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Growth & Jobs | Local economic initiatives benefit from business support services

Published:Tuesday | August 11, 2020 | 12:07 AM

A total of 422 local economic initiatives (LEIs) have benefited from business support services under the Local Economic Development Support Programme (LEDSP).

This is contained in the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica 2019, which was tabled in the House of Representatives recently.

The document notes that these LEIs provided employment for 2,068 persons – 878 full-time, 755 part-time, and 435 seasonal.

Training was also provided in several areas, including business-idea generation, business management, business registration, and products standardisation and certification.

“Work undertaken with selected LEIs resulted in the development of 71 business models and 29 business plans. Business registration is an important component of the LEDSP, and, to this end, 39 LEIs were registered – 36 registered their business name, two registered as a company, and one registered with the Tourism Product Development Company,” the report states.

In addition, 29 project proposals from LEIs received grant funding of $9.3 million and 132 capacity-building sessions were held with 1,306 community members and grass-roots entrepreneurs. In total, 346 civil society organisations/LEIs participated.

Also, 71 community business fairs were held, with 252 grassroots community enterprises participating and earning approximately $4.1 million.

TURNER -JONES