The Jamaica Business Fund (JBF) has been established under the Government of Jamaica and the World Bank’s Foundation for Competitiveness and Growth Project (FCGP), to provide support financial support to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) working with a lead (Anchor) firm in a supply chain, to implement projects that will make the supply chains more competitive. It is expected that these projects will produce outcomes that benefit the Jamaican economy such as increased production, sales, employment, and foreign exchange earnings.
The JBF successfully launched its first Call for Concept Notes in August, 2016 and following the evaluation of full applications from Anchor firms, four supply chain projects were selected for grant support. We now feature two firms that have signed grant agreements in February, 2017 at the offices of the Jamaica Business Fund; Perishables Jamaica Limited and Jamaica Standard Products.
The Perishables Jamaica Limited (PJL) supply chain project requested support for the resuscitation of the Jamaican Ginger industry, and the Jamaica Standard Products (JSP), for targeting the improvement in Coffee bean quality and supply in its SME supply chain of farmers. These projects are aimed at realizing the economic objectives of the FCGP that will see growth to the respective agriculture sub-sectors. These agreements were recently signed at the offices of the Jamaica Business Fund.