LIME, the Caribbean's only full-service telecommunications provider, is making life a little easier for seven employees and six children of staff members in its Jamaican Business Unit who were recently awarded lucrative academic scholarships with a combined value of $6 million.

All 13 awardees are currently enrolled in tertiary-level programmes, ranging from two to four years. The seven LIME team members are each getting $140,000 per year while the youngsters will receive $170,000 annually to help defray the cost of their studies. The selection criteria for staff members included job performance, panel interviews and recommendations from managers, while employees children were evaluated based on academic records, involvement in extra-curricular activities and panel interviews, among others.

Great honour

"It really is a great honour for us to be able to help our employees and their children with their education," said Geoff Houston, country manager for LIME in Jamaica when he handed over grant cheques at a brief ceremony, held recently at the company's head office in Kingston. "I want to encourage everyone to study really hard and get great results and I hope all of our employees come back ready to make an even greater contribution to the company."

All of the youngsters who received grants said they were particularly happy that the company was helping their parents to finance their education. "This will really be helpful to my parents and it will take some of the pressure off of them," said future entrepreneur Tajae Collington who is doing a degree in business administration at the University of Technology.

Similarly, 18-year-old Loy-Anne Harrison, who is studying hospitality management at the University of the West Indies, said, "Now my parents don't have to worry too much about my school fees."

Andre Millwood, who is doing a BSc in information technology at the University of the West Indies, said the scholarship would motivate him to study harder. "I really feel like this is a privilege and it's encouraging me to do well at school. It has given me an added drive," he said.