Dr. Hall, the keynote presenter, was speaking at the Dialogue for Development Lecture Series organised by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) held on Tuesday at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston. This year's series focused on the topic, "Entrepreneurship: a path to national development."
Dr. Hall identified six Jamaicans who satisfy the criteria of being entrepreneurs in the truest sense. He paid tribute to Butch Stewart, Abe and John Issa, Karl Hendrickson, Joan Duncan and Donna Duncan-Scott. Explaining his selection, he noted that these individuals had:
Augmented wealthThese individuals had been able to succeed notwithstanding the obstacles to entrepreneurship in Jamaica.
In a candid address, the former university lecturer bemoaned that in spite of the country's plethora of natural resources, "we clearly have not achieved the growth we actually should have."
Dead assets under utilised and informal capital was one of the contributory factors to our stunted development. He noted that the poor in Jamaica, as is the case worldwide, sit on vast resources of wealth which are not formalised. As an example, he pointed to rural folk who own vast acreages of unregistered property and cattle. "Dead capital cannot be mortgaged, cannot be used as collateral," he noted. Because of intestacy and improper registration, true entrepreneurship could not be unlocked. "Wealth is not backed by paper [in Jamaica]. Even development banks need registered assets to fund ventures...
"Private property is the underpinning of the entrepreneurship spirit... the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid is real. As businessmen we must look at the gains to be made by looking at that segment," he said.
Turning to the role of Government in fostering economic growth, Dr. Hall argued "entrepreneurial growth is a ... market/capitalist phenomenon where the rule of the law is strong." He noted that it is the tendency in Jamaica to "believe it is the role of the state to provide risk capital." It was his contrary view that "Government exists to unlock capital... we do not recommend a pro-active role for Government such as Agro 21." The role of the government, he said, is to find ways to eliminate the barriers to entrepreneurship, particularly bureaucratic delays.
NATIONAL PSYCHE
In his welcome address, director-general of the PIOJ, Dr. Wesley Hughes, bemoaned the national psyche to focus on the various crises rather than the solutions to the problems. "The [forum] is an opportunity to reflect on ourselves how we fit into humanity," he said. He reflected that the lecture series is "supposed to plant seeds into our thinking process."
Initiated in 2001, this is the third forum organised by the PIOJ. The inaugural forum was addressed by Dr. Hughes, followed in 2002, by Professor Verene Shepherd. The lectures are published by the PIOJ and are available for sale. In addition to the Dialogue for Development Series, the PIOJ also organises three to four community fora annually.
- A.W. M.
