WESTERN BUREAU:

Amid appeals for micro and small businesses to take advantage of the Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP), which expires December 2009, Deputy Programme Manager Eleanor Henry has declared the initiative a success.

According to Henry, the five-year programme was established in 2005 to assist the micro, small and medium-size businesses to improve their competitiveness. She added that it would leave a legacy as it has assisted several businesses and the formation of 10 business clusters.

"We are in the third round of the impact assessment to see how well the project has done for the beneficiaries and the results are extremely heartening in terms of what it has done.

"The fact is that they (businesses) could not have done this without the PSDP, and if they were able to do it, it would not be for a long time because they don't know where this money would have come from," Henry said.

She also explained that the PSDP ploughed almost $50 million into community ventures and other entities that received little national attention.

Opportunity

Just recently, Catherine Radlein was able to open a branch of the Brick Oven bakery in Montego Bay after operating for 20 years at Devon House in St Andrew. She benefited from a $7-million grant from the PSDP and encouraged other businesses to make use of the opportunity.

The PSDP, which is funded by the European Union and the Jamaican Government to the tune of 26 million euros, covers grants and technical assistance.

The programme is operated through the Jamaica Trade and Invest and Jamaica Business Development Corporation. When the PSDP comes to an end in December 2009, the technical assistance component will be phased into both these organisations.

'We are in the third round of the impact assessment to see how well the project has done for the beneficiaries and the results are extremely heartening in terms of what it has done.'