9 September – December 2021 | VOICES Bi-Monthly Magazine of the University of Technology, Jamaica Dr. Wesley Hughes, CD, Adjunct Professor, Economics, Climate Change and Renewable Energy, Caribbean Sustainable Energy and Innovation Institute (CSEII), UTech, Jamaica on November 23, 2021 presented a compelling and urgent argument for the introduction and establishment of a new green industry policy for Jamaica. Dr. Hughes was delivering his virtual Distinguished Public Lecture on the topic “Driving Jamaica’s Transformation through A New Green Industrial Policy” via Zoom. Dr. Hughes, while emphasizing the need for the continuous growth, expansion, diversification and development of the Jamaican economy, called for the introduction of an environmental and ecological friendly industrial policy as the basis for growth and development that respects and protects the environment, noting “we cannot assume that we can continue to grow our economy the old way, where we destroy the environment, and take very little care of the gift of nature; our ecology. It is not sustainable,” he stressed. Industry, Dr. Hughes explained, is not limited to manufacturing, but encompasses economic activities including agriculture, agro processing, construction and the entire economic sphere which is resting on the ecology of the country. In establishing the way forward, Dr. Hughes looked back at the industrial policies of the 1950s to mid-1970s, which he described as the “Golden Era of Industry” where the Jamaican economy rapidly grew by an average of 8% per annum, fueled by expansion into bauxite. “We embarked on the development strategy which was based on the importation of capital to drive the growth and expansion of industry,” which he noted aligned with the growth and development strategies being supported at the time. These strategies had the government University of Technology, Jamaica, through its Technology Innovation Centre (TIC), formalized a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the JMMB Group SME Resource Centre on November 24, 2021 at a signing ceremony at the JMMB Group Head Office, which cements a fiveyear agreement that will enable micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), who are a part of the JMMB SME Resource Centre’s Accelerator Programme, to benefit from capacity building programmes offered by TIC. This move will bolster these MSME’s expertise and also build their network in a bid to assist them to scale and grow. Under this MoU, these MSMEs will have access to training and support services, as well as an initial Growth Wheel assessment to further examine and understand their businesses’ strengths and areas of improvement, so that a clear roadmap may be created to nurture, scale and grow these businesses along their life cycles. Through this partnership, SMEs will have the opportunity to strengthen their leadership skills and capacity-building through training sessions on a range of topics, including: accounting and taxation, financial management, marketing, business planning, project management, operations management, human resource management, copyright and legal issues, ethics, commercial negotiation and export planning. Clients in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, where JMMB Group opened the doors of its SME unit, are set to benefit from the full range of services offered by the Technology Innovation Centre, under this MoU. Additionally, these clients will have access to the JMMB Group SME ecosystem and its partners’ services, at discounted rates, and the TIC’s best practices bi-monthly workshops. UTech, Jamaica and JMMB Group stakeholder partners pose for a group photo following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions, held Wednesday, November 24, 2021 at the JMMB Group’s Head Offices, Kingston. Seated from left are Dr. Andrea Sutherland, Dean, COBAM, Mrs. Shani Duncan-Falconer, Senior Corporate Manager, JMMB Group SME Resource Centre and Professor Colin Gyles, Acting President, UTech, Jamaica. Standing (L-R) are Mr. Nigel Cooper, Head, Joan Duncan School of Entrepreneurship, Ethics and Leadership, Dr. Claire Sutherland, Senior Director, Institutional and International Linkages and Mrs. Andrea Bolton-Fyffe, Incubator Manager, Technology Innovation Centre, UTech, Jamaica. Dr. Wesley Hughes, CD, Adjunct Professor, CSEII Calls for the Implementation of a New Green Industrial Policy UTech, Jamaica and JMMB Group Sign MoU to Bolster Capacity of MSMEs in Jamaica & Trinidad and Tobago Cont’d on page 10
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