KINGSTON, Jamaica  (JIS) — The Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) will stage its annual Small Business Exposition and Conference on Thursday (May 12), at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.

The event, which is in its ninth year, will be held under the theme: ‘Opening the Door to Financing Opportunities’.

Corporate Communications Manager at the JBDC, Suzette Campbell, said focus will be placed on assisting operators of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) to access funding for their operations.

This, she said, is coming out of the JBDC’s National Needs Assessment Survey, which identified access to financing as a major obstacle for MSMEs.

 Campbell informed that workshops will be held on areas such as proposal writing, making a business pitch, appropriate financing, funding a small business, creative funding and crowd funding, equity financing, preparing for the Junior Stock Exchange, as well as digital media marketing.

The small business exposition and conference will also include sessions on Emerging Business Trends’ and ‘Youth Tech Entrepreneurship’, the latter of which will highlight successful young technology entrepreneurs, while showcasing opportunities in new media and robotics.

Keynote speaker will be Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Edufocal Limited, Gordon Swaby, a 25-year-old entrepreneur, who created the online learning platform for students preparing for the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT).

Campbell said the JBDC is confident that this staging of the event will be a success.

The one-day Small Business Exposition and Conference will be held from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm and admission is $1,000 presold and $1,500 at the door.

For more information about the event, persons may visit the JBDC’s website at www.jbdc.net; its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/jbdc.net; or call the office at 928-5161-5.