Minister wants better succession planning for family business

_{Keisha Forbes-Ellis (left), Chief Country Office (Jamaica) and CEO, JMMB Limited (JMMB Investments) welcomes The Hon. Delano Seiveright, MP, State Minister in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce to the JMMB Thought Leadership Breakfast at S Hotel, Montego Bay.}

MONTEGO BAY, St James —Minister of state in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce Delano Seiveright has expressed concern that too many family owned businesses in Jamaica are failing to make effective generational transitions, placing their long-term sustainability at risk.

Speaking Wednesday during a JMMB Group Thought Leadership Breakfast at S Hotel in Montego Bay, Seiveright said he was not seeing enough evidence of structured handovers or future-focused planning among local enterprises

“I have a genuine concern of the state of some family businesses in Jamaica, because I’m not seeing effective transition. I’m not seeing effective handover. I’m not seeing a future-focused approach in keeping businesses sustained,” said Seiveright.

He warned that while Jamaican businesses struggle with succession, international investors are aggressively moving into the local market and capitalising on opportunities.

“We have investors coming from other corners of the world who are seeing opportunity and acting on them. You look at the Chinese, the Mexicans and other ethnic groups who have come and they’re seeing opportunity and making the best of them,” Seiveright noted.

Against that background, the minister stressed the need to better support to empower Jamaican entrepreneurs.

Source: Jamaica Observer