BUSY entrepreneurs in the grocery retail trade may not often get to carve out time for professional development courses. This is one of the reasons the Coca-Cola Foundation, The Coca-Cola Company, Wisynco Group Ltd, and FUNDES have made it easy and convenient for thousands of entrepreneurs to access training through the Growing Together Small Business Training digital course.

The course can be completed in 90 minutes and delivers practical, focused lessons covering financial health — advanced techniques for cash flow management and budgeting; business operations — strategies to optimise daily management and efficiency; and digitisation — leveraging technology to expand market reach and engagement.

It is available at no cost to owners and employees of micro, small and medium enterprises in the food and beverage stores sub-sector. All that is required for access is registration at the website, growingtogethercaribbean.org. The programme can also be completed via live participation webinars.

“With the trade continually evolving, our focus is on keeping small business owners abreast of change, while equipping them to operate more efficiently and within a structure that strengthens their operations,” said Chantellee McDonald, senior brand manager, Coca-Cola portfolio.

Almost 2000 participants in Jamaica have completed the Growing Together Programme since 2023. Participants have found the course to be flexible and user-centric, given the use of short instructional videos, dedicated support via WhatsApp, and on-demand access. Upon successful completion of the curriculum, business owners are awarded a certificate of completion, while also having the possibility of earning exclusive incentives.

Entrepreneur Ceyon Baugh was in the first cohort of the Growing Together course and found the modules relevant and impactful. “With my small-scale business, I did not have a structured business model; however, after completing the course, I began sending my customers receipts, recording my income and expenses with an accounting app, and employing online payment methods which before, I would not have seen myself using,” he said.

Offered across the Caribbean and Latin America since 2023, Growing Together is available in English, Spanish and Mandarin languages. It will be open to Jamaicans until December 2026.