Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter

Owner of Moore's Transport Charles Moore (right) and his daughter Andrea Moore (left) chat with United States Ambassador Brenda LaGrange Johnson at the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) Job Creation Awards at Terra Nova Hotel in St. Andrew, yesterday. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Small businesses in Jamaica need greater assistance from the private sector to help access loans or otherwise they may be forced to turn to 'questionable sources', says United States Ambassador Brenda LaGrange Johnson.

Speaking yesterday at the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) Job Creation Awards at the Terra Nova Hotel in St. Andrew, Mrs. Johnson said that as an entrepreneur herself she was especially keen to help local small business and is working with the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) to start an educational programme in Jamaica, ideally in time for Cricket World Cup in 2007.

She said that she was setting the tournament as target because it provided opportunities for small businesses to supply goods such as souvenirs and snacks.

"Jamaica cannot afford to let these future engines of the economy be swept aside or be sucked into the downward triangle of questionable finances solely because they lack access to reasonable, legal credit," she warned.

Migration might also be forced upon such persons given an absence of credit, she added.

Get involved

She implored business leaders, several of whom she said had already travelled to Washington to meet with the SBA, to get more involved in educating small business persons without formal training how to draw up business plans and apply for loans. Ordinary members of the public, she added, could also be educated to better utilise remittances from abroad.

"Communities can also come together to pool some of those resources and channel them into productive investment spurring the economy as a whole. Reach out and educate the ordinary Jamaican on how to create profitable, create legal businesses and create jobs," she told her audience.

Receiving the monthly PSOJ Job Creation award were Cari-Med Limited, which employed 20 new employees last month. Corpak took the Small Business Award and P.A. Benjamin took the '40+ Award', for having been in business for over 40 years.

- ross.sheil@gleanerjm.com