August 21 is World Entrepreneurs’ Day

On August 21 Jamaica joined the rest of the world in commemorating World Entrepreneurs’ Day (WED).

Every year, August 21 is celebrated as World Entrepreneurs’ Day. The purpose of World Entrepreneurs’ Day is to create awareness for entrepreneurship, innovation and leadership throughout the world. In a modern society, the simultaneous developments of entrepreneurship and human skills have become catalysts for a country to achieve economic and social advancement.  The MSME sector is a nursery for entrepreneurship, often driven by individual creativity and innovation.

On World Entrepreneur’ Day, Government entities, public authorities and universities are encouraged to distribute communicative and instructive materials regarding entrepreneurship and its importance. The celebration in Jamaica is aimed at imparting further momentum to the thrust laid by the Government on entrepreneurship and small business development and to utilize the opportunity to encourage more youth to become entrepreneurs and job creators.

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries recognizes that MSMEs continue to lack general proprietary skills, which hamper their development and growth. It is important that we strengthen their entrepreneurial skills, values and attitudes to drive innovation, creativity, and wealth creation within the sector.  The vision is to shift the paradigm from merely “buying and selling” and necessity driven entrepreneurship to productive businesses, build from a recognized opportunity, that can contribute measurably to growing the economy.

The Ministry’s thrust regarding entrepreneurship, as demonstrated in the MSME & Entrepreneurship Policy (2018), is looking towards expanding the inclusion of entrepreneurship and business management in the curricula of institutions, pursuing and supporting youth entrepreneurship programmes, partnering with stakeholder groups to promote entrepreneurship nationally for wealth creation and economic growth, promoting the development of incubators and accelerators to assist start-ups and promote creativity and innovation within MSME operations to achieve competitive advantage.

On this World Entrepreneurs’ Day, The Ministry is encouraging the public to buy at least one (1) item from a local entrepreneur or recognize a local entrepreneur in some way or fashion.

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