Entrepreneurs will be the major source for employment and growth in Jamaica - Aubyn Hill

Opportunities for employment and growth will no longer come from large corporations or the Government but from entrepreneurs who have the ability to create profitable businesses from untapped opportunities that are available locally.

This was the view of Mr. Aubyn Hill, Consultant at Air Jamaica and Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Kingston City Centre Improvement Committee (KCCIC) during a presentation on "Areas for Potential Capital Development" at a recent forum hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica (ICAJ) at the Knutsford Court Hotel.

He encouraged Jamaicans to look for profitable business opportunities, pointing to the service sector and data storage, as examples of significant growth areas. He also cited transhipment as another lucrative area for investment, given the fact that Kingston was ideally located as a transhipment port to the South and North American continents as well as countries in the Caribbean and elsewhere.

He further noted that Jamaica's biggest asset was its human resources and that this was an untapped area of investments as there were opportunities for outsourcing particular skills and services of the Jamaican workforce that were being demanded in the international marketplace.

Mr. Hill emphasized that for Jamaica to be able to export skilled and competent workers, education and training must be of international standards, and that such training must become an integral part of commercial life to ensure that local businesses remain competitive in the global marketplace.

The forum, entitled "National Recovery: Can Jamaica Afford it?., was aimed at engendering debate on existing and potential capital development, tax reform and the national budget and implications for national development efforts. The forum also sought to examine the reasons for the lack of economic growth in Jamaica over the past ten (10) years and the social and economic implications of correcting this situation.

According to ICAJ President, Mr. Linroy Marshall, the forum was an avenue by which the accountancy profession was engendering public debate on tax reform and other issues relevant to national development.

"We envisage that the discussions will sensitise the public about the implications of the tax reform proposals and national development efforts for the 2005-2006 fiscal budget and on the country's social and economic development. More importantly, we hope that from the discussions we would have made a meaningful contribution to issues of national importance, " he noted.

The forum discussions were also led by Mr. Joseph Matalon, Chairman, Tax Policy Review Committee & Chairman, ICD Group of Companies; Dennis Chung, ICAJ Member & Group Financial Controller, JMMB; Eric Crawford, ICAJ Member & Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers; Ralston Hyman, Financial Analyst & Financial Editor, Sunday Herald and Jason Morris, Investment Research & Sovereign Risk Analyst, JMMB. The forum moderator was Mr Carlton Barclay, Chairman, ICAJ's Current Affairs Committee and Group Financial Controller at Jamaica National Building Society.

For further information, please contact: 
Public Relations Department 
Tel: 754-9328 
E-mail: pubrelations@cwjamaica.com.



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