Four months after receiving the first loans under the Government’s Young Entrepreneurs Programme (YEP) to embark on their own ventures, school leavers Movet Murphy, Richard Durrant and Raniel McGregor are reaping incremental rewards from their growing businesses.

The three, all from St Thomas, received loans in September 2009 through JN Small Business Loans Limited, one of the micro-finance institutions selected by the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) to lend funds from the $200 million facility made available for the programme, and announced by Prime Minister Bruce Golding in the 2009/2010 budget debate.

“Business has been good,” says the 17 year-old Murphy, who used her loan to establish a grocery shop in her Cheswick community in Eastern St Thomas. The shop serves residents of Hill 60 in a section of the community, which is home to more than 100 residents.

“I stock and sell rice, flour, chicken, canned foods, toiletries and detergents among other things,” related Murphy. She said there was a particularly strong improvement in business during the Christmas season.

“My turnover increased substantially before Christmas,” a beaming Murphy added. She has been re-investing in the business so far, painting the shop blue with the establishment’s new name, Murphy’s Miracle Grocery emblazoned in red, black and yellow.

“I really want to go into nursing and I am hoping to start my training in another two years,” she said. “Therefore, I am hoping that this business will finance my training.”

She has the support of her mother, who subs as shopkeeper; and her, stepfather, a fisherman, who operates from the Rocky Point Fishing Beach close by.

For Richard Durrant, summer will also be very busy as he plans to increase his stock of broiler chickens to some 250, and expand his coop by another 20 feet. He invested the funds from YEP in a small chicken rearing operation at his home in Moffat District in Trinityville, Western St Thomas.

The 19-year-old aspiring architect started out with a small number of broilers, and has now more than doubled them.

“Business was encouraging during the Christmas season,” he related. “I was unable to meet all the demand for chicken.” He, therefore, established a link with former schoolmate, Raniel McGregor, who also invested his YEP loan in a small poultry operation.

McGregor lives a few miles away from Durant in another section of Trinityville named Mount Lebanus, where his farm is located.

“When my orders are more than I can deliver, I call Raniel (McGregor), and he steps in to fill the demand,” says Durrant.

McGregor has a coop with an even larger flock than Durrant and is also planning to double his it in a few months.

Together, Durrant and McGregor serve 55 individual customers and two restaurants in Trinityville. They have also established links with six other food establishments — five in the parish capital of Morant Bay; and one in Seaforth.

Most of their marketing is by “word of mouth”, as their businesses have not yet been registered. However, they are expecting to have that process completed by April.

“When I go to service my loan in Morant Bay, I also use the time to visit restaurants and tell them about my poultry operation,” says Durrant. And, McGregor employs a similar strategy, with the assistance of his parents in finding markets for the product.

Both McGregor and Durrant plan to use the profits from their businesses to fund their educational objectives. Durrant hopes to attend the University of Technology in the next academic year, if he successfully gains a place at the university; or, to pursue a course in architecture at the Vocational Development and Training Institute (VDTI).

McGregor is already using the surplus from his broiler operation to fund his way through the Police Academy in St Catherine where he is enrolled, while his parents, Fay and Daniel McGregor assist him with the management of his poultry business. However, he still intends to attend university.

“I am hoping to attend The University of the West Indies in another two years, to major in accounting,” McGregor says. “And I am confident that the revenue from this business venture will be able to help fund my education.”