Going for Growth - Opportunities Abound

GOING FOR GROWTH FEATURE

| THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2015

Warren McDonald •

Contributor

VER OUR country’s history as an independent

nation, we have made many attempts to trans-

form our economy into one where our best and

brightest believe that they have the opportunity to con-

tribute to the creation and strengthening of a society

that makes the most of our natural advantages, where

they can confidently apply themselves to creating sus-

tainable livelihoods for their families.

We have not, we must acknowledge, succeeded too

well. Our economic growth rate has been one of the

lowest, not just in the region, but internationally.

Many of our fellow citizens have come to

believe that it is only through migrating else-

where that the opportunities that they

seek can be realised.

At the Jamaica Chamber of

Commerce, we continue to

believe that notwithstand-

ing the missteps, we

have the capacity to

transform our nation.

We have exception-

al men and women

in all walks of life

who are engaged

in doing their bit

to make the vision

of Jamaica as an

economic powerhouse

come true. Our task is to align more of our people and

more of our institutions towards this vision.

LONG-OVERDUE STEP TOWARDS EFFICIENCY

Over the past several years, the nation has taken a

number of long-overdue steps to increase efficiencies in

our bureaucracy, and to upgrade our business environ-

ment. Admittedly, there is still a very long way to go,

but the truth is that we are better placed now than we

have been for many years. As our firms know, we can’t

wait for our environment to be a perfect one – we must

work with what is, even as we continue to press for fur-

ther improvements.

At the chamber, we are convinced that our path to

growth is inextricably tied to our ability to successfully

penetrate export markets with products and services

that are valued by those markets. Therein, we believe,

lays our path to making our country an economic suc-

cess story. We believe that we must mobilise more of

our firms, and engage more of our far-sighted and cre-

ative individuals to act on that premise.

While there is no question that our domestic

market is important, particularly for those just start-

ing out, the fact is that we are still a very small mar-

ket. CARICOM, realistically, is still

a small market. The level of eco-

nomic growth that is required to

make Jamaica a truly sustainable

economy demands that we look not just

regionally but in the broadest sense, inter-

nationally.

As good a place as any to start is for our

enterprising firms and individuals to

take stock of something we have long

taken for granted – the fact that there

are many countries much larger than

Jamaica that do not have more than a

fraction of the brand recognition and good-

will associated with their countries. What we

have not been successful in doing is taking

advantage of that window.

OTHERS HAVE DONE IT

While that is certainly a daunting

prospect, let us bear in mind that other

Jamaicans have done it – and not just

a few large Jamaican companies.

We sometimes fail to acknowl-

edge the impact of our

musical ambassadors –

those artistes who for

many decades have

been taking Jamaican

music forms across conti-

nents – in the process

contributing to the cre-

ation and strengthening of

the Jamaican brand.

The truth is, in many countries

in Europe, Central and South Amer-

ica, parts of Asia and across Africa,

the Jamaican brand grew on the back of

our musicians and more recently by the

brilliance of our athletic world stars.

It is they who have brought home to

millions of people in the developed and

developing worlds alike – the fact that there

is a exciting brand named JAMAICA! What

has not happened, to anywhere near a suffi-

cient level, is the emergence of Jamaican pro-

ducers of other goods and services to leverage

that brand awareness and goodwill to place

their products in those markets.

Let us not forget, either, the opportunity to cre-

ate some additional ambassadors out of the millions

of tourists who come to our country annually.

What is that range of Jamaican-produced goods

and services that we can introduce into our hotels

and market in our attractions?

Warren McDonald is the president of

the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce.

OPTIMISINGBRAND JAMAICATOGROW

‘THE OPPORTUNITIES, WE ARE CONVINCED,

ARE THERE. LET US USE THEM NOW.’

FILE

Brand Jamaica built on the

success of our music stars

and our athletes, such as

Usain Bolt and Jimmy Cliff