JAMAICA researchers for the production and publication of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2021 Jamaica Report have received $7.5 million in sponsorship from the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) and the Joan Duncan Trust in support of the project being undertaken by the University of Technology (UTech).

GEM hosts the world’s largest-standing study of global entrepreneurial activity and highlights emerging trends in economies. The GEM research consortium has been measuring entrepreneurial activity across the world in a comparable way since 1998.

Jamaica is one of 50 economies participating in the 2021 GEM survey. The survey component of the study was conducted in Jamaica over the past several months.

The contribution from the DBJ totaled $5 million while the Joan Duncan Trust provided sponsorship of $2.5 million. UTech, Jamaica has been participating in the annual Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research project for Jamaica since 2005, through researchers in its College of Business and Management.

Speaking at a ceremony hosted by the University at the Technology Innovation Centre, Joan Duncan School of Entrepreneurship, Ethics and Leadership, Papine Campus, Professor Colin Gyles, acting president, UTech, Jamaica remarked that since 2005 the annual GEM Jamaica country reports produced by UTech, Jamaica have been “a useful reference in efforts aimed at enhancing the level of entrepreneurial activity in our country”, adding that the “GEM Jamaica reports have also been beneficial to academics and to entrepreneurs themselves in providing them with sound knowledge on making investment decisions about their entrepreneurial ventures”.

Dr Andrea Sutherland, dean of the College of Business and Management, in her remarks reiterated the significance of research and having access to data-driven information for making informed decisions.

Kim Mair, CEO of JMMB Joan Duncan Foundation and who represented the Joan Duncan Trust, said “The Joan Duncan Trust is proud to partner with University of Technology, Jamaica in supporting the execution of the 2021 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research project for Jamaica. … The Joan Duncan Trust understands that entrepreneurs are critical to the long-term health of our economy as they assist in bringing innovation to market, expanding human welfare, and building the communities in which they operate. It is our responsibility to form these partnerships as links in the wider chain of society, and to play our part in supporting the recovery and growth of Jamaica, the region and the world.”

The team of researchers in the College of Business and Management who have been undertaking various aspects of the GEM, Jamaica research study are : Dr Andrea Sutherland, dean; Dr Gaunette Sinclair-Maragh, associate professor, Research and Graduate Studies; Nigel Cooper, head, Joan Duncan School of Entrepreneurship, Ethics and Leadership; and lecturers Orville Brown, and Erica Wynter- Donaldson.