MINISTER of Finance and Planning Dr Peter Phillips was resolute that any initiative undertaken under the Economic Reform Programme, including those of the Development Bank of Jamaica, are not to be politicised, but instead viewed within the framework of economic growth for Jamaica.

Speaking at the launch of Innovation Grant for New Ideas to Entrepreneurship on Wednesday, held at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston, Minister Phillips stated: “The general economic reform programme can only be achieved through consensus and collaboration; it’s not a venture of an administration … it includes all well-thinking Jamaicans.

“While there is a place for foreign investors, if we are to correct … Jamaica we have to bring the SMES (small and medium sized enterprises) to participate in the growth of Jamaica,” Minister Phillips told the audience. “If we are to have a prosperous future in the country we have to bring more players to the playing field of competition.”

The finance minister admitted that while trying to introduce more local entrepreneurs to the local business landscape that they still face the problem of accessing financing.

“You have to create the environment for enterprising so that the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of Jamaica can have that platform and take advantage,” he said to loud applause, adding: “What you need in enterprise is capital or access to capital. This is the deficit or deficiency the DBJ is trying to compensate.”

To address the matter of credit, Phillips stated that the Government had taken steps to establish the National Collateral Registry in order for non-traditional collateral to be considered, and also facilitated the emergence of credit bureaus “so that people with a good credit record can benefit”. These, he said, along with DBJ’s venture capital initiative, are “to ensure that start-ups are not over-burdened with loan financing”.

But while a lot of focus has been placed on the lack of financing or credit as a barrier of entry for most start-ups, there are studies which indicate other and differing factors that limit entry for SMEs, Minister Phillips pointed out. He highlighted that lack of training, marketing, leadership, and the absence of adequate business plans and audited statements also play a role.

“All of this contributes or impedes access to credit, no matter the interest rate, he said, adding that for these reasons the DBJ had embarked on the three initiatives – IGNITE, Voucher for Technical Assistance and the Credit Enhancement Facility.

With the event focused on all the initiatives, Claudine Tracey, general manager for DBJ’s strategic services division, said that the bank aims to consolidate its efforts to tackle the main challenges faced by start-ups and SMEs – capacity (VTA), collateral (CEF), and Capital (IGNITE). The launch also saw the signing of an MOU with partners Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship – Caribbean, Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, Jamaica Manufactures’ Association, and Jamaica Business Development Centre.

Minister Phillips concedes, however, that more needs to be done, including addressing the culture of banking. “We are relatively unbanked … many small businesses have accounts but do not use the banking services, leading to constraint in growth,” he said, noting that the Government not only wanted to expand the quantum of employers in Jamaica, but also wanted to see improvements in the productive capacity of the country.