SMITH
THE SMALL Businesses Asso-ciation of Jamaica (SBAJ) has elected a new president and board of directors for the new administrative year, following eighteen months of restructuring and reorganising.
At the conclusion of its annual meeting and an extraordinary board meeting, Oswald Smith was elected president; Edward Chin-Mook 1st vice-president; Doris Parchment 2nd vice-president and chairman of the St. James chapter, Dalma P. James, treasurer; and Meredith Derby, secretary.
Other directors are Marcus James, Patrick Boodie, Gillian Campbell, Godfrey Campbell, Angella Graham, Alton Watt, Hensley Barr, Vinton Samms and Leabert Gray.
In his inaugural address the new president stated that the SBAJ is now reconditioned and ready to take on the various challenges of the sector. Mr. Smith also stated that the SBAJ will be lobbying Government to make sure that the promised $2 billion that former Prime Minister PJ Patterson promised to be made available to the sector is delivered at reasonable rates.
A vast number of businesses are having difficulty surviving because of the heavy toll that extortionists impose, he said. Business owners are being murdered on a daily basis and business communities often scamper for cover when violence flares up.
The SBAJ is calling on the Ministry of National Security to work in tandem with them to iron out a strategic plan than will benefit both businesses and communities, Mr. Smith said. The high cost of security, lost of production time and the shortfall in revenue due to goods that can't be delivered are only some of the things that contribute to the crippling effect that crime has on this sector.
In addition, he said the SBAJ is a recipient of a $5.8 million grant under the Private Sector Development Project, that will allow it to offer training courses to its members throughout the country.
