Reneil Clarke living a life of service

AT THE recent Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association’s (JMEA) Expo Jamaica 2025, The Gleaner chanced upon two young men wearing jackets over their jeans and got the impression that they were exhibitors, since patrons were more casually attired.

It turned out that they were not exhibitors, but patrons themselves. They are brothers and, one of them, Reneil Clarke, is the Jamaica national president of Junior Chamber International and has quite a leadership and service story.

Clarke is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business studies at Excelsior Community College but he is also a medical billing officer at the University Hospital of the West Indies, where he is tasked with the financial assessment of patients admitted to the medical wards, and with advising patients and their families of the available payment options, financial arrangements and billing policies.

But, what patients and families might not know is that this 26-year-old Wolmer’s Boys’ School graduate has perhaps been spending his entire life serving and leading in various capacities.

He has served as: New Testament Church of God National Young Adult Ministry board member; general secretary, Jamaica Union of Tertiary Students; vice-president and president, Excelsior Community College Students’ Union; Opposition spokesperson – foreign affairs and foreign trade, National Youth Parliament of Jamaica; Jamaica National Wise Aspiring Youth ambassador; and he is the present Jamaica ambassador in the Commonwealth Youth Peace Ambassador Network.

In 2020, Clarke joined the St Andrew chapter of Junior Chamber International (JCI) Jamaica, and became its vice-president for internal affairs, the following year, and vice-president for external affairs in 2022. And now, he is the 2025 Jamaica national president of JCI. Before that, he was its executive vice-president, and, the previous year, vice-president.

Clarke’s involvement in JCI has taken him to the JCI Americas National Presidents’ Meeting, Paramaribo, Suriname; the JCI Academy in Fukui, Japan; the Conference of the Americas, Asunción, Paraguay; the JCI World Congress, Zurich, Switzerland; the Conference of the Americas, Santa Marta, Colombia; the American Leadership Academy, Santa Marta, Colombia; the JCI World Congress, Hong Kong; the Conference of the Americas, Curaçao; the JCI World Congress, Johannesburg, South Africa; and the Conference of the Americas in Panama in 2021.

OUTSTANDING COMMITMENT

Along the journey, Clarke has been honoured and awarded for: his ‘Outstanding Contribution to Debating’, JCI Jamaica (2022); being winner (team captain) of the Conference of Americas English Debate Championship (2022); his ‘Outstanding Contribution to Debating’, JCI Jamaica (2021); his ‘Outstanding Commitment to Chapter’, JCI St Andrew (2021); and for being winner (second speaker) of the Conference of Americas English Debate Championship (2021).

In 2023, he was also the JCI World Congress English Debate Championship winning team captain; the JCI Jamaica ‘Most Outstanding National Officer’; and the Conference of Americas English Debate Championship winner team captain. That same year, he graduated from American Leadership Academy and, last year, he graduated from the JCI Academy (Fukui, Japan), and the JCI Mentor-Mentee Programme, and participated in the JCI Shadow the President Programme.

“Junior Chamber International is a non-profit organisation of young leaders from 18 to 40 years old who are engaged and committed to creating impact in their communities. Active citizens are individuals invested in the future of our world. JCI gathers active citizens from all sectors of society. We develop the skills, knowledge and understanding to make informed decisions and take action,” the JCI says.

The big question, then, to Clarke was: Do you aspire for national political leadership, and, if so, in what capacity? “I don’t have any political aspirations currently, but I am interested in the opportunity to serve and represent the best interests of my fellow Jamaicans. I am open to political representation, but not yet affiliated,” Clarke told The Gleaner.

Not satisfied with the answer, The Gleaner followed up with: “But, to what end are you so involved? What do you want to achieve?”

Clarke replied, “I am driven by a genuine desire to serve others and accommodate personal development. It feels fulfilled at the end of every training I either planned or conducted, every event I plan and execute, every life I am able to impact. That is what has kept me motivated and involved.”

Still searching for that one specific reason why he is inundated in leadership roles, The Gleaner pressed him with, “What motivated you to get into leadership … What was that one thing?” He replied, “If I had to pin it to one specific thing, it would be the desire to serve and represent”. But, what is driving this desire?

“I am the eldest child for Bishop Clifton Clarke Sr and his wife, Sophia. Being a pastor’s child and the firstborn of five, both would’ve contributed to my desire to serve. It is something I have been doing in some form or another since time immemorial,” he told The Gleaner in an after-event interview.