Japan Provides $12 Million Grant for Training of Small Business Operators
By: March 19, 2015 ,The Key Point:
The Facts
- The funding, which is being provided through the Grassroots and Human Security Grant Programme (GGP), will provide for the purchase of computers, servers and multimedia equipment to deliver face-to-face and online training to small business owners and entrepreneurs in communities across the island.
- RESET Caribbean Foundation, a non-profit organisation, will manage the training programme.
The Full Story
The Government of Japan has provided $12 million in grant assistance to the Council of Voluntary Social Services (CVSS) for the establishment of training facilities for the sustainable development of the small business sector in Jamaica.
The funding, which is being provided through the Grassroots and Human Security Grant Programme (GGP), will provide for the purchase of computers, servers and multimedia equipment to deliver face-to-face and online training to small business owners and entrepreneurs in communities across the island.
RESET Caribbean Foundation, a non-profit organisation, will manage the training programme.
At the signing of the grant agreement at the CVSS’ Camp Road offices in Kingston on Tuesday, March 18, Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Sharon Ffolkes-Abrahams, thanked the Japanese Government for partnering with the CVSS on the initiative.
“Not only does it support the (Jamaican) Government’s thrust to build entrepreneurship, but it also is in keeping with our MSME policy objectives to enhance business development support,” she said.
She noted that the initiative comes at the perfect time as Jamaica has been rated number one in the Caribbean for ease of doing business by the 2014 Forbes Best Countries for Business Report.
Japanese Ambassador to Jamaica, His Excellency Yasuo Takase, said that training is in line with his Government’s development policy focusing on protection and empowerment of people.
“It is thus our sincere hope that this project will greatly contribute to empower the Jamaican people by enhancing development of small enterprises across Jamaica,” he said.
Executive Chairman of RESET Caribbean Foundation, Collette Campbell, informed that the training will empower small businesses with the appropriate skills and technology that will enable them to access the resources available to them locally, regionally or internationally.
The programme, she said, will utilise the most current information and communications technology to build human resource capacity and improve internal business processes and deficiencies.
It will utilise multimedia, e-learning, and face-to-face contact, with a mobile component employed to take the training to communities that do not have Internet access.
The training programme will be supported by a web platform that will monitor and evaluate the performance of the participants through a web-based teaching and learning administrative system.
The platform will provide information on business, trade and market data for business persons to access. It will also have an online directory, networking and marketing tool, as well as employment and business-to-business matching service.
RESET Caribbean Foundation has been conducting entrepreneurial workshops and data gathering exercises since November 2014 in Manchester, St. Mary and St. Thomas. Participants from these workshops will be the first beneficiaries of the training programme.