Entrepreneurs residing in St. Ann and St. Mary will be the first to benefit from Small Business Law Training, a new capacity building initiative which will be delivered through an agreement signed earlier this year between the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) and Street Law Caribbean.
The workshop which will be facilitated as part of the JBDC/NCB Mobile Business Clinic will be held at the Hibiscus Lodge in Ocho Rios from July 11-12, 2017. The main objective of this particular training initiative is to demystify the law and provide broad-based legal education through structured and interactive teaching and learning programmes.
Deputy CEO of the JBDC, Harold Davis says areas such as business formalization are critical to the growth of the MSME sector. “Informal businesses are forced to operate outside of a legal system and therefore face restrictions.” This he says impacts negatively on the size of their customer base, which means that they do not realize their full potential in terms of profitability. “An information operation, he continued, also has limited access to government support which is also critical to their growth,” he explained.
The clinic which is being held under the theme: ‘Converting Capacity to Currency’ will also feature presentations on Market Research, Attracting Lenders, Lean Manufacturing as well as one-to-one business consultations with partner agencies including the Tax Administration Jamaica.
Preceding the Mobile Business Clinic, JBDC will host the Ocho Rios leg of its Opportunity Evening on July 10 under the theme: ‘Cashing in on Tourism – Opportunities in Agriculture & Manufacturing’.
Tourism interests will speak to several issues including Capitalizing on the Demand for High Value Products in Tourism and Buying Local: What hotels are looking for.
The findings from the Tourism Demand Study will also be discussed with a view to assisting new and existing entrepreneurs to increase linkages with local manufacturers and investors for several products of high value used in the tourism sector.
These products include; Agricultural produce, Alcoholic beverages, Books, brochures, and magazines, Bed frames, and head boards, Chairs, Pillows, Sanitizers, Standing lamps, Toothpaste and Towels.
The MBCI was implemented in 2014 as an islandwide project resulting in the decentralization of business development services, geared at reaching a wider cross-section of MSMEs in new and existing industries and sectors. The main objectives of the programme are to facilitate business formalization, market access and market entry, to increase awareness of business development services, provide training, capacity development and technical support, promote sound entrepreneurial practices through public education programmes. Twelve (12) Clinics were staged islandwide between October 2014 and July 2016, during which some 2400 MSMEs were impacted.
