Entrepreneurs Welcome St. Thomas Economic Village

Small business owners in St. Thomas, are heaping praises on the parish’s Economic Village, a new initiative being spearheaded by the Social Development Commission (SDC).

Launched in September, the village was staged for the second time on December 19, bringing together local economic initiatives and agencies, for a full day of activity on the grounds of the SDC in Springfield.

Owner of Moyaworld876 and resident of Morant Bay, Ashley Mitchell, was among the turnout of local entrepreneurs.

Her business creates unique designs such as baskets, anklets, waist beads, chains, and earrings.

“The economic village is a big opportunity. It promotes the business more and gives audience to your business. As a small business owner, I always have to promote, so it’s a good thing,” she told JIS News.

Ms. Mitchell was also present at the first staging of the event and disclosed that she plans to continue being a part of the initiative.

“I got new clients at the last village and hopefully, I will get more from this one,” the business owner of six years said.

Founder of Makabee Enterprise, Oronde McNish, spoke highly of the potential of the event to connect sellers with buyers.

“We realize that we’re in the initial stage of it and I know it has good potential. And especially when the (Morant Bay Urban Centre) gets started, I think we’ll get some kind of traction from there and it will continue on an ongoing basis,” Mr. McNish said.

The SDC compound is located across from the Morant Bay Urban Centre which is now gaining vast popularity with the opening of the first business at the location – Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).

For Mr. McNish, the popularity of the Urban Centre will auger well for the Economic Village and in turn, his family business.

“The basis of the business is beekeeping. So, we are beekeepers,” Mr. McNish said, while pointing out that the business specializes in value added products from beekeeping as well organic farming.

He acknowledged the SDC for “the effort that they have put into making events like this possible for us”.

“We benefit from the exposure, we network with other people who come, and I think it’s a very good thing that the SDC is doing and I commend them for the effort,” he added.

Roselle based G-Lovers Orchard, is owned by former Parish Manager at the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), Caswell Glover.

“In terms of the exposure, it (the Economic Village) has been tremendous and the amount of calls I get after the event is amazing,” he told JIS News.

G-Lovers Orchard is a fruit farm that specializes in value-added products such as plantain chips, banana chips, breadfruit chips, wines, stewed plums, cassava flour, natural juices and others.

“Interestingly, I got this idea from a visit I made to Vietnam where every farm has a processing facility attached. Since my return, I have always made an attempt to sell this idea to farmers. Whatever you do, add value,” the seasoned agriculturalist urged.

The Economic Village was also well-attended by agencies of Government including the Office of the Registrar-General, formerly the Registrar General’s Department (RGD); the Tax Administration of Jamaica (TAJ); the Ministry of Labour and Social Security; the Jamaica Information Service (JIS); the Consumer Affairs Commission, and others.

This gave the local economic initiatives and other interests the opportunity to access resources to develop their businesses.

Parish Manager at SDC St. Thomas, Lorian Peart-Roberts, noted that “since our first attempt a few months ago, we have grown a bit, and we hope to do this every three months.”

She pointed out that Hurricane Melissa “put a damper on things” but St. Thomas was spared the worst of the October 28 storm.

The Manager urged residents to support the local economic initiatives by attending the Economic Village in future instalments.