THE Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce will conduct customer satisfaction surveys next year in an attempt to instil private-sector values in public agencies such as Jampro and the Factories Corporation of Jamaica.

“We are going to be using the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) and, if we must, outside private entities to check our clients periodically to determine what’s your rate of satisfaction and you what would like to see improved,” Dr Christopher Tufton told the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) Chairman’s Club Forum at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. .

“We are prepared to make them public,” added the industry minister to thunderous applause.

Seventeen agencies come under the ministry’s umbrella. Among them are the CAC, Bureau of Standards, Companies Office of Jamaica, Factories Corporation of Jamaica, Jampro, Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO), and the Scientific Research Council.

The initiative is part of a broad plan by the ministry to position Jamaica as an attractive location for investments.

“We want the ministry to begin to think as if we are private sector too, recognising the importance of (facilitating investments),” he said.

Another key focus of the ministry is the protection of Jamaica’s intellectual property. Tufton said that Government, in collaboration with JIPO, is close to completing the process of registering “Jamaica Jerk” as authenticly Jamaican.

“Anywhere in the world you see a product called ‘Jamaica Jerk’, with appropriate enforcements, it is supposed to be a product that has its origins in Jamaica,” said Tufton.

“It has tremendous implications for the agroprocessing sector,” he added, noting that the bulk of the raw materials must have local origins.

Tufton said a similar attempt is being made to register “Blue Mountain Coffee” and “Jamaica Rum”, among others.

“We are underselling our talent internationally; we have a lot of great ideas, but oftentimes others make more money from it than we do,” the minister said. “We need to ensure that we are part of the international network to give protection to our intellectual property and to stimulate entrepreneurship across traditional and emerging sectors.”

Tufton also said his ministry will look at exploiting niche areas where the country has existing advantages. Among them, he said, are logistics, light manufacturing, ICT and tourism.

“I’m challenging Jamaican and foreign entrepreneurs who are based here to begin to start looking at what we have and start creating that value proposition,” Tufton said.

The PSOJ forum was themed “Charting a Path for Growth and Development”. The event included National Commercial Bank being presented with an award for service excellence in the private sector.