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Innovate To Create - Azan Urges Government To Rethink Path To Job Development In Jamaica
Published: Friday | January 7, 20110
Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer
Increasing access to capital, overhauling existing tax structures and simplifying a frustrating bureaucratic system were among a range of proposals catalogued by well-known businessman Gassan Azan yesterday to spur job creation and stimulate economic growth.
Azan is also suggesting that the Government take a fresh look at the curricula of the University of the West Indies and the University of Technology, which are both heavily subsidised by local taxpayers.
The businessman said adjustments were necessary to erase what he believes to be a raft of unnecessary duplications at both institutions.
He called for innovative programmes at the tertiary institutions to chart a new training path suitable to Jamaica's developmental needs.
In a candid presentation to receptive Rotarians, Azan, a prominent member of the local business sector, hauled successive administrations over the coals for what he characterised as their failure to inspire economic growth over the past four decades.
"It is my view that we retard our own progress by packaging our economic failures into convenient political time frames," he declared in a straight-talking address to the Rotary Club of Kingston during a luncheon at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston yesterday.
Elusive objectives
Azan asserted that the elusive twin objectives of economic growth and job creation could be achieved with the requisite political will.
"The truth is that under governments formed by both our main political parties, we have had flat or negative growth," argued the man responsible for the popular Bashco and MegaMart chains, as well as the recently launched Sweet Tings Bakery in downtown Kingston.
"Government will have to choose between maintaining its present tax strategies and widening the tax net since it is patently clear that jobs can hardly be created or sustained at the present levels of taxation on those inside the net," Azan warned.
He called for an easing of taxes on new businesses, as well as fixed-income earners.
"The creation of new employment opportunities is directly related to the availability of disposable income to buy goods and services produced by the economy," argued Azan.
He complained that sustained burdens are loaded on the sagging shoulders of earners of fixed incomes, leaving many households with just enough to pay utilities and purchase food.
"Increasingly, education is being funded by loans and only when there are massive discounts are families able to buy other goods and services," he lamented.
"This level of expenditure cannot keep businesses open, much more create new jobs."
He said new entities cannot be expected to fork out big bucks in taxes in their first years of existence before realising a profit.
To make matters worse, Azan said businesses were encountering obstacles created by red tape at every turn.
"The plethora of agencies, approval processes and downright obstacles that face anyone trying to start a business, to create jobs, is just too much," he charged.
"The same culture of red tape has been adopted by banks and other financial institutions, making it extremely difficult for entrepreneurs to access capital."
Azan declared that even when the Government makes funding available, many would-be recipients are turned off by all the running around that has to be done.
gary.spaulding@
Published: Friday | January 7, 20110
Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer
Increasing access to capital, overhauling existing tax structures and simplifying a frustrating bureaucratic system were among a range of proposals catalogued by well-known businessman Gassan Azan yesterday to spur job creation and stimulate economic growth.
Azan is also suggesting that the Government take a fresh look at the curricula of the University of the West Indies and the University of Technology, which are both heavily subsidised by local taxpayers.
The businessman said adjustments were necessary to erase what he believes to be a raft of unnecessary duplications at both institutions.
He called for innovative programmes at the tertiary institutions to chart a new training path suitable to Jamaica's developmental needs.
In a candid presentation to receptive Rotarians, Azan, a prominent member of the local business sector, hauled successive administrations over the coals for what he characterised as their failure to inspire economic growth over the past four decades.
"It is my view that we retard our own progress by packaging our economic failures into convenient political time frames," he declared in a straight-talking address to the Rotary Club of Kingston during a luncheon at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston yesterday.
Elusive objectives
Azan asserted that the elusive twin objectives of economic growth and job creation could be achieved with the requisite political will.
"The truth is that under governments formed by both our main political parties, we have had flat or negative growth," argued the man responsible for the popular Bashco and MegaMart chains, as well as the recently launched Sweet Tings Bakery in downtown Kingston.
"Government will have to choose between maintaining its present tax strategies and widening the tax net since it is patently clear that jobs can hardly be created or sustained at the present levels of taxation on those inside the net," Azan warned.
He called for an easing of taxes on new businesses, as well as fixed-income earners.
"The creation of new employment opportunities is directly related to the availability of disposable income to buy goods and services produced by the economy," argued Azan.
He complained that sustained burdens are loaded on the sagging shoulders of earners of fixed incomes, leaving many households with just enough to pay utilities and purchase food.
"Increasingly, education is being funded by loans and only when there are massive discounts are families able to buy other goods and services," he lamented.
"This level of expenditure cannot keep businesses open, much more create new jobs."
He said new entities cannot be expected to fork out big bucks in taxes in their first years of existence before realising a profit.
To make matters worse, Azan said businesses were encountering obstacles created by red tape at every turn.
"The plethora of agencies, approval processes and downright obstacles that face anyone trying to start a business, to create jobs, is just too much," he charged.
"The same culture of red tape has been adopted by banks and other financial institutions, making it extremely difficult for entrepreneurs to access capital."
Azan declared that even when the Government makes funding available, many would-be recipients are turned off by all the running around that has to be done.
gary.spaulding@
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