THE Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) recently launched a new online learning platform aimed at expanding business training opportunities for micro, small and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs) across Jamaica.

The platform, JBDC Biz Wiz, was officially unveiled during an event held at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel on March 5, 2026. It was designed to build on the more than 3,200 MSMEs trained by the agency during the 2024/25 fiscal year, and to make entrepreneurial education more accessible islandwide.

According to JBDC’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Harold Davis, the initiative provides entrepreneurs with structured courses covering key areas such as product development, marketing, financial management and digital transformation — skills he believes many individuals enter the business arena without.

Three of the courses — Fundamentals of Business, Starting a Business, and Managing a Business — focus on general business operations and target entrepreneurs at different stages of development. Four additional courses concentrate on digital technologies: How to Digitise Your Business, How to Digitalise Your Business, How to Digitally Transform Your Business, and Introduction to E-Commerce.

“One of the greatest contributors to early business failure is not a lack of talent or creativity; it’s a lack of entrepreneurial education, particularly in areas such as digital literacy, digital management, costing, marketing and operational systems,” Davis said.

He explained that the seven courses were designed to guide learners along a continuum — from basic business knowledge to advanced digital transformation — with the strategic objective of fostering technological adoption, innovation and entrepreneurship among MSMEs.

Davis noted that the JBDC, after conducting about 185 training sessions during the last fiscal year, said field evidence continues to show that the absence of practical entrepreneurial education remains one of the major contributors to early business failure.

Data collected by the agency pointed to significant gaps in digital transformation among MSMEs, with findings suggesting that while 32.4 per cent of respondents regularly use digital technologies and understand their benefits, 16.7 per cent remain unaware of their advantages while 26.5 per cent have only limited awareness.

The Biz Wiz platform was therefore developed to help close these gaps by allowing entrepreneurs to complete training online and at their own pace.

“It is an online platform that allows persons to learn at their own pace, in their own time,” Davis said as he noted that the digital format delivers the same practical knowledge entrepreneurs would typically receive in a classroom setting.

The platform, emerging as a key outcome of the Accelerating MSMEs Growth through Innovation & Technology project being implemented by the JBDC, was made possible with funding support from the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce (MIIC), the Organisation of American States (OAS), and the European Union (EU).

Speaking at the launch, OAS Resident Representative Jeanelle van GlaanenWeygel said the tool will help broaden access to entrepreneurship training throughout Jamaica.

“The platform represents a transition towards sustainable, on-demand, technical training. It ensures that Jamaican start-ups and small businesses have the resources they need to thrive in a digital-first economy,” she said.

The initiative also builds on the Digital Jamaica Project, funded by the EU and the Government of Jamaica, which has supported the JBDC in training thousands of MSMEs to digitally transform their business operations.

Deputy head of cooperation at the Delegation of the European Union to Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, Koenraad Burie said the EU is proud to support the initiative.

“MSMEs are the powerhouse of any sustainable economy which cannot just rely on big companies. This platform is a powerhouse, and we are very proud to support this effort and to foster digital literacy,” he said.

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Aubyn Hill, emphasising the importance of equipping Jamaican businesses to compete in expanding global markets at the launch, said the platform is poised to become a critical tool in strengthening Jamaica’s economic competitiveness.

“If global markets expand but our companies are not prepared with increasing productivity results, opportunities will pass us by,” Hill said.

The JBDC, lauding the initiative as another step forward, said it will ensure that entrepreneurs have the knowledge and tools needed to build sustainable enterprises. To encourage participation, the agency said courses are now being offered free to the public during an introductory period, set to end on March 31, 2026.

Maurine Hamilton, founder of Weh Yah Seh Publishing Ltd, is ready to start the Fundamentals Of Business course on the JBDC Biz Wiz platform.

Harold Davis (right), acting CEO at JBDC, discusses the platfrom with Minister of Industry, Investment & Commerce Aubyn Hill and Dr Nadine Spence, JBDC board chair, following the launch.