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JAMAICA | JIBE 2026: Caribbean's Premier Beauty Expo Returns to National Arena for Landmark 7th Staging

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In photo above: l - r: Ricardo Durrant, Manager, JAMPRO, Leo Williams, Executive Director, Williams and Associates, Ambassador Dr. Onika Campbell Rowe, Suzette Brown, founder and coordinator, Jamaica International Beauty Expo
In photo above: l - r: Ricardo Durrant, Manager, JAMPRO, Leo Williams, Executive Director, Williams and Associates, Ambassador Dr. Onika Campbell Rowe, Suzette Brown, founder and coordinator, Jamaica International Beauty Expo

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica International Beauty Expo (JIBE) returns to the National Arena in Kingston from Friday, June 26 to Sunday, June 28, 2026, for its seventh staging — and organisers say this edition will be the most expansive and impactful in the event's history.

Billed as the Caribbean's premier beauty, wellness and lifestyle marketing event, JIBE has grown steadily since its inaugural staging in 2018 into a must-attend platform for beauty professionals, entrepreneurs, brands and investors across Jamaica and the wider region. This year's event runs daily from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and is open to the public by paid admission.

The expo brings together hairstylists, nail technicians, make-up artists, skincare specialists, fashion designers, aestheticians, wellness practitioners and product manufacturers under one roof — creating a marketplace where culture, commerce and creativity converge. Alongside the exhibition floor, the programme includes seminars, masterclasses, interactive workshops and live demonstrations led by industry experts from Jamaica and beyond.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR JUNE SMITH

A standout highlight of the 2026 staging will be the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to Jamaican-Canadian entrepreneur June Smith, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Tajj Cosmetics. The award recognises her outstanding contribution to the international beauty sector — a career built on excellence, innovation and the kind of quiet determination that has taken a Caribbean woman's vision to global markets. The honour affirms JIBE's commitment to celebrating the trailblazers who have elevated Jamaica's standing in the international beauty industry.

BUSINESS OF BEAUTY AND WELLNESS LUNCHEON

Reinforcing the expo's role as more than a marketplace, the organisers are partnering with the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) and JAMPRO to stage the Business of Beauty and Wellness Luncheon — a dedicated forum for industry stakeholders and prospective entrepreneurs. The luncheon is designed to facilitate the conversations that matter most to industry growth: access to financing, export readiness, branding strategy and institutional support. It underscores JIBE's growing function as an accelerator, not just an expo.

BEAUTY AS ECONOMIC AND DIPLOMATIC POWER

At last week's media launch, speaker Dr. Oneika Campbell Rowe offered a compelling reframe of the industry's significance. Beauty, she argued, must be understood not as lifestyle or vanity, but as a serious instrument of economic and diplomatic power.

"Caribbean beauty is not generic," she said. "It is rooted in African heritage, indigenous memory, European interaction, Asian contribution, and the lived experience of a people who transformed struggle into style and survival into sophistication."

She challenged the room to see every natural hair product formulated by a Jamaican entrepreneur as an act of cultural restoration, and every Caribbean fashion designer who draws on regional colour and symbol as engaged in diplomacy through fabric. It was a provocation aimed squarely at policymakers and financiers who have long undervalued an industry that punches well above its weight.

EXPO HIGHLIGHTS

The 2026 staging features an extensive programme, including:

- Innovative exhibition of local and international beauty, fashion and wellness products and services

- Seminars, workshops and masterclasses led by regional and international industry experts

- Live demonstrations and on-stage competitions

- The Business of Beauty and Wellness Luncheon (in partnership with JBDC and JAMPRO)

- Lifetime Achievement Award presentation to June Smith, CEO of Tajj Cosmetics

- JIBE 'Best of Beauty' Product Awards

- JIBE Xperience Lounge

- JIBE Kids Zone

SPONSORS AND PARTNERS

JIBE 2026 is proudly supported by a dynamic group of sponsors and partners, including Fontana Pharmacy, Jamaica Business Development Corporation, JAMPRO, OUR Soap Company, Elite Conceptz and Solutions, RSD Shipping Agency Jamaica, Tropix Apparels, Sixt Rent A Car and others.

ABOUT JIBE

The Jamaica International Beauty Expo was founded in 2018 and is organised by Expo Coordinator Suzette Brown. Now in its seventh year, the event has established itself as the Caribbean's foremost platform for beauty industry business, education and brand development. Last year's sixth staging marked the event's historic first move from its original Montego Bay home to Kingston's National Arena, where it continues to grow in scale and influence.

JIBE 2026 | June 26–28, 2026 | National Arena, Kingston, Jamaica | 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. daily

For exhibitor registration, sponsorship opportunities and further information, visit beautyexpojam.com

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