People say all the time that it is the small business sector that drives growth in any economy. And this is evident in developed economies such as the United States, where thousands of businesses are started each year, and on average over 40 Initial Public Offerings (IPO) hit the equities market. This sort of activity spurs economic activity and creates employment and innovation, as in many instances the new businesses are engaged in inventions.
Is it any wonder then that Jamaica’s economy has been sluggish for as long as we can remember? The last IPO was Supreme Ventures in around 2006. There are many reasons for this which include
- the lack of access to equity markets – which has been improved somewhat with the Junior Stock exchange (http://jamstockex.com/controller.php?action=junior_market);
- the general business environment – bureaucracy and crime included; and
- Lack of sufficient venture capital support to bring ideas to life.
One other reason to be looked at though is cultural. As a country we do not encourage entrepreneurship and even though we say that we want to put incentives in place for small and medium enterprises the truth is that the process must start much earlier.
If one thinks back to your childhood you will see that we tend to encourage our children to go to school, get a good education, and then find an established company to work for. We are considered successful if we pursue a career working for the company and retire with a pension. On the other hand the person who brings an idea to life and seeks to start a new business is not given the recognition they are deserving of as the foundations of economic and nation building.
In the United States on the other hand schools, such as Harvard, and trade fairs actually encourage entrepreneurism. Venture capital is widely available and the bureaucracy does not inhibit the development of an idea into a business.
Our own view at mindyuhbusiness.com is that entrepreneurship must be encouraged and facilitated very early in a child’s education. We should encourage children to think more about starting their own businesses, by thinking outside of the box and developing their ideas into something that will generate revenue. Years ago the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce used to host a young entrepreneur competition, which seems to have lost its drive in favour of the high interest that can be earned on government paper.
We therefore believe that educational institutions must bring to the fore the tenets of entrepreneurism as a part of the curriculum. One of the problems of course is that not many of the teachers have any experience in entrepreneurship and so what is required is for experienced entrepreneurs to be brought in to guide those principles. Not everyone will become successful entrepreneurs or have the characteristics needed however but an attempt must be made to harvest those that do, before we send the rest to go and find employment.
Both budding and existing entrepreneurs need guidance however and this is one reason why mindyuhbusiness.com has made available a discussion forum on Starting Your Business, and includes a service under Ask the Expert where specific guidance can be given in many areas of starting your on business.
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