Business View Caribbean | November 2019

23 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN NOVEMBER 2019 JAMA I CA MANUFACTURERS AND EXPORTERS ASSOC I AT ION country. Speaking to the overall contribution of the industry to Jamaica’s development, at this point, they are contributing 8.6 percent of GDP and have 79,000 jobs created through manufacturing. That’s 6.4 percent of the total employed labor force.” BVC: How big is the staff and what are their main priorities? Ward: We are a very small team; it’s 15 of us. We have four divisions: executive and administrative and then we have export, research, and the trade department. We have membership services and engagement, and we have our business development services department. BVC: What ‘hot topics’ and important issues are at the forefront? McNab: “From our perspective, it’s to get greater focus on manufacturing and export from the current and future government administration. We see that more resources need to be directed to stimulate greater export expansion and more investment, both locally and internationally, into President of JMEA, Richard Pandohie