Ten women-owned businesses have benefitted from capacity-building and financial assistance during the last financial year, with the help of the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, and with support from United Nations Women.

The assistance was provided under the Commerce Ministry’s Women Entrepreneurship Support (WES) Project.

State Minister for Industry, Investment and Commerce, Dr Norman Dunn, said the assistance that was provided was out of a recognition that a “significant proportion of our Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) are headed or managed by females”

“And we are moving to address the longstanding and unique challenges faced by women-owned businesses in Jamaica,” Dunn added.

He was speaking recently as he made his contribution to the 2022/23 Sectoral Debate in Gordon House.

The minister recognised two of the MSMEs that have benefitted from the collaboration with the JBDC – Joni Bale Morgan of Morgan’s Creek, and Carl Sharpe of Chocollor. The two are graduates of the JBDC’s Accelerator Programme, a six-month intensive development programme jointly funded by the JBDC and the Development Bank of Jamaica.

“Both are relatively new business owners; a young female entrepreneur and a retired engineer whose businesses have grown beyond their own expectations with the assistance of the JBDC despite the challenging economic conditions of the last two years and who exhibit the talent, innovation and resilience of our Jamaican people,” said Dunn.