‘Family-owned businesses vital to Gov’t’s economic growth agenda’
WESTERN BUREAU: THERE WAS a strong police - military presence in the volatile Canterbury community in Montego Bay, St James, as residents were on edge following Wednesday’s shooting of two men in the community by mask-wearing thugs armed with rifles.
“Based on our investigations, there is some amount of tension in the community following a flare -up of violence,” a police source told The Gleaner. “We are very disappointed because the ongoing state of public emergency has been keeping a lid on the violence and we can’t afford to have gunmen undermining what we are doing to secure a lasting peace.”
In the incident in question, which occurred shortly after 7:30 p.m., a labourer was walking in the community when two masked men armed with rifles pounced on him. He tried to run away but was chased and shot. Shortly after, more shots were heard and it was subsequently discovered that a chef was shot and injured.
The two men were rushed to the Cornwall Regional Hospital, where they were admitted with bullet wounds to various parts of their bodies.
FRUSTRATED CITIZENS
“All inna di state of emergency dem still deh pon wi. A wha wi do gunman suh? Not even a lik k le ease,” complained a resident, who noted that there has been several skirmishes in the community in recent days. “Things calm now because di soldier dem in yah now, but wha go happen when dem gone?”
Canterbury is the home base of the Nation Crocs gang, which was led by deceased gangster Omar ‘King Evil’ Lewis. Since the start of last week , several members of the gang, including Lewis’ son, Kasheem ‘Borderline’ Lewis, have been arrested. He has since been charged with two counts of murder.
Earlier in the week, several prominent St James business stakeholders, including businessman Godfrey Dyer, expressed delight that peace had returned to the parish, which experienced a record 335 murders last year.
“It makes me feel very good, albeit it still leaves me wondering why it was not introduced before,” Dyer said, in regard to the significant reduction of violence i n St James. “I am quite pleased with the success, and I am looking forward to even more success as the operations continue.”
The shooting i ncidents i n Canterbury mark the third of such in the parish since the start of the state of emergency in Januar y. In the previous incidents, a man was shot and killed at a funeral for a gangster in the Quarry community, while a chef was murdered in Red Square in Tucker.
Since the start of the state of emergency i n St James, 61 persons have been arrested and charged for various offences, and 523 offensive weapons, inclusive of 18 firearms and some 351 rounds of ammunition, have been seized.
FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES are the throttle needed for rapid expansion of Jamaica’s economic growth projections, says Dr Lawrence Nicholson, head of the Decision Sciences and Information Systems Unit at the Mona School of Business and Management.
Nicholson, who was making a presentation at the Jamaica Exporters’ Association’s Family Business Management Workshop in Kingston last week, told The Gleaner that the seat of entrepreneurship is with the family-owned businesses.
“Family- owned business is pivotal in helping to accelerate the Government’s economic growth agenda. We all know that the engine for economic growth is MSMEs (micro, small, and medium-size enterprises) and more than 70 per cent of MSMEs could be categorised as familyowned businesses, not only here in Jamaica, but also i n the English-speaking Caribbean,” Nicholson added.
Just over 3,000 family-owned businesses were registered in Jamaica up to 2006, with projections, according to Nicholson, that the number could double by the end of 2018.
Approximately 81 per cent of these businesses are MSMEs with less than 15 employees. But of that number, 49 per cent are wholesale or retail operations.
Nicholson revealed that revenues generated from familyowned businesses are equivalent to approximately 30 to 32 per cent of gross domestic product in Jamaica.
He pointed out that nearly 80 per cent of all global business operations are family-owned. Wal-Mart is ranked as the world’s largest family-owned company with revenues topping US$473.6 Forbes billion. according to magazine.
But while they prosper as big, well-known entities, Nicholson is warning that the focus should not be on a massive expansion in the case of some smaller businesses, as they are needed to fill the void left by companies that were initially designed for a much larger presence.
“I would wish to add that not all MSMEs were designed to be large expanding businesses. And many times, what you find is that many of these businesses come to their demise while seeking to be large, when they are designed to be small,” Nicholson said.
paul.clarke@gleanerjm.com