Report. This, he said, is possibly the main reason the customers love the drink. Plus, the marketing company has done a good job in building the brand.“When people think of roots and energy drink the first thing that comes to mind is that its either dangerous or has a bad taste,” he reasoned.But his is a drink that is fortified with complex B vitamins for energy, ginseng for endurance and sarsaparilla known to be a blood purifier, he noted.Furthermore, he works with the Scientific Research Council, Jamaica’s premier state-owned scientific agency, to make the drink’s concentrate that is sent to the factory for blending and labelling.Stan Up is the only product of its kind that is allowed on US shelves because it is Food and Drug Administration approved, according to Brown. Stan Up Energy Roots Drink is a hit in export markets but the makers are unable to meet the demand for the product.

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Stan Up roots drink targets $25m to penetrate market

XOX targets Q4 release in Jamaica

BY JULIAN RICHARDSON Assistant Business Co-orinator richardsonj@jamaicaobserver.com

XOX, the new mobile brand that is sponsoring Jamaica’s CPL franchise, plans to launch its handsets and tablets on the island in the fourth quarter of 2013, says distributor Facey Telecom.Facey business development director Erick Barclay noted that the Jamaican launch of XOX will precede rollouts in other Caribbean markets, Central America, New Zealand and the Pacific during the first quarter of 2014. He said Facey Telecom and its partner in the Pacific region, Oceanic Communications Ltd, are the distributors of XOX products.“Facey has recognised the demand for affordable, yet stylish and high-tech handsets and tablet devices in the markets we serve. The XOX line of products meets this demand and we look forward to working with XOX as they bring their products to market,” Barclay told the Business Observer.XOX has plans to set up a marketing office in Jamaica, along with full support service infrastructure, that includes reverse logistics and repairs, Barclay said, noting that the brand sees a lot of opportunities in the local market.“The Jamaican market is made up of sophisticated consumers who are up-to-date with the latest and greatest in mobile communication. It is with these people in mind that XOX was developed,” Barclay said.“XOX smartphones are being produced as an addition to established tier-one brands. XOX stands for tier-one quality at more competitive prices,” he continued. “Furthermore XOX will offer a very compelling brand positioning, details of which will be revealed over the coming months.”XOX is the founding sponsor of the Jamaica Tallawahs cricket team in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), the Twenty20 cricket tournament currently underway across the region. It hopes to use the sponsorship deal to boost its imminent roll-out in the Jamaican and Caribbean markets.Facey is a major player in the distributive trade, operating in the telecom distribution, consumer distribution and technology distribution sectors with operations in over 30 countries in the Caribbean, Central America, Europe, and the Pacific.Its telecom distribution business has physical offices and warehouses in 23 countries, and they sell to another six countries where the company does not have a physical presence. Facey, in 2001, became the exclusive distributor of Digicel’s mobile handsets, airtime, and all its related products.BARCLAY… XOX will offer a very compelling brand positioning

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XOX targets Q4 release in Jamaica

Next Generation Football Camp targets local academy

Andre Virtue, technical director of the Scotiabank Valencia Next Generation Football Camp, is aiming for a September start of a local academy to hone the skills of youngsters.

Virtue said negotiations are ongoing with stakeholders, but he is positive that the dream will become a reality.“We are targetting September and we are working hard to make that happen. I do believe it will happen this year and we are working feverishly towards it.“The fire is hot right now, Valencia is willing to send the coach and Scotiabank is ready, but we need a lot more because it’s a very huge undertaking.“Right now there are no specifics of the location. We have to go and finalise with the stakeholders because this has been a rough financial year,” he said at Monday’s Next Generation Football Camp awards ceremony at Sabina Park where 29 young footballers were identified as candidates for the academy.The Next Generation Camp, facilitated through the Spanish-Jamaican Foundation along with Valencia CF, is endorsed by the Jamaica Football Federation.The technical director explained that under the programme, the invited coach from the Spanish Club would reside in the country for a year to scout and ultimately develop young talent.“The coach would go the length and breadth of the island looking at our football, see the faults, the challenges, the weaknesses and the strengths. The age group we would be looking at is from seven to 14 years old. They would be training on the weekends and we would want to be taking these guys to play tournaments across the Caribbean and to North America,” Virtue added.Simone Walker, director of marketing programmes at Scotiabank, said the partnership with the “high quality” Next Generation Camp is “an investment in the youth’s future”.Marketing co-ordinator of Gatorade Cornelia Nathan spoke of the importance of having the rehydration drink onboard “to give the kids that drive to go and do their best”.In the past, the Next Generation programme has seen at least one graduate earning the honour of being placed in the Valencia CF academy setup.Virtue said that was not a long-term arrangement.“Having selected a kid every year to go to that camp was what we had committed to at first. We looked at the best strategy to continue this and obviously sending one kid every six months or every year was not sustainable. To have our programme here is the way forward,” he told the Jamaica Observer.A total of 86 youngsters participated in the Camp’s 12 to 16-year-old category this year, while 66 participants featured in the seven to 11 age group.Hillel’s Zachary Duncan, Mona Prep’s Duncan McKenzie, Liberty Prep’s Luke Clarke, Munro College-bound Keith Murray, Jamaica College’s Demario Phillips and Texas-based Ricardo Pena were awarded with $20,000 cheques for being top performers.Florida-located female camper Morgan Robertson was also noted for one with plenty of potential.Other sponsors of this season’s camp include Jamaica Producers, KFC and Pizza Hut.The head coach was Spain-based Jaoa Teixeira and local assistance came from persons who have represented Jamaica at various levels such as Ricardo Gardner, Paul Young, Donald Stewart and Leon Gordon.Youngsters and officials of the Scotiabank Valencia Next Generation Football Camp pose after Monday’s award ceremony at Sabina Park. (PHOTO: COLLIN REID)

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Next Generation Football Camp targets local academy

Tax-free investment product targets credit union members

CREDIT union members now have access to a specially designed tax-free investment product being hailed as “habit and lifestyle changing”.

The product, the MoneyBuilder, was rolled out on June 12, when four of the island’s credit unions collaborated with MoneyMasters Limited to introduce the instrument to their membership. This collaboration is a first of its kind for credit unions whose products have over the years been developed internally, by CFMG Life or by the Credit Union League.“The MoneyBuilder is a product that can transform this generation and generations to come,” said Fitzgerald Rowe, who chairs the investment management committee of pioneer credit unions that include St Elizabeth, COK Sodality, St Catherine and St Thomas credit unions.He was speaking at the launch at the Terra Nova Hotel. According to Rowe, the MoneyBuilder puts credit union members, totalling 950,000 persons across the island, on the road to becoming financially independent as it seeks to place Jamaicans in a position where they are not dependent on anyone for their financial existence.The MoneyBuilder enjoys tax- free status as under the approval given by the Ministry of Finance, money invested in the MoneyBuilder, once held for five years, is tax-free from month one to month 60. The product welcomes a lump sum either at start-up or annually on the anniversary date. But a monthly payment, which can be as low as $500, is mandatory.The MoneyBuilder is covered by the insurer of the Credit Union Movement, CMFG Life Insurance Company, and includes coverage for disability. It insures each saver’s goal so that if a member dies before the investment matures, the beneficiary would still achieve the goal.In terms of product management, the MoneyBuilder is offered by partnering credit unions, and MoneyMasters is not a retailer. It would, however, be responsible for the quarterly filing to the Tax Authority of Jamaica.The company has non-discretionary management of the majority of the funds and will be governed by and reports to the investment management committee which is made up of credit unions.Rowe noted that, with the MoneyBuilder, all Jamaicans have the opportunity to be financially secure and can meet their financial obligations “even in death”.He added that the product was structured and approved so that it would create lifestyle changes.The MoneyBuilder presents an ideal opportunity for credit union members to access a long-term, tax-free amortised investment instrument with goal protection, he said.Education Minister Ronald Thwaites (centre) converses with President of MoneyMasters Limited (MML) Claudette Crooks Collie (2nd left), during the launch of the entity’s MoneyBuilder investment product on June 12 at the Terra Nova Hotel, St Andrew. Looking on are General Manager, St Elizabeth Cooperative Credit Union Limited Fitzgerald Rowe (left); MML Director Christopher Robinson; and General Manager, St Catherine Cooperative Credit Union Limited, Sandra Thompson. (PHOTO: JIS)

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Tax-free investment product targets credit union members