SBAJ SOUNDS SOS

Charging that the Government is moving too slowly while hundreds of livelihoods hang in the balance, the Small Business Association of Jamaica (SBAJ) is calling on the Government to provide immediate direct grants of $300,000 to $500,000 for small operators devastated by Hurricane Melissa.

“Government takes too long to help small business operators. We need to move faster if we are going to try to have a good Christmas. Long time they should have stepped in,” stressed SBAJ President Garnett Reid in an interview with The Gleaner.

“Give them a grant to start up; they need to start up. Give them generators. They need lumber, zinc and roofing [materials] so they can start up their businesses. You need to start up commerce. It is going to take hundreds of millions to set up commerce,” he added.

“It is good to carry care packages, but that is for a week, and then you are back to square one. It makes no sense,” he shared.

He also renewed calls for financial institutions to impose immediate moratoriums on loan and insurance payments, warning that operators cannot restart while burdened by existing financial obligations.

NATIONAL FALLOUT

“This affects not only the business people in St Elizabeth and Trelawny and all the others, but it affects the people in Kingston as well,” he said, stressing that the fallout is national. “Small business people in Kingston are not doing business. Things are drying up. People’s sales have dropped by at least 50 per cent. So Kingston is also feeling it.”

Reid said the SBAJ is currently in the process of collecting data for the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Commerce, which has indicated a willingness to assist. However, preliminary findings show hundreds of affected small businesses in St Elizabeth alone, with damage spanning shopkeepers, farmers, restaurants, dressmakers, shoemakers, pharmacies and roadside vendors.

“People had their stock, shops and buildings washed away. Farmers, storekeepers, restaurants. The list goes on,” he said.

He added that similar destruction has been reported in Trelawny, Hanover, St Mary, and St James. In Montego Bay and surrounding communities, including Catherine Hall, entire business clusters were wiped out, leaving only foundations.

Reid expects the SBAJ’s parish-by-parish assessment to be completed by the end of December, but noted delays because many operators have relocated. He appealed for affected business owners to contact the SBAJ directly.

Reid warned that total losses for micro, small and medium enterprises could reach hundreds of millions, if not billions, once assessments are finished.

Many operators have been displaced, moving temporarily to Kingston or elsewhere after losing their premises, equipment, and even their homes. Some communities also lack access to ATMs, leaving operators unable to retrieve cash, make purchases or restart operations, he noted further.

While private-sector groups have already signalled the willingness to support recovery efforts, many are waiting on the SBAJ’s formal damage report.

Reid added that some overseas business organisations have stopped sending donations through government channels because of delays, choosing instead to work directly with NGOs.

“The political directorate cannot reach everywhere, and there are places they cannot reach; but the Government is going too slow. They need to go faster than that,” he said.

The SBAJ is also seeking a formal role in the national rebuilding process, arguing that it has intimate knowledge of the small operators most in need.

“We know who are the small business operators. We know the corners,” he told The Gleaner. “We know Miss Matty in her little kitchen selling her little cook food. We know Tom Jones, who has his little farm. We know Mass Joe with his shoemaker shop.”

The president said the association has been receiving distress calls from Trelawny, Hanover, St James, St Mary and St Elizabeth from operators wanting to restart but unable to acquire supplies.

He is urging Jamaica Customs to extend duty concessions for relief supplies until the end of February, noting that many affected families only receive income at specific times and cannot import needed materials immediately.

In the meantime, the SBAJ has been distributing care packages and limited building supplies, and is working with private-sector and overseas partners to secure additional relief, including discussions with NGOs about shipments of building materials.

Reid encouraged small business owners not to give up.

“Stay strong, help is coming,” he said. “Whether it is coming from the Government or from NGOs overseas, support will reach.”

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com