Modest Beginnings
Michael Lee-Chin was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica, in 1951, to a biracial African and Chinese-Jamaican couple. His mother remarried in 1958 and was an Avon sales lady while his step dad ran a local grocery store. Lee-Chin’s first job in 1965 (he was just 14 years old) was working as part of a landscaping team at the Frenchman’s Cove Hotel. The next year he started working for the Jamaican Queen cruise ship cleaning the engine room. In 1970, he went to Canada to study and graduated 4 years later with a degree in Civil Engineering. He worked as a bouncer, road engineer, and financial advisor before venturing into investments. Humble beginnings for Jamaica’s richest man.
