The MSME Alliance has welcomed the Development Bank of Jamaica’s (DBJ’s) increased support for micro and small businesses, noting that several of the Bank’s recent initiatives respond directly to challenges raised by the sector.

President of the MSME Alliance, Antoinette Hamilton, said the organisation has seen tangible progress following earlier discussions with the DBJ on the barriers facing micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

“DBJ placing focus on micro businesses is a major step. In our earlier engagements, we were clear about the need for greater attention to this segment, and what we have seen since is a willingness to understand the challenges and find practical solutions. This includes responding to concerns around upfront costs by allowing certain fees to be rolled into the loan, making it easier for small businesses to access the financing they need,” Hamilton said. 

Hamilton was speaking during an MSME Alliance Stakeholder Meeting hosted by the DBJ in Kingston recently, where representatives from both organisations discussed access to financing, business readiness and the support required to help more Jamaican enterprises grow and scale.

She pointed to the ORBIT Loan Programme and Credit Enhancement Facility (CEF) among initiatives accessed by members of the Alliance, while also referencing the M5 Business Recovery Programme, introduced following Hurricane Melissa, and the recent relaunch of GEMINI+, as examples of DBJ responding to the evolving needs of the MSME community.

Managing Director of the Development Bank of Jamaica, Dr. David Lowe, said ongoing engagement with actual business owners is important to ensuring that the Bank’s interventions remain grounded in the realities facing enterprises.

“The traditional lending playbook of wholesale lending does not always account for the realities in which MSMEs operate today. Through engagements like this, we want to hear directly from business owners, understand where the gaps remain and work with our banking and microfinance partners on solutions that respond to those realities,” Dr. Lowe said. “When viable businesses are better positioned to access financing, they have a greater opportunity to scale and create wider opportunities across the economy.”

The meeting also highlighted the importance of business formalisation and financial readiness in accessing financing. DBJ identified proper business registration, sound financial records and the ability to demonstrate cash flow generated from business activity among the basic foundations that can strengthen an enterprise and improve its ability to qualify for financing. The discussion also recognised that there are many financing success stories across the MSME sector, although these may be less visible than the experiences of businesses that have faced challenges in accessing financing.

The experiences of entrepreneurs Shannon Smart and Trishana Wright, members of MSME Alliance, demonstrated how DBJ-supported interventions are helping businesses address different barriers.

Smart, Managing Director of Smart Haves Distributors Limited, said establishing proper financial systems early helped position the company to access financing as it progressed from a micro to a small enterprise. Through DBJ’s ORBIT Loan Programme, accessed through JMMB Bank, Smart Haves increased its inventory and introduced additional products, enabling the company to serve more customers and pursue new sales opportunities.

“You don’t know what you don’t know,” Smart said, underscoring the importance of financial record-keeping.

For Wright, Director of Ebenezer Pharmacy Limited and Rite Flow Traders Limited, the primary challenge was collateral. Both businesses benefited from financing supported through DBJ’s Credit Enhancement Facility, providing access to working capital that may otherwise have been difficult to secure.

“For us operating a pharmacy, inventory is very important. What we were able to do was increase our product offering and service, which in turn increased our sales,” Wright said.

The financing helped Ebenezer Pharmacy strengthen product availability for customers while enabling Rite Flow Traders to expand their working capital to better serve its pharmacy clients island-wide.

The discussions also highlighted the need for financing approaches that recognise differences across industries, particularly for businesses with longer receivable periods or cash flow cycles that may not align neatly with traditional lending models.

Acting Manager, Intermediary Relationships at DBJ, Travell Mullings, said continued engagement with the MSME Alliance provides an opportunity to understand these differences better and explore frameworks that respond to business needs on a sector-by-sector basis.

Through continued quarterly collaboration, DBJ and the MSME Alliance will seek to identify remaining gaps, strengthen business readiness and help create clearer pathways for Jamaican enterprises to progress from micro operations towards sustainable growth.