JBDC Helps Prepare Small Businesses to Secure Contracts

The Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) has embarked on an islandwide drive to help small business operators position themselves to secure contracts.
As part of the Government’s stimulus package, Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding announced in December that the Government would facilitate small business access to at least 15 per cent of Government contracts.
The JBDC has taken a lead role in preparing small business operators to access the provision, by holding four regional workshops. The first of the two-day workshops began on May 27 at the Garmex HEART Academy in Kingston.
Explaining the rationale for having the workshops, Business Development Officer at JBDC, Patrice Smith, noted that the JBDC exists for business development purposes, but a lot of contractors did not know that this service was also available.
“So we are bringing the workshops to the population, to let them know how it is that they can achieve the benefits,” she explained.
Approximately 30 trainees, mostly from the construction industry, were taught how to prepare an effective proposal, the bidding process and how to negotiate a contract.
Ms. Smith said professionals from the National Contracts Commission, the Companies Office of Jamaica and the Tax Administration Services Department would be presenting on the second day of the workshop.
“For doing business within Jamaica, you need to be tax compliant, you need to have a TCC (Tax Compliance Certificate), you need to be a registered business,” she said.
She added that the JBDC is also prepared to help small business operators prepare business proposals.
A participant in the workshop, Starrette Dobson, said he was happy for the training, which will allow him to make the most of current opportunities in the construction sector.
“Sometimes you see persons coming from overseas and supervising and doing all these works under contract, and we are here in Jamaica and it is passing us by. We have to be working under these persons, when we are more qualified than some of the persons they are taking to give the work,” he stated.
Another participant, Donovan Lawrence, said he was looking forward to learning how to make his future business tax compliant.
“It helps the country, and it good for us that the Government can benefit and we also can benefit, with our children coming up; more job creation and less borrowing,” he said.
The next workshop is scheduled for June 2-3, at the St. Ann’s Bay Baptist Church in St. Ann.
The others will be held on June 9-10 at Ridgemont United Church Hall, Mandeville, Manchester; and on June 16-17, at the Savanna-la-Mar United Church Hall in Westmoreland.
The JBDC was established in 2001 to lead Government’s initiative to facilitate the sustainable development of micro and small enterprises (SMEs) in Jamaica.