MICRO, small & medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) within Wisynco’s database are getting support to boast their revenues and profits with the Wisynco and Coca-Cola Growing Together Learning Initiative. It’s part of a bigger initiative by Coca-Cola to promote economic empowerment in the Caribbean Community (Caricom).

“The training programme is a four-module, 13-topic online course geared toward the training and development of MSMEs,” said Chantellee McDonald, Coco-Cola brand manager, during the launch at the Wisynco headquarters in Lakes Pen, St Catherine, on Thursday.

She revealed that the programme was designed by Fundes Latinoamérica, that specialises in the development of MSMEs and their successful integration into the value chain of the large corporations. “They play an integral role in the implementation, tutoring, and management of the programme in Jamaica,” McDonald revealed.

Customers can complete the programme in a 90-minute setting, or they can start and return to the programme at their convenience. The platform has been open since August and will continue until February 2024. “By then, we hope to have had more than 1,000 customers graduate from the programme,” said McDonald optimistically.

She also revealed that there’s no limit to the number of customers who can participate. Customers can access the platform via QR code or a link to the website which can be found on the Growing Together Instagram page. The modules cover inclusion and growth, managing your business, digitalisation of your business and financial health. Webinars to support the programme will also be offered.

“The example that Wisynco is setting here today is critical, I think the example of a large company, a successful company, a manufacturer, an exporter, a distributor, you have vertically integrated, and you have this constellation of suppliers around you. If we could get several large companies successful like Wisynco to develop their own clusters and value chains around them, we could really change exports in this country,” commended Diane Edwards, director of the Mona School of Business & Management (MSBM), during her presentation at the launch.

Director of marketing and development at Wisynco, Francois Chalifour, explained to the Caribbean Business Report that the mission of Wisynco is to improve the lives of Jamaicans, and the initiative is another way to achieve that goal by providing tools and education to its customers, especially the smaller mom and pop shop owners who might not have had the opportunity to get formal business training. “This particular initiative around educating our customers will continue, this is just the phase that had to have a beginning and an end and some measurements, yet we intend to continue, and it may not have as much hoopla in the future yet, but it will definitely be a part of our programme to reach out to our customers to help them do what they do and help them also do what we do,” Chalifour told the Caribbean Business Report.

Wisynco currently has over 10,000 micro-enterprises within its database, and they are being encouraged to participate in the programme. Coca-Cola has so far made joint efforts with companies in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Barbados.