A total of 17,150 new jobs were created in the small and micro-business sector during the last fiscal year, representing an increase of 30.3 per cent over the previous year, Industry and Tourism Minister Aloun Assamba told Parliament last Wednesday.

At the same time, Assamba announced that her ministry had successfully brokered a new strategic alliance among three micro-enterprise organisations – the Self-Start Fund (SSF), the Jamaica Business Development Centre (JBDC) and the Micro Investment Development Agency (MIDA) – resulting in a more collaborative relationship that better served the sector and improved their effectiveness.

Assamba, making her presentation in the budget debate, said the new jobs were created in a combination of the Government’s micro enterprise financing thrust with private sector initiatives. MIDA and SSF were critical to that improved performance, together disbursing over $225 million in credit to finance micro businesses last year, she said.

In the case of MIDA, she noted that the agency had disbursed $215.82 million to the micro enterprise sector last year, representing an increase of 46.62 per cent over the previous year. A total of 1,996 micro businesses were exclusively financed through MIDA’s islandwide network of 16 Community Development Funds (CDFs), she said.

For the current financial year, it was projected that MIDA would provide $200 million in credit funds to finance an expected 2,080 businesses with an average loan size of just over $96,000, she pointed out.

“These businesses will, in turn, sustain and create 2,920 full and part-time jobs,” Assamba said. Of the SSF, the minister noted that the development lending institution, which provides both credit and technical assistance to small and micro enterprises, had been rationalised and restructured since last September, a process that had resulted in the fund breaking even on its current portfolio size and collection rate, reversing a monthly deficit of $1.2 million prior to last September.

“We expect this recovery to continue as the fund streamlines its operations to make it a viable and efficient organisation.

In respect of the Self-Start Fund, in excess of $10 million was disbursed to approximately 159 entreprenuers, creating new employment for 83 persons last year, the minister added.

She said that in addition to the new employment created during the period, the SSF currently supported a client base of close to 800 entreprenuers for a portfolio balance of $80 million.

In other matters pertaining to her industry portfolio, Assamba said there had been a resurgence of business activity in knowledge-based industries managed and co-ordinated by the Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ).

“The results are remarkable. There is now a resurgence of business activity and the FCJ’s portfolio of 178,948 square metres of rentable space is now 87 per cent occupied,” said Assamba.

Focusing on Montego Bay, an area of intense activity, Assamba said the city had seen an increase in interest in space for companies involved in the ICT sector, with three new overseas-based companies – National Asset Recovery Services, Vista Print Limited and West Corp – employing over 1,000 persons last year.

All the other companies in the sector had increased employment by around another 1,000 persons, resulting in a total of over 5,000 persons employed at contact centres in Montego Bay, she said.

The minister noted that the contact centre sector contributed to over $1 billion in wages and salaries in Montego Bay alone last year, a factor which had resulted in the growing diversification of the tourist resort city’s economy from an over-reliance on tourism.