ROSE HALL, St James — Finding solutions to problems hobbling the business community, when the usual channels prove ineffective, is one of the initiatives that recently elected president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) Jason Russell has on his agenda.

The idea is to have complaints submitted to the MBCCI’s website where, with the use of artificial intelligence, they will be filtered to the best source of help.

“It will digest all of these complaints and once we get them in, we will action them to the necessary agencies,” Russell explained in his first official speech as MBCCI head during Tuesday evening’s launch of this year’s MoBay Night Run.

He insisted that the chamber will have these agencies on “speed dial” and, with strength in numbers, it will be better able to get results than through members lobbying individually.

According to Russell, the initiative is “dear to his heart” as it was the brainchild of his late father Robert ‘Ducksie’ Russell.

“He came up with this idea; it’s a hotline for businesses to call in. If you have a pothole in front of your house, if you have a light that is out, if you have a drain cover that is missing and somebody fell in it yesterday, who do you call?” the chamber president outlined.

“You want to say it’s the municipal corporation but then they kick it back to National Works Agency (NWA) then they kick it back to Urban Development Corporation (UDC); and so the can gets kicked down the road and it becomes a political football a lot of times,” he lamented.

Russell assured that, under his tenure, the MBCCI will be able to help.

“If there is a pothole in front of your house, obviously you don’t know whether it’s an NWA road or a private road, or whether it’s a parochial road. We will know that, and we will work with the municipality and get them fixed if that is required,” he promised.

As chamber president, he also intends to focus on improving members’ prospects by strengthening connections within the hospitality industry.

“I would like to start a B2B [business to business] linkage network for this booming industry called hospitality. Just as every home has an emergency contact on the fridge, the hospitality industry should have the chamber of commerce as the primary point of contact in times of need,” Russell said.

Using the on-going egg shortage as an example, he posited that the chamber should be part of the response mechanism when similar challenges arise. It is an issue that he has previously raised with the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA).

“I realised that the chamber was not top of mind with all the industries that we span and all the members that we have. There was no direct linkage from the JHTA to the Montego Bay Chamber and Industry,” Russell lamented.

“What we would like to do is to cut that down and have a direct link where the hospitality industry can call our office and say, ‘Hey, we are having a problem.’ … In an overall crisis, like a hurricane or so, where do they go to access us as business people, there is nowhere [now],” Russell added.

He also wants the chamber to become a resource through which its members can access information on benefits they may not be accessing because of ignorance.

“We want to do a centralised business resource library, a comprehensive hub where entrepreneurs can easily access information on government agencies, grants and licenses requirements,” stated Russell.

“Whether it’s obtaining a liquor licence, applying for the TPDCo (Tourism Product Development Company) certification or understanding eligibility for incentives such as the omnibus waiver, these are things we can have at the chamber that you can access. There are grants from the Government but most people don’t know about them,” he added.

To ensure that a wider cross section of the business community benefits, Russell made a call for more enterprises — especially the small and micro ones — to join the MBCCI.

“The rising tide floats all boats. Most of these benefits will be dedicated to chamber members and this is my public drive to get all small businesses in Montego Bay to join,” he said.

“I would love to see, in my year, we double the membership and we would also like to double the benefits,” Russell added.

In an example of the collaborative spirit he intends to foster, Russell announced that the MBCCI will sponsor the MoBay Night Run which is scheduled for Jimmy Cliff Boulevard on April 5.