Government committed to supporting the MSME sector – Min. Dunn

Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Dr. Norman Dunn, has reiterated the Government’s commitment in supporting Jamaica’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), noting that the government has long recognized that in order to achieve growth we must do so from the ground up and develop our MSME sector. The MSME Entrepreneurship Policy 2018 was crafted with that goal in mind, which is geared towards improving the efficiency and competiveness of MSMEs.

Speaking at a virtual Webinar hosted by the National Export-Import Bank of Jamaica (EXIM Bank), under the theme ‘E-Commerce: The New Export Frontier for Small and Medium-sized Businesses’ on Thursday, November 5, Minister Dunn informed that one of the objectives of the Policy is the internationalization of MSMEs through increasing their export potential and streamlining their inclusion in the global and regional value chains.

Minister Dunn noted that the digitization of the MSME sector is also a priority area for the Ministry as it seeks to help our local small businesses market and showcase their products and services globally, using digital strategies and tools.

“The Ministry, in 2019, embarked on a Digitalization Plan with the objective of bringing 25,000 MSMEs operating to the digital marketplace in three (3) years. This plan involved working with two internationally recognized Digital marketing companies – Kalou, a Google-affiliate small business online marketing solution and Fygaro, an e-commerce business generator, and full-service platform to provide web presence and ecommerce opportunities for micro and small firms at an affordable cost,” Minister Dunn said.
He further stated that the need for these platforms has become even more important as the world adjusts to new strategies for combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Government is determined to create an enabling business environment for our MSMEs to strive and build their confidence and capability to supply large global players such as Amazon. We would like to see more of our local businesses marketing and selling products on these major ecommerce platforms. We must, therefore, start with developing our local MSMEs and creating an environment where they are competitive enough to compete with international suppliers,” Dr Dunn added.
Meanwhile, Managing Director of EXIM Bank, Lisa Bell, said that the goal of the Bank is to provide assistance to small and medium-sized businesses, especially those operating in the export value chain to realise their full potential.
“Our mandate is to provide and improve access to finance and other fit for purpose financing solutions,” she said.
The Webinar, hosted by the EXIM Bank under its Business Advisory Service Unit (BAS) is seeking to provide small and medium-sized enterprises with information to unlock existing and new opportunities presented by COVID-19. It included presentations from local and international experts on how to start, build and scale e-commerce in businesses.
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