Gov’t Examining the Feasibility of Setting up Small Business Incubators

Government is examining the feasibility of establishing small business incubators to provide integrated and coordinated financial and operational support services to small and micro businesses islandwide.
Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Michael Stern, made the announcement at the opening of the sixth Jamaica Business Information Centre (JAMBIC) in Portmore, St. Catherine recently. The incubators, he explained, will operate as a centre for production, training and technical assistance to the participants, and other small and micro enterprises (SMEs) in the general business community. “They (the incubators) will play an important role in providing general business development services and would foster best practices and modern know-how,” he informed. Mr. Stern pointed out that through programmed interventions, participating SMEs “would have an opportunity to correct their organizational weaknesses, avoid costly mistakes and minimize business failure.” Noting the importance of small businesses to a country’s socio economic progress, he said that they account for more than 90 per cent of all industries globally and about 50 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) worldwide. “In the Jamaican context, an estimated 30 per cent of employment is generated by small and micro businesses,” Mr. Stern said, noting that the information technology revolution has created abundant business opportunities.
In the meantime, he indicated that the Government’s commitment to the growth and development of the micro and small business sector will be emphasized in the new budget. According to Mr. Stern, the Government “is keen on promoting policies to facilitate the creation of jobs and the generation of prosperity for Jamaicans of all walks of life,” as “we are acutely aware of the fact that the lack of meaningful employment opportunities contributes to the proliferation of crime, the drug trade and brain drain to other countries with better economic prospects.”