SBDC model to be rolled out during fiscal year — Shaw
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Audley Shaw, says the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) model will continue to be rolled out during this fiscal year, in the hope of reaching university students and others across the island.
“Memoranda of agreements were signed with three entities for the establishment of SBDCs in Manchester at Northern Caribbean University (NCU), in Kingston at the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU), and in Trelawny at the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) office,” the minister said while making his contribution to the 2019/20 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on April 23.
He also noted that an additional Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) office was established during the last financial year in Morant Bay that will serve as an SBDC centre, and this fiscal year, the target is for the establishment of five more centres across the island.
“Big things are happening in our small business sector, and we are determined to make even bigger things happen,” Shaw said.
The minister pointed out that the micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) sector, which is associated with the SBDC model, is a major catalyst in any effort to induce inclusive growth, social development and job creation.
He said the sector is indispensable to achieving broad-based and inclusive growth and that it is critical to the transformational growth envisioned for other sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing, agriculture, logistics, offshore services and tourism.
Shaw said that during the financial year 2018/2019, there were several developments, citing the MSME and Entrepreneurship Policy and Five-Year Implementation Plan that was tabled in Parliament as a White Paper in July 2018.
He argued that this is the most comprehensive, coherent and coordinated framework for addressing the policy issues facing the sector, as well as providing an outline for targeted support to the sector to expand its contribution to socio-economic development.
—JIS
