Last year, Dr William W. Lawrence of the Mona School of Business of the University of the West Indies conducted a survey of owners and managers of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) pertaining to their views on how to cope with external pressures and achieve business renewal. The survey discovered: Less startups transition into established businesses. Only 1.7 per cent of established business owner-managers have expectations that their ventures will grow and create jobs within the next five years.

Losses and financial problems account for 64 per cent of small business closures. For 2009, 13,781 SMEs filed GCT returns down from 14,968 in 2008 and SMEs only accounted for 9.3 per cent of total sales for all filing firms down from 16.4 in 2008. Over a period of three weeks, from October to November last year, Dr Lawrence and his team interviewed the owners and managers of 262 SMEs covering all 14 parishes in Jamaica. They discovered that men comprised 61 per cent of the research sample and 44 per cent of SMEs had less than five employees. Thirty-seven per cent were engaged in retailing/trading and 15 per cent in manufacturing. This last statistic is of particular interest because whhttps://businessuiteonline.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=postile some pundits continue to argue that manufacturing is not for Jamaica there are many entrepreneurs who are showing how to make it work.

“The data showed a trend of attrition over time. Small business attrition is the enemy of small business development. So while we embrace policies that support small business start-ups we also need to provide sufficient support for small business continuity”, said Dr. Lawrence.