Entrepreneurs Urged to Make Use of Government Services

State Minister for Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Sharon Ffolkes Abrahams, has urged entrepreneurs to utilise the services and assistance that the Government has made available, in order to advance their businesses.

She cited the training and technical support being provided through the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) and other key agencies, such as the HEART/NTA, noting that these are pivotal to the growth and viability of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.

“The JBDC offers support such as business advisory services…technical services, business incubation, marketing assistance, financial support services (while) HEART offers support such as entrepreneurship skills development, enterprise development services, pre-incubation training, and business incubation,” she outlined.

The State Minister was speaking on July 15 at the Young Entrepreneurs Association (YEA) of Jamaica’s quarterly forum, held under the theme: ‘Creating an Entrepreneurial Culture: Expanding the Education Curriculum’, at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) auditorium in Kingston.

She further informed that as the Ministry moves towards increasing the level of technical skills in the MSME sector, it is implementing a structured programme to provide training to MSMEs through public private partnerships in critical areas such as business planning, cash flow projection, standards, and book-keeping.

“In addition, our strategies include: encouraging strategic alliance among our MSMEs to strengthen their technical capacity; reducing the cost of training; accelerating the wider incorporation of technical and vocational training at the secondary and tertiary levels of education; and promoting awareness of the importance of technical skills in the development and growth of MSMEs through libraries, youth clubs, and other such entities,” she stated.

Mrs. Ffolkes Abrahams also encouraged entrepreneurs to “think big”.

“We need creative and innovative entrepreneurs…with the advent of the logistics hub, we will need more entrepreneurs, more innovators, more persons, who can start their own business, to make sure that you are a part of what we are doing, in the larger global sphere…this will help you to develop your business, access markets that are well beyond Jamaica,” she stated.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Folkes Abrahams said the Government recognises the importance of expanding the education curriculum to include entrepreneurship. Therefore she said, the JBDC continues to collaborate with the University of the West Indies (UWI) on entrepreneurship programmes, with some 280 students having enrolled in such courses for 2013/2014.

She pointed out that the Government’s MSME and Entrepreneurship policy objective encourages and supports youth empowerment and employment.

“In seeking to create an enabling framework for the development of successful and youth-led businesses, our policy strategies include establishing projects and programmes on entrepreneurship, specifically targeting unattached youth, as we seek to bring them into the mainstream of our society through self employment, and self empowerment,” she stated.

The forum discussed the YEA’s proposal for the subject ‘Entrepreneurship’ to be introduced in primary and secondary schools.