Growth & Jobs | Closing the digital gap in Jamaica’s business sector

Scrolling through the Jamaica Business Development Corporation’s (JBDC) Things Jamaican e-commerce site, Amazon storefront or social media pages, you will see hundreds of Jamaican products made by local micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) – a signal of the agency’s efforts to provide global market access for whom an e-commerce website is out of reach. Through its three Kingston-based retail stores and online channels, Things Jamaican sold approximately J$65,226,417 worth of goods during the last fiscal year.

There has been much talk about the need for interventions to address the digital deficiencies in Jamaica, especially since COVID-19 made landfall four years ago, and many businesses grappled with the ‘great lockdown’. Since then, several aspects of education, work, and business have made progress. Yet, Jamaican MSMEs struggle in a world where staying relevant means closing the digital gap that continues to challenge countless local entrepreneurs. As the JBDC undergoes its own

digital transformation, its clients are not to be left out. While providing avenues for them to reach global markets, the agency is also keen on teaching producers how to fish.

“Truthfully, it’s not where we want them to be. It’s relatively low and the adoption is also relatively trite,” admits Harold Davis, deputy CEO at the JBDC. “Our MSMEs who are involved in digital technologies may have an Instagram page or Facebook page, or may be involved in social media on some level for marketing purposes perhaps, but really utilising digital technologies to transform their business - that uptake and that utilisation is quite low.”

A survey conducted by the JBDC highlighted this digital gap in the MSME sector. A moderate 32.44 per cent of respondents use digital technologies daily and understand their benefits well, indicating practical familiarity. However, a notable 16.74 per cent are still unaware of these benefits, and only 26.45 per cent have heard about them, suggesting a need for increased education and awareness initiatives to bridge this knowledge gap.

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Furthermore, there has been a selective adoption of digital technologies by MSMEs in Jamaica over the last five years. A moderate 59.09 per cent of the respondents have engaged in creating or updating their social networking profiles, highlighting their social networking profiles, highlighting the emphasis on digital marketing online presence.

Businesses that fail to integrate into this digital framework risk falling behind, losing out on efficiency gains, and missing critical market opportunities.

Davis continued, “In order for our MSMEs to operate in global economies as they are now, they have to be comfortable with utilising digital technologies and leveraging digital technologies for everything– for trade, financing, supply chain management, internal process management and just so to be able to internationalise. They have to be able to participate comfortably and competently in a digital economy, which is where the world is at now.”

THE CASE OF SINGAPORE

Countries worldwide have rapidly adopted advanced technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and e-commerce to streamline operations and enhance customer experiences.

Singapore ranks third behind the USA and Netherlands on the World Digital Competitiveness Ranking in 2023 - produced by the International Institute for Management Development’s World Competitiveness Centre. This ranking measures the capacity and readiness of 64 economies to adopt and explore digital technologies as a key driver for economic transformation in business, government and wider society.

According to the Singapore Digital Economy Report (2023), the digital economy directly contributed S$106 billion, or 17.3 per cent of Singapore’s GDP in 2022. This is a significant increase from S$58 billion, or 13 per cent of GDP in 2017.

Meanwhile, digitalisation across all sectors has led to strong growth in VA (value added). This VA from digitalisation increased from S$38.6 billion in 2017 to S$72.8 billion in 2022, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 13.5 per cent. This

growth outpaces the overall economic growth. As a result, the VA from digitalisation as a share of GDP rose from 8.7 per cent in 2017 to 11.9 per cent in 2022.

The report also highlights that a large portion of the VA from digitalisation comes from sectors like finance and insurance, wholesale trade, real estate and manufacturing. This indicates that digital transformation isn’t limited to the tech sector, but is impacting traditional industries across the country.

With the success of Singapore’s economy due to multi-sectoral digital transformation, this begs the question, Can Jamaica achieve success too?

THE DIGITAL JAMAICA PROJECT

The €9.5-million Digital Jamaica Project, funded by the European Union and managed by the Ministry of Science, Energy, Technology and Transport; Ministry of Education and Youth; and the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, seeks

to digitise, digitalise and digitally transform key areas of Jamaica’s economy, including the MSME sector. Davis says that the JBDC, as the premier business development agency, plans to upskill 3,000 MSMEs under the Digital Jamaica Project. “We are aspiring to move our MSMEs along the learning continuum. The project (Digital Jamaica) is geared particularly at a subset of our MSMEs – we are hoping to upskill 3,000 MSMEs and have them to that comfort level of utilising digital technologies in three years. JBDC’s role is to make sure that happens.”

Through a structured approach using education and support, the project seeks to build digital literacy and competency among MSMEs. This strategic initiative includes training, mentorship and targeted campaigns. The results from the JBDC’s survey are being used to guide the focus areas for the training. To kick-start the groundbreaking training, the Digital Jamaica Summit & Showcase is scheduled for September 3 at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel. Under the theme ‘Powering Business Connectivity’, the event will include discussions, presentations and exhibitions focusing on key areas of digital technologies needed to transform the local business sector. JBDC’s mission is to drive entrepreneurial success and development of the MSME sector through dynamic and innovative solutions ‘From Concept to Market’.