A recent partnership forged with the Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ) to create additional operating spaces for micro, small, and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs) has been widely embraced by the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) as a ‘win’ for its members.

The partnership, which comes as an expansion of business support services to the sector, is to see the development of several community micro business parks (CMBP) across the island designed to create more cost-effective spaces for operation.

Business parks have emerged as a global solution to the challenge of space for small business operation. The concept includes a cluster of buildings that house multiple businesses, often sharing various amenities and services. Apart from providing a conducive environment for operations, these parks also promote sustainability and are said to be more cost-effective than traditional spaces.

“For us, it is a mutually beneficial partnership, and certainly we are excited about the prospects of having parks or spaces that are focused around MSMEs…that is very important for us. Among the many challenges for small businesses are those to find appropriate and affordable factory spaces for operation. The setting up of these industrial parks is, therefore, a win for our MSMEs, and with JBDC on board to provide that level of support, before, during, or after occupancy, it becomes even more important,” deputy CEO of the JBDC Harold Davis told the Jamaica Observer.

Elaborating on the nature of this ‘win’, Davis said the developmental mandate of both entities sees FCJ through this partnership far exceeding its role of being just a landlord. As an agency of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, the entity’s mandate is to provide spaces for agro-processing, business process outsourcing, manufacturing, and warehousing.

“It’s a win-win all round. For FCJ, they get to do proper development from having more reliable tenants, and for MSMEs, they now have a space to do better business and to grow and scale up their operations. As for JBDC, we get the opportunity to meet our mandate, which is to facilitate and support the growth and development of the sector,” Davis further said to the
Business Observer while touting the arrangements as a type of quid pro quo from which all parties stand to benefit.

Chairman of FCJ, Lyttleton Shirley, while speaking at the recent signing ceremony, said that CMBPs will help to alleviate the high operational expenses that MSMEs face.

“These parks are almost a replica of an urban centre and we are looking on the needs and best fits of small businesses. This is a turn-key approach for small business, where we give them the space, we borrow the money for them to equip it, then prorate the cost of the equipment in the rental over a longer period of time as we give them what one could consider a moratorium period before repaying,” he said.

The provision of space for MSME development, which has been a long-standing partnership between the FCJ and the JBDC, sees both organisations already having a 25-year rent agreement, under which the FCJ provides facilities for JBDC’s Incubator and Resource Centre (IRC) located along Marcus Garvey Drive in Kingston. The IRC, which currently houses some four incubators, provides technical support in product development for local manufacturers as well as production equipment and shared spaces for agro-processing, fashion, craft, and essential oils.

The latest move, which comes as sort of a second phase to previous arrangements, Davis said, already sees the JBDC operating in a similar yet different capacity from a cluster of small business development centres (SBDC) scattered islandwide.

“We say we are national network brokers, so we network with private and public sector to bring the resources to MSMEs. The concept of the CMBP is an excellent one and JBDC will focus on the delivery of services that gives MSMEs a chance at success,” JBDC CEO Valerie Veira said.