The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), through its Country Strategy 2022-2026 for Jamaica, continues to support the Government’s development objectives of higher levels of sustainable inclusive growth and debt reduction.
Most recently, the IDB provided funding support valued at US$250,000 for the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce (MIIC) MSME Business Roadshow.
This collaboration will enable micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) operators to access information on business development support, government incentives as well as export opportunities.
Delivering remarks during the Roadshow’s recent launch at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville, Manchester, IDB Senior Specialist for Climate Change, Gerard Alleng, noted that while MSMEs are critical to a country’s economic growth, “they face many challenges in their business development and operations, which ultimately affect their sustainability and success”.
“The genesis of this roadshow for MSMEs comes from the recognition of a need that we have seen, not just in Jamaica, but in other parts of the region. Last year, through discussions held with the Ministry, we discovered that we both had a common understanding of the situation, and it was only fitting that we decided to collaborate on this issue,” he explained.
Mr. Alleng said consequent on the discussions, “one of the critical obstacles that we saw was that of insufficient or limited access to targeted business development support and guidance to MSMEs.”
MSMEs could encounter challenges accessing the support services needed, as they might be in other parishes, thereby requiring time, effort and resources to access such provisions.
“For small businesses, this can result in significant delays in production or, at times, loss of production and, ultimately, reduced revenue,” Mr. Alleng said.
To combat this issue, he shared that “we (MIIC and IDB) came up with a solution to bring the service to where the people are to overcome this problem”.
“We are committed to promoting and providing support to private-sector growth in Jamaica as part of our Country Strategy. The IDB is happy to partner with the Ministry on this initiative… and I am looking forward to the next three roadshows and connecting with all of the MSMEs,” Mr. Alleng said.
The other roadshows will take place in Ocho Rios, Kingston and Montego Bay.
