SVF launches 25th anniversary scholarship programme

Twenty-five young Jamaicans who are aging out of State care will have their entire university education fully funded over the next four years, after Supreme Ventures Foundation (SVF) unveiled a J$100 million scholarship programme — an initiative born from the company’s 25th anniversary.

The announcement was made at a ceremony at the AC Hotel in Kingston, under the theme ‘Dream Supreme: From Potential to Purpose’. It builds on the 20th anniversary scholarship programme, rolled out in 2021, which sent 20 scholars from State care to university. The programme is being delivered in partnership with the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA). Each of the 25 scholars will receive, among other things, full tuition and accommodation coverage for the duration of their degree, a monthly stipend to cover living costs and ongoing counselling support, helping them navigate the emotional weight of leaving state care while stepping into independent adulthood

For a company that built its fortune on games of chance, SVF’s Executive Chairman Gary Peart drew a direct line between the business and the mission.

“Twenty-five years ago, a small gaming company started in Jamaica with two games. Today, we stand as a billion-dollar company. Along the way, we have helped change the lives of thousands of Jamaicans through our games, but all of those winners won by chance. Today, we are investing in you to make you winners not by chance, but by choice,” he told the recipients.

Elisa Whyte, a member of the 2021 cohort, lost her mother as a child and spent much of her adolescence at Yadel Girls’ Home. She told the gathering that she once saw her background in state care as something to hide. She stood before this year’s scholars as a registered nurse.

“Not too long ago, I was sitting exactly where you are sitting. I was a girl who had dreams but wasn’t quite sure how those dreams were going to become reality. Today, I stand before you as a graduate of The University of the West Indies, Mona, living proof of what can happen when someone believes in you, sometimes before you even know how to believe in yourself.”

Her journey, from a girls’ home to a university degree, is the kind of story SVF says the entire programme exists to make possible, again and again.

SVF says the programme is not a one-off tied to an anniversary, but a long-term commitment to Jamaica’s children in State care — one the company intends to keep building on for years to come.