KINGSTON, Jamaica – The MSME Business Roadshow is making waves across the country, bringing together entrepreneurs, industry experts, government officials, and other stakeholders to enhance the sector’s contribution to economic growth and development.

Organised by the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, the roadshow initiative, launched in 2023, serves as a one-stop shop for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) to access all the necessary information, support and services they need to operate and grow their businesses.

Being held through support from the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB) and with partnership from key public and private-sector partners, the series of events seek to enable MSMEs to expand their market reach; promote collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship; and drive economic growth.

They provide a platform for entities to showcase their products and services, facilitate business-to-business and business-to-government networking opportunities; connect with potential buyers; offer training and capacity-building programmes; and encourage job creation.

Each event features a range of activities, including exhibitions, training workshops and seminars in areas such as marketing, finance, and export readiness, and business-to- business meetings.

They include thought-provoking discussions on key issues affecting entities such as access to financing, technology adoption, and market access.

“The roadshow allows me to interact with other agencies that I have not been introduced to before,” Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Honeylicious Jamaica Limited, Nadia Johnson, tells JIS News.

“Sometimes, you don’t get to go in to the individual agencies, so you don’t know what is out there. When they are all in one location, you are able to visit and get more information,” she notes further.

Johnson, who participated in the first roadshow for the year held on January 16 at the Twickenham Park Church of the Open Bible in St Catherine, tells JIS News that the event provided valuable information and exposure for her small business, which creates honey-based products – liquid honey, honey soaps.

The company is now venturing into expanding its product line to include flavoured honey, as well as honey-infused cosmetics.

She is encouraging other entrepreneurs to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the MSME Business Roadshow.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Smith’s Rum Cream, Donald Smith, who also attended the roadshow at the Twickenham Park Church of the Open Bible, tells JIS News the event was helpful in connecting merchants with buyers.

“It opens opportunities to communicate with various companies, which, outside of this event perhaps it would be more difficult to connect with,” he says.

Smith’s Rum Cream is a premium Jamaican beverage that combines the richness of Jamaican rum with lactose-free cream. This beverage is available in four flavours –

vanilla, coffee, original, and butterscotch.

In addition to showcasing traditional industries, this year, the business roadshow is placing increased focus on connecting information technology (IT) providers with other MSMEs to promote innovation in their business operations.

CEO of IT consultation agency, CompConn, O’Rane Gray, says the objective is to equip entities to use technology to scale their businesses and increase sales.

“Leveraging technology is not as difficult as you think… .  It is a very easy solution for them to implement in their businesses… to bridge that digital divide that is holding some MSMEs back,” he points out.

More than 1,200 MSMEs have participated in the MSME Business Roadshow, to date.

Business operators who attend the events can win cash grants to improve their operations by participating in a business pitch competition.

For this year, 10 winners will be awarded grants of $400,000 each.

Main sponsor, IDB, is providing $7 million towards funding the roadshow events.

The Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) is supporting the business pitch competition, with an initial sum of $1.5 million already provided.

The roadshow stopped at the JUICI Empowerment Centre in Clarendon on February 20 and will travel to the St Elizabeth Technical High School in Santa Cruz, on March 6.

As the business roadshow continues to travel across the country, it is expected to make a significant impact on the MSME sector, contributing to the country’s economic growth and development.

–         JIS