KINGSTON: National Commercial Bank’s (NCB) Managing Director Patrick Hylton believes that facilitating the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Jamaica requires more than just financing, and this was clearly illustrated when he addressed guests of NCB Builder Awards 2015.
“At NCB we saw the opportunity to be part of a support network that facilitates Jamaican entrepreneurs who have workable ideas to provide needed goods and services. Based on our understanding of the importance of the SME sector as a major driver of employment and growth for our nation, we made the decision to be the bank that would ‘walk the talk’ with our customers as partners in development,” he said.
While acknowledging that having or accessing start-up capital is a major challenge for new entrepreneurs, Hylton pointed out that many SMEs lose out on opportunities, including attracting funding from private investors, because they cannot fulfil the requirement of producing a business plan.
“A major hurdle faced by many aspiring entrepreneurs is that they are not able to put a basic business plan together as part of a loan application. Often they become non-starters without even having a chance to offer their product or service to the market,” Hylton explained.
Quoting a 2011 report by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the managing director said the situation is exacerbated by the presence of “necessity-driven entrepreneurship”, and as such their greatest need is for skills that will attract funding and position business for sustainable growth.
“Therefore, at NCB we are enriching SMEs through the provision of entrepreneurship training programmes that range from marketing and selling strategies to financial and business management… We offer capacity-building training and seminars to our SMEs in collaboration with key partners and enablers. We are committed to the transformation of our SMEs in ways which will lead to a transformation in our economy,” Hylton remarked, underscoring the role the Jamaican Government has played so far in this transformation process.
“We commend the Government of Jamaica on recent initiatives to create a more nurturing environment climate for start-ups. One manifestation of this is the recently launched start-up incubator programme within the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining.”
“We have partnered with the Ministry on this programme which is a five-year initiative aimed at helping young entrepreneurs turn ideas into marketable products. We look forward to seeing more incubators being established across the island, coupled with active support for these companies during teething years,” Hylton continued, highlighting the need for a “more responsive policy framework”.
Hylton also announced that in 2014 NCB partnered with the Inter-American Development Bank/Multilateral Investment Fund on a project to expand SME financing valued at US$1.029M.
The Vision Award, which is presented to final-year business students at the University of West Indies for the best business plan or project, was awarded to the team of Monish Parwani, Jon Ross Motta, Andrew Christie and Olivia Sinclair for “The Paper Garden”.
“It is estimated that there are about 200,00 formal SMEs in Jamaica and between 200,000 and 400,000 micro-entrepreneurs. Altogether they employ over 70 per cent of the total labour force. Undoubtedly, SMEs are the engine of economic development [and] contribute to sustainable growth and employment generation in a significant manner,” Hylton said.
Finance Minister demands 40% more from Jamaica Customs
KINGSTON: Minister of Finance Audley Shaw expects to increase revenues from Jamaica Customs Agency by up to 40 per cent...
