INDUSTRY leaders are encouraging Jamaican manufacturers to form strategic alliances with regional players to enhance their competitiveness in the global market.

During the JMEA’s Manufacturing 360 Conference on Wednesday, Richard Pandohie, CEO of Seprod Limited, emphasised the importance of collaborations during a panel discussion on the future of Jamaica’s manufacturing sector. While acknowledging that Jamaica cannot compete on costs, Pandohie highlighted the country’s strategic geographical location as a key strength.

“Our strategic location, alliances, and serving the rest of the world are crucial. Being Jamaican is wonderful, but being Jamaican in and of itself is not enough. We need to find strategic alliances to take us to the next level,” he stressed.

Pandohie cited examples such as Campari Group and its J Wray & Nephew subsidiary, which have profitable markets in Jamaica. He also suggested that manufacturers should view regional peers as collaborators rather than competitors, to gain a competitive edge on a global scale.

Pandohie quickly noted Guyana as a nation Jamaica could collaborate with as a transshipment hub. Guyana is planning to build a highway to Brazil to ship goods to its port, which Pandohie says could be enhanced by a partnership with Jamaica, given the country’s strategic location.

“The seventh-largest harbour point in the world is in Kingston,” he said. “With a logistic centre in Jamaica that can serve the rest of the region, we have an amazing story to tell, and we don’t have to compete negatively with the rest of the region. By embracing them more, we can use all this footprint that we have and turn that complexity for other people into a competitive advantage that creates value for us 16 little countries.”

Pandohie pointed out that while the country has started to reduce its debt as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP), debt reduction by itself doesn’t enhance growth. He now wants to see measures in place to realise the potential growth.

“The fact that we’re a small economy means you’re not really generating wealth by serving a small economy. We have to basically understand that. For us, we have to define our domestic market first and foremost as a Caricom market. That has to be our minimum,” he said.

He believes that Jamaica must embrace the Caricom single market and economy, instead of only focusing on the diaspora market.

While previous conversations at the conference focused on addressing the skills gap and leveraging digitisation, robotics, and AI, Pandohie emphasised the need for a steady path to achieve these goals, which must involve building expertise and export-oriented capabilities.

However, before Jamaica can think regionally, he said the country must first understand that generating wealth requires significant productivity improvement, stressing that competitiveness cannot be achieved without productivity.

“In the past, we relied on low-cost labour, but that landscape has changed. Jamaica no longer has low-cost labour, and our low productivity levels are now reflected in high labour costs,” he emphasised.

But in order for Jamaica to achieve higher productivity levels, he said close collaboration between the Government and the private sector is needed.