Government prioritizing 20 per cent procurement spend for small businesses

Government is placing priority on ensuring that Jamaica’s small businesses will benefit from 20 per cent share of the Government’s procurement spend this year.
Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green, who made the disclosure noted that the process started late last year and will be increased this year.
“For a very long time our small businesses have advocated that the government should use some of the resources that it puts into procurement to help drive and grow small businesses. The passage of the Government’s Public Procurement Guidelines will ensure that 20 per cent goes directly to small businesses,” he said.
“It has been carved out and reserved for our business sector…if we direct our government spend into our small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) then they will grow,” Mr. Green added.
He was speaking at the launch of Moody’s Small and Medium-sized Enterprises lending masterclass workshop, which was organised by the Business Works Collective in collaboration with the Ministry’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Division and held at the Ministry’s St. Lucia offices in New Kingston on January 15.
The estimated value of the Government of Jamaica procurement spend in 2014 stood at $59billion for goods and services.
Meanwhile, Mr. Green also informed that focus will be placed on “ramping up our training systems and capacity building mechanisms to have more reach” to develop SMEs especially in rural areas of the country.
The State Minister is expecting to partner with experts in furtherance of the training sessions.
In her remarks, Principal Management Consultant at the Business Collective, Andrea Livingston-Prince, said the overarching aim of the workshop is to assist in the advancement of SMEs as well as to “raise the bar on how we design enduring loans and loans that fit within the business sector”.
“Coming out of the workshop, we expect to have many businesses having better loans, loans that fit and that will last. This will enable good returns for the bank and the SMEs. You cannot grow without working capital,” she said.