JEF, YEA Unveil New Business Development Centre to Support MSMEs

The micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) sector has been further strengthened with the establishment of a new Business Development Centre by the Jamaica Employers’ Federation (JEF) and the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Jamaica (YEA).

Located at the JEF’s Ruthven Road headquarters in Kingston, the centre will provide MSME operators with affordable access to facilities, expertise, networks and support to start, strengthen and grow their businesses.

It will offer workspace and training facilities, mentorship, coaching, business clinics and capacity-building programmes, along with referrals for financing, procurement, market access and other business services.

Addressing the official launch on Monday (September 14), State Minister, Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Delano Seiveright, welcomed the initiative.

He said it will provide entrepreneurs with critical services to enable them to grow and thrive.

“The centre proposes to make professional services – human resources, industrial relations expertise, mentorship, digital support, training and connections, financing, procurement, government services and markets more accessible. Many businesses don’t fail because entrepreneurs did not have a good idea; they fail because of weaknesses in execution, because of poor systems, no management, cash flow issues, governance issues,” he pointed out.

“A small business should not have to wait until it becomes a large business before it learns how to operate like one. They have to build that discipline early, and the business development centre will play a critical role in that,” he added.

President of YEA and 2nd Vice President of the JEF, Cordell Williams, told JIS News that the Business Development Centre combines the expertise and capacities of both institutions to provide support for MSMEs right across the continuum of growth.

“The whole point of this initiative is really to ensure at any point in a businesses’ development cycle that they have access to what they need to succeed and to be sustainable,” she pointed out.

The Business Development Centre will provide clients with training, capacity-building, coaching, access to financing opportunities, visibility and branding opportunities, and markets.

The partnership will see the YEA focusing on the early-stage development of businesses, with the JEF providing support for businesses seeking to take their operations to the next level.

“We have diverse partnerships. We have partnered with a number of local entities, such as the Public Procurement Commission and Jamaica Business Development Commission (JBDC),” she informed.

“We are creating an ecosystem where businesses can continue to transition and matriculate to a higher level,” she explained.

President of the JEF, Wayne Chen, said the partnership will bridge the gaps in the business ecosystem, by bringing together many of the different components required for successful enterprises to start and sustain.

“We see them in silos across the country in government and in private sector. As two membership-based organisations with significant history, significant pools of talent, and significant networks, we see this as a logical step in the work that we have been doing,” he pointed out.