Ten small and medium-sized (SMEs) companies, mainly from the food-processing sector, recently received grants of up to $250,000 each, through the Quality Jamaica Project's (QJP) Match Grant Funding programme.

The companies were awarded the grants to assist with the implementation of food safety, quality and environmental management systems such as HACCP, ISO 9000 and ISO 14000.

"The QJP has been working assiduously with SMEs to help them achieve certification in these internationally-recognised standards, some of which are now compulsory for exporting to the European Union," a statement from the Bureau of Standards.

Match grants

The project is aiming to disburse match grants to 100 SMEs by the end of the year. Eligible companies will receive grants of up to US$3,750 or 50 per cent of what they have spent on technical services to become certified.

To qualify for grants, companies must be a legal entity registered in Jamaica and currently implementing any of the three quality systems mentioned; have no more than 100 employees and annual sales should be less than US$3 million (J$198 million).

Forty-six companies are currently implementing quality systems under the QJP. Twenty-two are implementing HACCP food safety system, 14 are implementing ISO 9000 and 10 are implementing ISO 140000.

Information session

Seven of the 10 companies which have already been approved for Match Grant Funding were presented with their cheques at a Grant Awards and information session held in Kingston on Thursday, September 21.

The QJP is a collaboration between the Inter-American Development Bank and the Government of Jamaica, and is being monitored by the Bureau of Standards Jamaica.