Jampro wants more entrepreneurs to knock on its doors
Published:Wednesday | January 1, 2020 | 12:05 AM
President of the Jamaica Promotions Corporation ( Jampro), Diane Edwards wants more Jamaican entreprenuers to capitalise on the government agency’s ability to sell their business to international investors.
J ampro, which brands itself as a trusted partner, has as part of its mandate finding new markets for local entrepreneurs as well as assisting individuals with capacity building. J ampro also serves as link between local companies and international buyers looking to import goods and services from Jamaica.
To date, the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association (JMEA) has a list of 600 exporters, but according to Edwards only about 200 utilise the services offered by the agency.
“What are the other 400 doing? The private sector should be challenging us to help them penetrate new markets and to give them more market intelligence. We just did a study of the key traditional markets and where the new opportunities are. We will be unveiling this shortly but ask us for specific help with your own product,” Edwards told the Financial Gleaner during the launch of Export Max III last month.
The programme will support 48 companies, inclusive of businesses from the creative and cannabis industries. Overall, J ampro focuses on companies in the agribusiness, energy, film, music and animation, global digital services, logistics and infrastructure, manufacturing, tourism and mining sectors.
“Two years ago we did a really successful promotion in the UK with seven cosmetics companies which we took to a retail cosmetics company for women of colour, and we were very successful in getting ‘Your True Shade’ into that market and getting them to have a permanent presence in the UK,” she said.
“Other companies, Ettenio and Irie Rock, also made import contacts during that event. So there are events like that we can stage. So we want more exporters to come to us,” Edwards said.
The J ampro president, however, told the Financial Gleaner that some entrepreneurs continue to shy away from the agency because of the preconceived idea that they won’t be able to compete internationally or manage the cost of exporting.
“Some of it is that they don’t understand the market so the products are not packaged and labelled properly, or don’t have the standard, and some just really don’t know how to go about it, how to find the right importer and how not to waste money. And I’m saying that that’s where J ampro can help you,” Edwards said.