IDB looks to Fund Small Business Support Projects

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), through its Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), is looking to provide funding for a number of projects being undertaken by the Jamaica Business Development Centre (JBDC), which are aimed at providing support for the small business sector.
According to Executive Director of the JBDC, Harold Davis, the commitment came out of a meeting with Winsome J. Leslie, Project Specialist with the IDB’s Multilateral Investment Fund, and Maureen Vernon, Senior Counselor, on August 8 at the IDB’s headquarters in Washington.
He told JIS News that the JBDC was pursuing partnership with the IDB with a view to establishing a mutual guarantee facility, and business incubation and information centres. Funding is also being sought to promote cultural industries, he said.
Mr. Davis noted that the meeting with the IDB team was fruitful and the JBDC hoped to receive approval for financial and technical support for the projects very soon.
Meanwhile, in a meeting with representatives of the Jamaica Central Labour Organisation (JCLO), the JDBC is to assist the JCLO in taking advantage of federal programmes, which provide opportunities for Jamaicans to come to the United States to work on the hurricane reconstruction programme in New Orleans and Texas.
Mr. Davis stated that the JCLO and the JBDC would work together to identify a new cadre of higher skilled Jamaicans, other than the farm and factory workers, to work effectively on these federal projects. The JBDC’s Executive Director along with Advisor, Robert Wright, paid a four-day visit to Washington, where they also met with Ambassador to the United States Professor Gordon Shirley, and representatives of the Small Business Administration in the capital.