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Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Karl Samuda, has said that business incubators will be developed, as part of the strategy to reduce business failure among start-up businesses.
Opening the 2008/09 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representative on May 13, Mr. Samuda said that the business incubators were of utmost importance, since as much as 80 per cent of start-up businesses fail in the first few years.
"A typical business incubator provides physical accommodation and varying degrees of common services, such as: front desk services, including telephone operator, receptionist, security, insurance, training, bulk purchases, sales and marketing, legal services, making statutory returns, accounting, and auditing facilities," he explained.
He pointed out that the start-up business therefore, would receive an infusion of high quality business development services, which include technical assistance, training, marketing, management support and hand-holding.
In addition, projects known as the Incubator and Community Production Enterprises Project would also be established to support, business incubators and community production enterprises. Incubators may be either publicly or privately owned and would be an important aspect of the strategy to support the small business sector.
The Minister informed that businesses would remain for one to two years in the incubator and would then be 'weaned', after which they would establish operations outside the incubator. He further stated that because of the continuous training and technical support, the businesses would become stronger and less likely to fail thereafter.
Mr. Samuda pointed out that for the current financial year, three public business incubators would be established. These are: the Jamaica Business Development Centre (JBDC) incubator, the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) incubator and the Scientific Research Council (SRC) incubator.
The responsibility of the JBDC incubator would be to provide a suite of services to both physical and virtual tenants, initially focusing on five industries: fashion; food processing; gift and craft; information technology; and music. It is expected that this incubator will assist approximately 20 resident businesses and 200 virtual businesses in the first year.
The BSJ incubator will focus on light manufacturing involving wood and metal products and will receive technical support to facilitate compliance with standard requirements for production, packaging, and labelling; and the SRC incubator will focus on foods and agro-processing.
"I believe in manufacturing and my strategy is to use business incubators to spawn start-up businesses, especially in manufacturing, which will be strong and able to compete. As you see, each incubator will be focusing on a particular area," the Minister said.
He urged the Boards of the three public sector institutions to compete and graduate businesses that are fit and internationally competitive, as he would be taking a keen interest in the graduates of these incubators.
Opening the 2008/09 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representative on May 13, Mr. Samuda said that the business incubators were of utmost importance, since as much as 80 per cent of start-up businesses fail in the first few years.
"A typical business incubator provides physical accommodation and varying degrees of common services, such as: front desk services, including telephone operator, receptionist, security, insurance, training, bulk purchases, sales and marketing, legal services, making statutory returns, accounting, and auditing facilities," he explained.
He pointed out that the start-up business therefore, would receive an infusion of high quality business development services, which include technical assistance, training, marketing, management support and hand-holding.
In addition, projects known as the Incubator and Community Production Enterprises Project would also be established to support, business incubators and community production enterprises. Incubators may be either publicly or privately owned and would be an important aspect of the strategy to support the small business sector.
The Minister informed that businesses would remain for one to two years in the incubator and would then be 'weaned', after which they would establish operations outside the incubator. He further stated that because of the continuous training and technical support, the businesses would become stronger and less likely to fail thereafter.
Mr. Samuda pointed out that for the current financial year, three public business incubators would be established. These are: the Jamaica Business Development Centre (JBDC) incubator, the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) incubator and the Scientific Research Council (SRC) incubator.
The responsibility of the JBDC incubator would be to provide a suite of services to both physical and virtual tenants, initially focusing on five industries: fashion; food processing; gift and craft; information technology; and music. It is expected that this incubator will assist approximately 20 resident businesses and 200 virtual businesses in the first year.
The BSJ incubator will focus on light manufacturing involving wood and metal products and will receive technical support to facilitate compliance with standard requirements for production, packaging, and labelling; and the SRC incubator will focus on foods and agro-processing.
"I believe in manufacturing and my strategy is to use business incubators to spawn start-up businesses, especially in manufacturing, which will be strong and able to compete. As you see, each incubator will be focusing on a particular area," the Minister said.
He urged the Boards of the three public sector institutions to compete and graduate businesses that are fit and internationally competitive, as he would be taking a keen interest in the graduates of these incubators.