Project STAR invites more J’cans to help drive change in communities

With one day left for persons to invest in Project STAR’s initial public offering (IPO) and only roughly 40 per cent of the available shares on offer taken up, the leaders of the initiative are appealing to more people to embrace it.

According to the organisers, around $40 million has been taken up thus far.

The organisers have been seeking to raise $100 million from the IPO since its launch on June 22 for listing on the Jamaica Social Stock Exchange (JSSE).

The social shares are being offered at $1 per unit while the minimum threshold is $500, meaning that investors can secure as little as 500 shares in the initial offering.

Project STAR (Social Transformation and Renewal) is an initiative of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ). It is intended to facilitate the implementation of programmes that will enable targeted inner-city communities to become safer and more resilient with improved social outcomes and reduced levels of violence.

Ten communities have been earmarked for interventions under Project STAR over the next five years.

The initiative has already been rolled out in several east downtown Kingston communities, as well as Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, for seven and three months, respectively, while interventions recently commenced in May Pen, Clarendon.

The administrators are targeting $250 million for this year, which includes $100 million through the social IPO, with a mixed-financing model, while the ultimate aim is to raise $650 million over a three-year period.

Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Julian Mair, Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) chairman, co-sponsor and Project STAR’s public funding lead advisor, said Project STAR already had $135 million before the IPO offering.

“Most of that would have been invested directly and that would have come from corporates or individuals or institutions. That money was put in to start the project and the project would have been up for about a year and significant work would have been able to be achieved with the support of the funding that came in initially ... . We would have gone from about $135 million to $175 million (up to Wednesday). We are getting recent traction but we do need others to step in and help support this extremely important and ambitious initiative,” Mair told The Gleaner.

TWO MAIN GOALS

He said the IPO was done with two main goals – to raise capital and to broaden the base of supporters by inviting people to be a part of change.

“We want them to know that their small contribution can make a real difference and they can have transparency on it,” he said.

Keith Duncan, co-chair and project sponsor of Project STAR, also expressed gratitude for those who have come on board thus far.

“At first, the idea was not clear around an IPO and a social stock, and, as the IPO has moved forward through time, people have begun to have an appreciation for what this investment can mean for their country and for the marginalised and depressed communities in Jamaica, and what it can eventually do to reduce crime and violence in our country,” Duncan told The Gleaner.

“At the end of the day, if we would like to see a whole-of-society approach and a public-private partnership work in the form of Project STAR, we are asking for the support of the investing public to invest in their country, invest in the communities, invest in the social economic programmes that will drive an overall reduction in crime and violence and communities over time, and increase the economic activity and social cohesion within these communities. That is the greatest return that one can get as a country: a feeling of security and safety in their own country, and especially within these communities which are marginalised and depressed and plagued by crime and violence,” he said.

Persons who have invested in the Project STAR IPO will be getting a quarterly report and updates on the key performance indicators in the project.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com