Value of MSMEs and the Help JBDC Provides

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of any economy, and in Jamaica they account for more than 85 per cent of employment.

Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC), Harold Davis, says it is estimated that there are 440,000 such entrepreneurial businesses in Jamaica.

“So, it’s huge and in any economy worldwide, it is the backbone of the economy substantively, because it provides critical employment and critical job creation and critical movement of the GDP (gross domestic product) of any country,” Mr. Davis tells JIS News.

The JBDC is the premier government agency supporting MSMEs, focusing on from concept to market services.

“Many persons have started businesses, and they have started in a kind of informal way. We help you to move that informality into formalisation, we help you to make sure that you’re registered with the right persons [such as] the Companies Office of Jamaica. If you’re in food, you’re talking about Bureau of Standards Jamaica, and you’re talking about your formalisation from the Scientific Research Council,” Mr. Davis explains.

“So, if you have already started a business, whichever business you have already started, and you are looking to structure, you’re looking to validate your market, here is where you come as well,” he adds.

He tells JIS News that persons can receive assistance in developing business plans and assistance to access financing, whether it is a grant or a loan.

“Of course, if you are more advanced and have been in business for many years, but you’re looking perhaps to explore new markets, you’re looking to scale, you’re looking to perhaps export, you’re looking to go into new products… here is where you come for that hand-holding, to make sure that when you scale, you scale in the right way and it’s sustainable,” Mr. Davis says.

The Acting CEO also addresses some of the common mistakes entrepreneurs make when starting a business, noting that some persons jump into business out of necessity or out of a “I am in a survival kind of mode, rather than a thought-through kind of structured mode, meeting a particular need”.

“It’s knee-jerk. You have to get into business, so you just jump into it head-first type of thing without having thought it through and without there being establishment of a particular need for that particular business or a particular product. That’s a common mistake. Second… sometimes we Jamaicans are like this – we don’t like to ask for help,” Mr. Davis says.

“Ask for help. There are entities like JBDC that will provide you with that assistance that you need, that thinking through. Sometimes you need a second head or a third head when you’re starting a business. Ask for help; it’s available so that the mistakes are less, and you are able to grow and scale much more sustainably,” he adds.

He also mentions that some entrepreneurs try to start their businesses without the necessary skills.

“Sometimes we talk about entrepreneurial education and it’s very important knowing how to cost your product, knowing how to get into a particular market, how to scale, knowing how to reach a particular consumer in a particular way. JBDC offers a suite of training products that will help you from concept to market,” Mr. Davis says.

Meanwhile, the JBDC is helping entrepreneurs build back their businesses with a far greater amount of resilience, following the impact of hurricane Melissa.

“Simple things like understanding your sources of raw material to make sure that it’s not from one particular source, simple things like that. Understanding where you market your product to make sure that you have multiple market channels and that type of thing. Looking at green technology; we have a programme that we’re rolling out now to support businesses where that is concerned,” Mr. Davis notes.

“We just signed an agreement with United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to help businesses that were affected in the agro-industrial sector… to help them build back more sustainably, more resilient and stronger,” he adds.

Mr. Davis notes that now is always a good time to start a business, as wherever there is a catastrophe, there are always opportunities.

“[It is] amazing how some of our entrepreneurs have pivoted because of the catastrophe, which is called Melissa. So, there is always opportunity… there is agri-industrial sectors – we’ll always need to feed ourselves. There’s always need for food security, especially what’s going on now globally. Get into farming; get into agro-processing; get into it not with hoe and fork. Get into it with technology-driven farming. Agrotech is where it’s at,” he says.

He also reminds MSMEs that the JBDC prepares businesses for both local and international markets.

“We partner with our sister agencies like JAMPRO (Jamaica Promotions Corporation), Trade Board, and Bureau of Standards Jamaica to do programmes which will carry the entrepreneur into the export market,” Mr. Davis states.

For more information persons may visit the JBDC’s website at www.jbdc.net and via their different social media handles.