|
Regional entrepreneurs must brand themselves, says Jamaican minister
Agriculture Minister, Dr Christopher Tufton has said that Jamaican and
regional entrepreneurs must position and brand themselves as
significant business players, to maintain viability and sustainability
in the global marketplace.
Speaking at the launch of the
Caribbean AgriBusiness Association (CABA)/Multilateral Investment Fund
(MIF) project in Kingston on March 31, Tufton noted that Caribbean
states are confronted with several challenges within the global
context. These, he pointed out, include creating niche areas and
markets within the marketplace, and being competitive in a setting,
driven by economies of scale and prices.
"The challenge we (also) face is that we are small, we are fragmented
to a large extent, because of geographic challenges. As a consequence,
it is difficult for us to compete. The price for small companies and,
frankly speaking, any company within any territory of the Caribbean is
perhaps, the worst possible variable on which to compete, because there
are so many much larger players out there, who are able to drive
economies through larger production," the Minister pointed out.
To
this end, Tufton said the survival and viability of entrepreneurs in
various sectors, including agro processing, must be driven by the
capacity of all stakeholders and interests to utilize creativity and
intellect in partnerships, to "improve on our natural state, and raise
value through branding, understanding the marketplace in which we are
competing, and valued added activities."
The CABA/MIF
investment project, which is jointly funded by the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB), through its agency - the MIF, Inter-American
Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA), and regional
Ministries of Agriculture, aims to increase and enhance the export
capacity and competitiveness of regional entrepreneurs as well as
educate them on the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other trade
agreements. The project is being funded at a cost of US$3.7 million in
grants and other forms of assistance.
Endorsing the
initiative, Tufton cited its importance to entrepreneurs in "enabling
them to build capacity to achieve that position, which is so critical
to our survival as entrepreneurs, and by extension, as communities, as
countries, and as a (agri business) sector in general."
"We
(at the Ministry of Agriculture and the Government) intend to engage
the process, because we believe that this is the way we ought to go if
we are to carve out a niche, that critical position, for ourselves and
our entrepreneurs in this country, and within the region," Tufton said.
Project Manager and Regional Co-ordinator, Bernadette Ambrose,
disclosed that the project has three components. The first, she
explained, focuses on awareness building and training; the second, on
the establishment of a Caribbean Advisory Group on International Trade,
and the third, on a Caribbean Export Club.
"Under this (first)
component, we hope to increase awareness about WTO requirements and
food safety regulations, (and) we also hope to disseminate this
information widely. Under the second component, it is hoped that we
will work in tandem with the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery
to identify market constraints and articulate negotiating proposals.
The third component will provide sustainability to the project after
its completion in 2009," Ambrose outlined.
Source: caribbeanNetNews
Comments
|
Jamaica