September 2015 Issue Business View Caribbean

Business View Caribbean - September 2015 17 counseling, training, networking opportunities, and a broad range of other operational, brokering, market- ing, and developmental products and services. Over the years, more than 2000 Jamaican businesses have taken advantage of JBDC’s many services and pro- grams. Valerie Veira, JBDC’s CEO details the company’s forma- tion: “We are a limited liability company, owned by the government of Jamaica and we fall within the portfolio of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce. We started out as a technical department within Ja- maica Promotions Limited which was an investment agency of Jamaica. And the government, at the time, thought that it would be important to separate us, for us to focus specifically on leading the development of the Micro, Small, and Medium-sized enterprise sector, which is really the backbone of all economies, whether it’s Jamaica, or the States, or the region. They wanted a special focus on the whole development of this par- ticular sector.” Veira also explains JBDC’s atypical business model: AT A GLANCE WHO: Jamaica Business Development Corporation WHAT: Provider of business support services for Jamaican businesses WHERE: Head Office in Kingston, Jamaica WEBSITE : www. jbdc.net