What 50% of local firms say about investing in Jamaica

Like the rest of the world, Jamaica has been hamstrung by the coronavirus pandemic which has restricted the movement of people across the globe and dramatically changing the way how businesses operate.

This has plunged the global economy into a deep recession forcing many businesses to scale down operations while furloughing employees indefinitely.
But a recent review of 100 businesses conducted by the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), revealed majority wanted to invest now in the country.

“Just yesterday (January 19, 2021), I participated in a panel discussion as the JCC’s conference board virtually released our quarterly indices of business and consumer confidence. We have been doing this continuously for some 20 years now but this most recent release, reflecting an islandwide survey of over 600 consumers and 100 firms threw up a number of observations that I would like to commend to you.

“Perhaps the most important was that as we are in the midst of a pandemic that we have seen wreak havoc on many businesses and consumers because of lost jobs and overall reduced economic activity, more than half the businesses surveyed were of the view that this was a good time to invest. At first glance, that might sound somewhat counter-intuitive, but as we dug into the data, what we realized was that these firms were saying that having gone through the contractions, having had to make any number of adjustments and having introduced a range of innovative business practices to keep their doors, they are now seeing the prospects for re-energizing their operations to re-emerge stronger,” disclosed JCC President Lloyd Distant.

Distant was speaking at the official launch and inauguration service of the South St Catherine Chamber of Commerce (formerly the Old Harbour Chamber of Commerce) at the Old Harbour Baptist Church yesterday.

Delivering the main address, Distant highlighted the optimism surrounding the desire to invest now, but that it is inextricably linked to the speed at which the country control the spread of virus and can vaccinate the population.

The recent findings in the survey he said were expected, as entrepreneurs or businesses “are always on the lookout for opportunities and the truth is that even when we have to pivot to doing business in new ways, we will work night and day to make the most of those opportunities”.

“Another point that emerged from the survey and which we discussed, was the projection by businesses that farming and agriculture (including mining and quarrying), and to a slightly lesser extent, manufacturing, were identified by businesses as key industries that will continue to attract their investment,” added the JCC president who has a track record as an accomplished business executive and sales leader.

“From my perspective on the ground, I would probably add construction to that mix – but it is clear that there remains enormous scope for us to grow our agricultural and agro-industry segments of the economy to take advantage both of import substitution and food security demands that have been accentuated by the pandemic, as well as to drive our exports throughout the region and further afield.”

He noted that the parish of St Catherine with its arable lands can play a major role in “expanding the nation’s agro-industry”.

And to add further context to the survey’s findings Distant encouraged the gathering of business leaders, owners and entrepreneurs to embrace the change currently happening in the world.

“The final take-away from the panel discussion I’d like to share with you, is the emerging reality that your membership must remain open to new ways of doing businesses, because there are many things that will not revert to old practices.  I think, for instance, of the emerging consensus across many countries that we need to move swiftly towards a digital economy.

“It is our view at the JCC that our businesses and consumers stand to make enormous productivity and efficiency gains by increasing our ability to access services and conduct transactions digitally. Many of our regulations mandate in-person transactions, original hard-copy documentation and such… what the world is awakening to is the fact that there are secure alternatives to such practices.

“I want to urge your chamber to join us in that effort to ensure that we put in place the legislation and regulations to support the digital transformation of our economy,” said Distant, who has a strong background in finance and technology.