December - Joan Duncan
Love
In a television interview, Joan Duncan was asked “tell me about love and relationships”? Her response was “Love, let me tell you, I had a mother who grew me up on love, tough love; but love, and I grew up the children on love.” Joan came from humble beginnings, spending her early years in the rural Jamaica community of Sunnyside, Clarendon, where she was home schooled by her maternal grandfather and later went on to attend Clarendon College. With a drive to achieve greatness for herself and her family, Joan decided to pursue further studies in medicine at McGill University in 1960. While there, she met and fell in love with now veteran politician, D.K. Duncan. The union shortly thereafter produced a pair of twins- Donna and Keith Duncan, and segued her focus away from academics to her new role, that of motherhood.
Joan Duncan decidedly worked at home to love and care for her five (5) children and was clear that she would not go out to work until all her children were in school.
She worked as a dressmaker and her genius had her opening a small bar, The Cool Room, to help earn additional funds to care for her children. That was her life until her last child went off to school.
Her foundation of love extended beyond her immediate family and permeated to her extended family and the community. It was common to see countless visitors in her home who even her children later found out were not actually blood family. Everyone who came in contact with Joan Duncan felt like immediate family, if you lived in the same community with her, if you worked with her, or if you were friends with her children – you would experience the same degree of love from her. So strong was Joan Duncan’s love for her community that she insisted all her shopping would be done in the Portmore community where she lived during the 1990s.
Will power
Joan worked for over two decades in the financial sector, starting as a teller at the now defunct Workers Savings and Loan Bank and moving through the ranks and holding several positions in operations, credit, and financial control. It was while working as an investment manager at Workers Savings and Loan Bank, that Joan recognized the need for the development of the money market in Jamaica.
At the end of the 1970s, Joan decided to once again pursue further education; receiving a Bachelor of Science in Commerce at Concordia University in Canada, where she received a Gold Medal Award in Finance. Later at the age of 50, this mother of five children also went on to earn a Master of Science degree in Accounting at The University of the West Indies, Mona. Joan saw no boundaries!
Her next stop, in the late 1980s was NCB Investments as a manager. While working at NCB Joan was unsuccessful in convincing her then employers to enter the money market in Jamaica.
She was fortunate to be introduced by an acquaintance to Dr. Noel Lyon, of the Jamaica Venture Fund (JVF), who shared her vision and saw the opportunity for building a secondary market in Jamaica. Within six weeks of meeting, the two equally unorthodox visionaries moved the concept, to reality and JMMB was started in her daughter Donna’s apartment.
To get JMMB off the ground in 1992 and on a solid foundation was no ‘walk in the park’, but Joan was very clear that this company would be different. She immediately put forward that “this company will operate on the foundation of “unconditional love.” When JMMB was entering the financial landscape, such a declaration would be looked upon with questioning or even eye rolling. More so, to attempt such a challenge in a mature and well developed financial sector that was steeped in tradition, and built firmly on formalities and of course, being a woman who bore little resemblance to a typical corporate executive would have been close to impossible, without her fundamental belief, to quote Joan Duncan, “Love is the solution to everything”. Joan Duncan was looked upon as a rebel and a woman who did not see limits - a true possibility thinker. This mind-set would have been necessary to pioneer the money market in Jamaica with hands-on support from only 7 team members and no front end or back end operating system in place at the time. Thus, there began Joan Duncan's labor of love.
With Joan Duncan at the head, JMMB became ‘The House That Love Built’. The early days were tough, and although many team members worked extended hours, the love they experienced engendered the loyalty and commitment needed to power the greatness that JMMB became known for over the years. JMMB quickly became the place people wanted to work; a place where you had the opportunity to learn, to grow and to be part of the difference. Powered by love, JMMB simply revolutionized the financial sector in Jamaica and by extension the Caribbean.
This foundation created an atmosphere where team members’ opinions were respected and they were encouraged to be in touch with and share their feelings. Additionally, she ensured that there were tangible and practical day-to-day expressions of love and care. As evidence of this, the company provides lunch for all employees, child care for parents and embraces a playful spirit at work, so that work is a fun place, removing the typical separation barriers and promoting equity and equality among all team members. Joan Duncan was also adamant that the team members who worked to deliver the profit should participate and share in those profit, through the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).
Speaking with the clients you will hear the same sentiments of how they just loved coming in to JMMB because Joan Duncan would be readily available to make them feel welcomed, to explain a complicated transaction or to just rub their head enquiring if they were ok and being well cared for.
Her legacy of Greatness
Though Joan Duncan has ended her journey here with us, in Donna’s words, it was “Mission Accomplished”. Today, the JMMB Group stands as a legacy of the company that was co-founded by Joan Duncan and is guided by the Vision of Love, which she created to answer the question, What would you like our company to look like 100 years from now? The JMMB Group has grown to be a diversified financial entity, consisting of 13 companies earning net profit of J$3.6B; serving over 291,000 clients in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Dominican Republic; with genuine partnership relationships forged with the over 1000 team members; providing financial solutions including: banking, unit trust, cambio, pensions, remittances, equities and investments, yet; remaining true to the co-founder’s philosophy, culture and dreams.
Once, when asked about JMMB, Joan Duncan declared “I just love the feel of the place, I feel love, we jus criss and all a we jus happy.” JMMB’s success is definitely the result of a bold move by an ordinary Jamaican woman to be true to who she was and to push against the challenges and stand up for the possibility of a company powered by love and producing greatness across the region.