NCB Launches $2 Billion SME Growth Fund Facility

National Commercial Bank Limited (NCB) has launched a $2 billion facility designed to provide access to financing to small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The NCB SME Growth Fund II is open to both new and existing NCB customers across Jamaica’s key growth sectors.

Lauding the initiative during a luncheon at the AC Marriot Hotel in New Kingston on April 16, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill said the growth fund is a statement of confidence in the capacity of Jamaican businesses.

“Jamaica is in a moment of resurgence post Hurricane Melissa. This is a time for strategic, future-focused, decisive, and purposeful action by our leading financial institutions and productive enterprises. We are recovering from disruption, and we are building the future of our country. We are not building back. We are building to the future.

“We are building for the future of our country something better and greater than what existed before. That’s how we’re going to have to build, and that’s what you’re doing with your MSMEs (micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises). That ambition requires every lever available to us, including public investment, private capital, policy alignment, and the energy of Jamaican entrepreneurs who refuse to be defined by their starting circumstances,” Senator Hill added.

The Minister noted that small and medium-sized enterprises are integral to the country’s resurgence as they are an important engine of growth.

“We have 425,000 or so MSMEs in this country, that’s according to World Bank data. They still have a long way to grow to where they can be in terms of affecting the economy,” he said.

Senator Hill noted that when MSMEs grow, Jamaica grows, noting that the SME Growth Facility is critical to the process.

“The expansion of the NCB SME Growth Fund carries immense significance. When the fund was launched in 2025 with $1 billion, it was substantial and addressed a major challenge for Jamaican small businesses, access to affordable capital was that issue. The response was immediate and the funds were fully taken up ahead of schedule, which shows that our entrepreneurs are ready to expand,” he said.

He said his Ministry and agencies such as Jamaica Business Development Corporation, Company’s Office of Jamaica, and Bureau of Standards, among others, have assisted MSMEs to become more capable, and more export ready.

“NCB heard and saw the signal and responded wonderfully well…This increased allocation of real cash funding, will extend the reach of the programme, enable more businesses to stabilize operations, and help MSMEs to invest in assets and systems to produce higher productivity,” he said.

Interim Chief Executive Officer, NCBJ, Sheree Martin said MSMEs are deeply embedded in the sectors that drive employment in the country.

“When SMEs move forward, the economy moves with them,” she said noting that the Fund will support activities of SMEs that drive growth.

She said SMEs contribute approximately 28.5 per cent to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and represent roughly 82 per cent of employment in Jamaica.

For eligibility, businesses must meet the following criteria: operate as a sole trader, partnership, or limited liability company; be registered for at least two years; qualify as a small, medium or large SME sized entity, among other things.

The fund supports businesses operating in the tourism, agriculture and agro-processing, manufacturing, mining and quarrying, energy and alternative energy, business services, retail and distribution and transportation.

For more information persons may visit any NCB branch, via NCB Relationship Manager or Whatsapp “GROWTH2” to (876) 613-9160.

Source: JIS