Co-founder of local bag manufacturer Bresheh, Randy McLaren was on the verge of tears when he recalled the overwhelming support he received from the organisers of A Jamaican Made Christmas, the trade show staged by National Baking Company for small businesses.

“It’s been the single most rewarding exhibition, expo experience that we have been a part of as a company. Second is maybe Expo Jamaica, but in terms of sales, in terms of interest and the experience… I remember the first year and I will never forget how we felt in that room. It was like all of us pulling and pushing together. It felt like family; it felt like we are manufacturers and we are seeing this happening. National [Baking Company], they have invested in this. It felt good. I am right here and tears are in my eyes right now,” he told reporters and editors at this week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange at the newspaper’s Beechwood Avenue headquarters in St Andrew.

McLaren was among a group of entrepreneurs who outlined some of the challenges they face, including commercial banks not granting loans to small business that have been in operation for less than two years.

“I feel like I was given the leverage and the investment in all brands directly, because when you are a part of the Jamaican Made Christmas you pay [a commitment fee] upfront but you get that back once you commit and you attend both days; and then everybody who comes in, they get tickets and they get to redeem it at your booth,” he continued.

Lauding National Baking Company for creating a platform for small business owners to showcase their items, he said people on the outside looking in don’t understand the difficulties small business operators experience getting their enterprise off the ground.

He said that National Chairman Gary “Butch” Hendrickson and his team “have done it because they have been through it and know what it is like”.

However, the public in general, he said, “don’t know when you have to bounce National crackers and that’s dinner, and it is breakfast, and it is lunch with tea”.

He thanked National for its investment in small businesses, adding “dem nuh owe we nutten…they have done it and that is what we want to represent for the entire country and sector. We want to see people grow and improve,” he continued.

Hendrickson, who was at the Monday Exchange, said he’s hoping to accommodate approximately 130 exhibitors at this year’s staging of the event scheduled for November 30 to December 1 at the AC Hotel in St Andrew.

He said that in previous years the show was held on Sunday and Monday at Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston because Saturday was unavailable.

“As it turned out, the second day was pretty good. Now, we have decided to go back and try Saturday and Sunday because we have a bigger facility, so we can get people in there more easily. What we want to do is the same thing we set out to do when we started — we try to introduce Jamaicans to Jamaican companies,” the event conceptualiser explained.

Last year’s event attracted more than 3,000 patrons who snapped up a range of items from exhibitors, among them charities such as Mustard Seed Communities, Laws Street Trade Training Centre, Alpha Boys’ Home, Deaf Can! Coffee, and The Step Centre.

The charities receive a waiver on the fee to exhibit.