Saying the issue was as fundamental as their survival, a group of micro and small businesses has collected close to 1,000 signatures on a petition handed to Prime Minister (PM) Bruce Golding pleading for support of the sector.
The MSME Alliance’s list of concerns runs the gamut of the expensive cost of doing business, and how to mitigate impact on companies’ bottom line.
Its list was mostly skewed towards access to credit and taming energy overheads, including a proposal to implement an energy subsidy financed from dividend payments to the Government on its one-fifth equity stake in the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS).
The proposal goes even further to suggest that Jamaica “assume ownership of transmission lines”, which are currently the property of the JPS. The utility is owned 40 per cent by Marubeni of Japan, 40 per cent by Taqa of the United Arab Emirates, 19.9 per cent by the Government of Jamaica through the accountant general and the Development Bank of Jamaica, while 0.1 per cent is held by individuals.
But the group is also seeking more duty concessions, the establishment of an agency that can sell “collateral cover” to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and a more palatable credit policy that makes it easier for them to access investment capital.
The alliance – whose membership covers 35 business associations that represent some 300,000 businesses – staged a mock funeral for businesses in the MSME sector in August, which it dubbed ‘Bawl Out’, to bring public attention to the concerns.
list of concerns
From that event, and subsequent feedback from businesses, it has put together a 10-point list of concerns, which the group has asked Golding to give some consideration to before returning to the public-private sector Partnership for Transformation Talks.
They met with the PM on September 2, according to a release from the group.
“These signatures represent only a small fraction of the support we have received since our Bawl Out in Portmore Pines,” said Anthony Charley, first vice-president of the MSME Alliance.
“Our members are fighting for survival and we will continue to bawl out until we feel the support from the Government.”
The 10-point list, including sub-points – dubbed by the alliance as a large-scale national risk-management programme for MSMEs