EIGHT small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are on track to improve their business plans and attain profitability through The Honey Bun Foundation’s Advisory Committee.

The committee will arrange for the SMEs to work closely with specially selected expert advisors for 12 months, going over various aspects of their business and strategic road maps.

According to The Honey Bun Foundation’s General Manager Nashauna Lalah the advisory committee is the third model for SMEs created by the foundation which was launched in November 2019.

The foundation has also created a National Training Calendar and launched an innovative digital business diagnostic tool called the GAPP APP.

Speaking to its advisory committee model Lalah said, “We completed a six-month pilot with 10 SMEs in 2021. It worked exceptionally well in helping them better structure their business and having a strategic plan in place, with one SME achieving a 30 per cent increase in revenue over that period.

“We have documented it thoroughly — what works and what doesn’t — and we are confident that at the end of this year we will see tremendous growth for these companies we are currently working with.”

Each SME is assigned three advisors who they will work with, in most cases monthly. The advisors are from various sectors and industries and are all accomplished experts in different fields.

The advisors will be working with these SMEs to achieve a predetermined objective the companies laid out in their strategic road map as well as a profit and loss statement, both on templates designed by the foundation.

The current cohort of SMEs include Sheville Naturals, Puck r up Cosmetics, Adlib Studio, Coaching for Optimal Performance & Empowerment (COPE) Ltd, A Taste of the Caribbean, Dawson Trading, Shiloah Beehive, and Omgrown.

The advisors, whom the foundation has dubbed nation builders, include Richard Coe, managing director Fleetwood Jamaica Limited; Michelle Chong, CEO Honey Bun Ltd; Robert Scott, general manager Lifespan Co Ltd; and Sydney Thwaites, CEO Lubricating Specialties Company Jamaica.