Commissioner of Customs Danville Walker on Saturday slammed Jamaica's education system for its inability to promote entrepreneurship and ambitious leadership in the business sector.

Walker said the wide-scale recruitment to traditionally glamorous professions such as law and finance was misguided, arguing that enough had not been done to sell business creation as a viable alternative.

Create your own jobs

"Somewhere in our education, I think we have missed a step that tells people you can create or own jobs, and it's not that hard to do," he said.

The commissioner of customs raised the issue while addressing the Lay Magistrates' Association of Jamaica's fourth quarterly meeting and awards luncheon at Medallion Hall Hotel in St Andrew.

He told The Gleaner that the department would be launching a sensitisation programme in schools nationwide. The campaign aims to educate youths about the feasibility and profitability of import-export enterprises which, Walker, said, were underutilised sources of income.

Getting educated

"What I hope to do is come from behind the counter and get things going in the schools ... to demystify importation and what it is to work with the Customs Department," Walker said.

"It's something, I believe, many young persons in Jamaica who are unemployed, who find it difficult to get a job, or are just bored with the job that they have (can do). They can look for something that people need and see how they can provide the service. That's what business is about."

He applauded the ingenuity of some Jamaican retailers, who have been bypassing places like Panama, Curacao and the United States and instead source goods directly from China.

The customs chief also cited the efforts of one businessman, who has been exporting ginger lilies as an example of creativity and entrepreneurial foresight.

"Ginger lily is a plant that grows wild all over Jamaica," Walker said.

"Which young person leaving high school today thinks about exporting ginger lilies? No, they think about going to work for a bank, or going on to law school."

andrew.wildes@gleanerjm.com