Seven SMEs nominated for NCB Nation Builder Awards

Seven small and medium-size enterprises have been nominated for four National Commercial Bank (NCB) Nation Builder Awards.

The seven are Bookophilia (which was nominated twice), Fiction Lounge Jamaica, Wynlee Distributors, Jakes Holdings Ltd, Jennifer Samuda of Jencare Skin Care, Denese Palmer of Southside Distributors Ltd, and SEAL Sprayed Solutions Ltd.

The NCB Nation Builder's Award highlights and rewards outstanding entrepreneurial performance and sound operational practices. It also emphasises SMEs' contribution to community development.

Bookophilia, a bookstore and café, has been nominated for the NCB Start-up Award, and NCB Innovation Award. Fiction Lounge Jamaica, a Corporate Area entertainment nightspot, has also been nominated for the NCB Start-up Award, which is made to one of the bank's customers who has been in business for between one and three years and meets the other criteria established for the awards.

SEAL Sprayed Solutions Ltd, a firm which specialises in waterproofing and insulating buildings and various other structures has also been nominated in the Innovation Award category. This category recognises NCB business customers who have used technology to create a new product or a new market to gain competitive advantage.

Wynlee Distributors, a marketer and distributor of consumer products to Jamaica's wholesale and retail trade, and Jakes Holdings Ltd, a company which has a collection of villas, cottages, and bungalows in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth, have been nominated for the NCB Nation Builder Award.

Those eligible for this award have to have been in operation for three or more years.

Women in Business award

Jennifer Samuda of Jencare Skin Care Farm Company and Denese Palmer of Southside Distributors Ltd have been nominated for the Women in Business Award.

Samuda's firm formulates a wide range of products for several international companies and exports its own brand to the wider Caribbean, North America, and Europe. Denese Palmer's company, which is based in St Elizabeth, manufactures and distributes products that range from ketchup and canned foods to bag juices and syrups.

The Nation Builder Awards function will take place on October 19. Bernadette Barrow, assistant general manager in charge of the SME unit, in a release said the nominees had come from both traditional and non-traditional business segments and had spanned the hospitality and entertainment industries, education and literacy, the distributive sector, and health and beauty.