JBDC and Negril Chamber of Commerce Opens Business Information Centre

The Negril Chamber of Commerce (NCC) in collaboration with the Jamaica Business Development Centre (JBDC) opened the doors to a Business Information Centre (BIC) in that town on Wednesday (Feb. 20).
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed, to mark the start of an official relationship between the JBDC and the NCC.
The BIC, which is located on the Vendors Arcade in Negril, will present to entrepreneurs a hand-holding approach through the provision of Business Service Advisors, who will mentor and guide new business owners, and help to foster new business ideas. It will also provide salient information and other services relating to all aspects of business in Jamaica, from start-up to implementation or even expansion, to micro, small, and medium sized businesses.
Executive Director of the JBDC, Harold Davis, in addressing the launch of the BIC, which took place during the first quarterly luncheon for 2008 of the NCC, held at Negril Escape, West End, Negril, explained that the Negril Business Information Centre is the seventh such centre to be opened under the name of Jamaica Business Information Centres (JAMBIC), by the JBDC. He said that the JAMBIC is a true private/public sector partnership, and is the fuel to entrepreneurship, which is the profession of the new millennium.
“If there was ever a time for small business development now is it,” he emphasized.
Making particular reference to the tourism product in Negril, Mr. Davis stated that there are an abundance of tourism-based opportunities that are present in the town and its surrounding areas. These opportunities, he said, are as a result of the supporting businesses that tourism needs to effectively survive.
“We believe that the time has come for an information centre that will offer these kinds of facilities to support businesses that will support the tourism product that you have,” he stated.
He underscored the fact that JAMBIC offers an opportunity for the provision of the necessary services, adding that it also offers an opportunity for networking.
President of the Negril Chamber of Commerce, Grace Lee, in expressing appreciation to the JBDC for the collaborative effort expressed the view that the new centre will pave the way forward for Negril and its environs.
The JAMBIC project was established in 2006 by the JBDC, as part of the Government’s Action Plan, ‘Implementing the Information Society in Jamaica.’