TOP British-based tour company Virgin Holidays yesterday announced that it will be setting up its Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship for the Caribbean in Montego Bay this June to provide Jamaicans with skills training as well as seed capital to improve on existing small businesses.

Amanda Wills, managing director of Virgin Holidays, said the company will be spending £2 million (more than $27 million) over the next 10 years to roll out the programme here in Jamaica.

Wills, who was addressing a press conference at the three-day Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) Marketplace 2011 now underway at the newly constructed Montego Bay Convention Centre at Rose Hall in Montego Bay, said the centre will also have satellites in other Caribbean countries.

The centre, she added, will contribute positively to the communities and countries in which Virgin Holidays operate.

“The centre also shows our commitment to the long term sustainability of one of our most important destinations and our support of the Caribbean’s primary industry which is tourism,” she said

The centre will cater to participants in the age group 18 to 35 years old, who are already engaged in the small business sector.

According to Wills, it will seek to target primarily businesses attached to tourism.

She added that seed capital for participants will vary base on the type of business each individual is operating.

Meanwhile, Andrew Shelton, marketing director of Virgin Holidays, said they will be looking for partners to come on board to provide additional investment for the programme.

Lisa Lake and Patrick Casserly will be assisting with the local rollout of the programme.