KINGSTON, Jamaica – Some 1,335 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) have so far benefited from the Boosting Innovation Growth and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (BIGEE) programme.

The US$25-million project forms part of the Government’s thrust to support a sustained and robust entrepreneurial ecosystem in Jamaica, thereby boosting the country’s economic growth.

It is financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IBD) and executed by the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ).

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, said since its implementation, the BIGEE programme has invested approximately US$5 million into local MSMEs.

“The programme, since its startup in September 2020, has invested US$4.97 million in the MSME sector and that includes supporting projects, patents and improving the quality of business management, improving their scalability, improving their business processes and… the integration of technology into business,” he said.

The prime minister was addressing Wednesday’s unveiling of the Amber UTech Launchpad at the University of Technology (UTech) campus in Papine, St Andrew.

He said in 2021, based on the performance of the BIGEE programme, the European Union awarded a non-reimbursable grant of US$8.2 million to support the initiative.

“Specifically, its objectives are to promote innovation and productivity among established MSMEs with a high-growth potential, to promote sustainable and disruptive growth in scalable startups and to create a sustainable pipeline of high-growth startups and a strong supporting ecosystem for entrepreneurship,” the prime minister explained.

Holness said the Government will continue to create the enabling environment for the development of businesses in the country.

“We are literally working to create new businesses in Jamaica. There are companies in Jamaica that are doing very well; they are growing. If you talk to businesspeople, there are temporal issues with outlook, but the long-term outlook is that they can invest, and they can expand, but we don’t have enough businesses in Jamaica. We believe that the businesses that we have, they’re great [but] we need to double the number of businesses that we have, and we need to double them in size,” he emphasised.

“What I’m trying to do is to shock the country out of its slumber because there’s still this lag from the ‘90s, and that psychological impact is not just the devastation in business but it is a devastation in the enterprising culture, and we are naturally enterprising people. We have become afraid to fail in business; in other words, the view is we can’t afford to fail in business. So, no one takes any risk and, therefore, there is no innovation and because there is no innovation, there is nothing new,” he said.

Meanwhile, the prime minister said the Government has to take its resources and leverage it with the private sector to build the ecosystem of venture capital.

The Amber UTech Launchpad is a collaborative effort between the Amber Group and the University of Technology, Jamaica.

This initiative is designed to strengthen the growth and development of tech startups within Jamaica, with the objective of nurturing and advancing entrepreneurial ventures.

The Launchpad aims to facilitate the establishment and growth of 100 businesses within a span of 1,000 days.

-JIS