Business Roadshow Reaches Thousands of MSMEs

Thousands of Micro, Small and Medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and individuals have been engaged through the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce’s islandwide roadshows.

“We have had roadshows in eight different parishes, Manchester, St. James,

St. Ann, Kingston, St. Catherine, Clarendon, St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland engaging 2000 MSME businesses [and] 2100 individual entrepreneurs,” Portfolio Minister, Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill said.

Senator Hill was addressing the recent staging of the MSME Linkages Day event held at the University of Technology in St. Andrew recently.

The Minister also encouraged businesses to utilise the services of the various agencies within the Ministry.

“The agencies are here to help you to make sure we get the business of growth in Jamaica…In addition to what we are going to give today and what we give through the Bureau of Standards (Jamaica), free testing of your goods, we will have spent $20 million in just gifts, prizes from pitches from the Ministry to MSMEs. We are out there supporting our MSMEs,” he said.

He also urged manufacturers to take advantage of the Government’s Productive Input Relief Programme, which facilitates duty-free importation of specific items intended for productive use.

“In 2021/22, we… allowed people to import stuff without the tax and amount of tax we forgave was $109.3 billion. In 2022/23 it was $88.5 billion, 2023/24, $78.5 billion and in 2024/25, $80.2 billion,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senator Hill said the country’s macro-economic conditions are conducive to businesses and noted that the country has been recognized internationally for the strides that have been made.

“Jamaica is now the poster child that…used economic managerial expertise to turn the country from a debt ridden, unstable currency regime and an unable to raise capital developing country, into the internationally accepted poster child as to how to turn such a non-oil producing country around from… where we were, to where we are now,” he said.

During the function, STEM Builders Learning Hub, which was declared the winner of the MSME Masters Business Pitch Competition was awarded a $2 million grant, while Jesse Gift and Décor which copped second place received $1 million grant from the Ministry to invest in their businesses.

Source: JIS