20th Shirley Playfair Lecture on December 1

The Fair Trading Commission (FTC) will host the 20th staging of its flagship public education initiative, the Shirley Playfair Lecture, on Thursday, December 1.

It will be held at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in Kingston from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

President of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA), John Mahfood, will deliver this year’s lecture under the theme ‘Navigating the Impact of Supply Chain Disruptions: A Business Sector Perspective’.

He will speak on the disruptions in the supply chain and the effect on Jamaican manufacturers and explore some of the possible solutions.

There will also be presentations from representatives of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

The annual lecture, which focuses on Competition Law and Policy, pays tribute to the Commission’s first chairperson, Shirley Playfair, who played a significant role in building a competition law framework for Jamaica.

Executive Director of the FTC, David Miller, noted that the lecture “explores a topical area that we think needs further attention, and we try to bring light to it. We do this to encourage discussions that will lead to the creation of more businesses for people to be interested in”.

Mr. Miller shared that the objective of the lecture is to encourage a discussion, primarily among business enterprises, about an issue or topic that is affecting business players.

He said that this year’s theme is timely, due to the supply disruptions caused by the pandemic, which have not only affected business enterprises, but also consumers.

“Consumers have had challenges obtaining some of the products that they need, and we thought it useful to look at some of the issues as to why it is that we are not seeing some of these products on our shelves,” Mr. Miller said.

Citing previous lecture topics, he noted that “when the COVID-19 pandemic started, we looked at how to protect markets during the pandemic, and several years ago we looked at digital transformation and technological improvements that would facilitate telecommunication firms offering better services”.

Mr. Miller took the opportunity to encourage members of the public to participate in the lecture.

“It’s not just for big businesses but for small business enterprises too. We’ve invited several MSMEs and we are extending that invitation to the public to [join and] listen because at the end of the day, we are all consumers looking for better prices and more products on the shelves,” he noted.

Persons interested in participating in the lecture, may visit the FTC’s website at https://jftc.gov.jm/ and complete the registration form.

The FTC has a mandate to facilitate trade among business enterprises in a way that encourages them to offer products or services at the lowest possible price as well as to create new products and services.