André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) will be launching a merchandising initiative in the coming weeks after a deal was struck with long-standing sponsor PUMA, which will see the sale of branded items across the island.

JOA president Mike Fennell made the disclosure recently, citing that in addition to adding to the organisation's income stream, the development would also allow supporters of the Jamaican Olympics movement to take a piece of the island's identity with them whenever they wished to.

merchandising

"We have never engaged in merchandising before, but there is so much interest here, and we have agreed with PUMA and a merchandising firm called Viking, a local company that has done merchandising for many corporate bodies in Jamaica," Fennell explained.

The arrangement will allow the products to be sold in Jamaica, and plans are already in place to make the items available at the island's two major airports, the Norman Manley International, and the Sangster's International.

Fennell was not prepared to indicate the income potential of the new deal but believes the JOA and the public, in general, stand to benefit in the long run.

"We haven't finalised everything and we cannot disclose everything at the moment, but within two weeks, we will have a better idea," Fennell pointed out.

"We have agreed on a range of products that will have our marks on it for sale in Jamaica because we only have authority for sale here, but of course, we can't stop anybody from taking our goods and selling them abroad," Fennell said.