Entrepreneurs in Hanover Benefit from Business Clinic

Approximately 100 entrepreneurs and small business operators from the parish of Hanover participated in a two-day business clinic organized by the Hanover Chamber of Commerce and the Jamaica Business Development Centre (JBDC).
The event, held on Wednesday (February 2) at the Lucea Anglican Church Hall, was part of a promotional programme run by the JBDC, aimed at stimulating and motivating persons within the micro, small and medium enterprises sector, to be more productive.
Communications Officer with the JBDC, Racquel Jones, told JIS News that a number of clinics have been held across the island since the programme began some 18 months ago. The workshop in Lucea is the first to be held since the start of the year.
The first day of the clinic was dedicated to one-on-one interaction with small business operators and they were told how to make their operators more efficient. “We cover topics like strategic planning for small business, we look at product development, marketing, costing and pricing, which is a very critical factor in small businesses, and how to encourage them to keep proper records and books,” Miss Jones informed.
Activities on day two, will involve networking with other agencies and organizations that provide assistance to micro, small and medium enterprises. “The second intervention involves presentations from resource personnel along with individual consultations,” Miss Jones told JIS News.
Presenters are drawn from the Land Titles Division of the National Land Agency, the Inland Revenue Department, Tax Administration Services Department, Jamaica National Building Society, credit unions in the parish and Tools for Development Jamaica Limited, which is a private company involved in the marketing of a wide variety of tools.
Miss Jones expressed pleasure at the turnout of small business operators, noting that the enthusiasm was very encouraging. “Lucea is a very small community and so we are happy at the turnout that we have seen because it means that these people are serious about business. The mobilization that happened through the Hanover Chamber of Commerce went very well and so we are very pleased with the turnout that we get from this community,” she stated.
President of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce, Ryan Morrison, in addressing the participants, underscored the importance of small businesses to the macro economy, pointing out that, “the creation of business was the genesis of job creation”.
He expressed the opinion that if the creativity of Jamaicans was adequately merged with the available capital in the country, then the consequent business creation could solve a lot of the country’s social ills. “For Jamaica to grow the spirit of entrepreneurship has to grow. We cannot sit here and wait on foreign investments,” he stated.