From the Editor

Now that the holidays have passed and the New Year is in its infancy, we are all fully focused on achieving our business goals for 2023. The articles we’ve chosen for this month’s issue give us much to look forward to in the year ahead:

Small Business Resilience — Despite the shocks and setbacks of the past few years, small businesses in Jamaica have proven remarkably resilient, in many cases pivoting to include automation, E-Commerce, and accelerator programs to remain viable. They also look to previously under-developed sectors, such as Agri-Business, Nearshoring, and Online Marketing.

Improved Financial Sector Oversight

In response to the massive financial fraud at SSL, the Bank of Jamaica will now assume the responsibilities of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) to transform the FSC into a “highly visible market conduct and consumer protection supervisor for all financial service providers, including Banks, non-bank, Cambios and Remittance Companies.”

Tourism Sector Rebound — Jamaica’s tourism sector continues to rebound strongly from pandemic-induced economic fallout, generating earnings of US$3.64B in 2022, with January’s figures, to date, showing a 463% increase over last year and 29% growth over 2019.

Finally, we round out this month’s issue with a very important feature article: Why Successful Companies Keep Investing in Ongoing Marketing, which outlines the importance of a continuous marketing presence, no matter the companies’ size or level of success.

As always, we at Millennial Media Management hope you find this month’s issue valuable and enlightening, and we wish you all the best in 2023!

Warm Regards,

Paul Bauer EDITOR, THE MILLENNIAL MARKETER

BUSINESS COMMUNITY RESPONDED WELL TO COVID-19 CHALLENGES... 1/2

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Sancia BennettTempler, says Jamaica’s business community, including micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, responded well to the many global challenges caused by COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war.

“This, coupled with the Government’s strong fiscal policies and financial support to vulnerable sectors, ensured that Jamaica now has a stable, thriving economy with a positive outlook,” Mrs. BennettTempler said.

She spoke at the 20th annual Shirley Playfair Lecture, hosted by the Fair Trading Commission (FTC), at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in Kingston, on December 1.

The event, hosted in honour of the Commission’s first Chairperson, Shirley Playfair, explored disruptions in the global supply chain and their impact on consumers.

Mrs Bennett-Templer noted that this year’s theme, ‘Navigating the Impact of Supply Chain Disruptions: A Business Sector Perspective’, was particularly relevant, as “the Ministry is mandated to protect and empower consumers, whose regular supply of products on shelves and in markets across the country has been negatively impacted by the global supply chain disruptions.”

She indicated that several factors contributed to the ongoing global supply chain disruptions, most notably the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Together, these have resulted in many economies worldwide, including Jamaica, facing disruptions in global shipment, trade and commerce, increased cost of raw materials and a reduction in the available capital investments.

She pointed out that in recent times, there have been some stabilisation and downward movements in factors, such as the cost of freight. Adding that “while the recent challenges have highlighted impairments that can arise with long supply chains, it has also created unprecedented opportunities for investments, along with the attendant economic growth prospects for Jamaica and other countries.”

“As companies look to mitigate the risk of long supply chains to business continuity, there is a burgeoning interest in nearshoring and shortened supply chains to establish resilience in business operations,” Mrs. Bennett-Templer continued.

She mentioned, too, that the Ministry is committed to being responsive and visionary in its response to the needs of the business community to advance the national agenda.

BUSINESS COMMUNITY RESPONDED WELL TO COVID-19 CHALLENGES... 2/2

To this end, the agencies and departments of the Ministry continue to devise and implement targeted policies, projects and initiatives to support and nurture the business community. They also partner with international agencies, the private sector and other government entities to allow for cross-population of financial, human and other resources.

Mrs. Bennett-Templer is hopeful that the lecture will add to the existing body of knowledge on strategies that we can adopt to navigate and minimise the impact of global supply chain disruptions on consumers and the Jamaican economy.

The Shirley Playfair Lecture is hosted each year to highlight issues surrounding Competition Law and Policy and to pay tribute to the late Shirley Playfair, who played a significant role in building a Competitive Law framework for Jamaica.

The now-under-investigation alleged $3 billion fraud at Stocks and Securities Limited sparked the overhauling of the financial system's regulatory landscape. The SSL issue has shaken the investing public's confidence and put pressure on the government to address the opaqueness of Jamaica's financial institutions.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will assist Jamaican investigators and auditors in tracking perpetrators and the money, including the more than US$12 million that international Sports celebrity Usain Bolt is said to have lost.

The so-called "twin peak model of financial sector supervision" will consolidate what Minister Clarke alluded to as now a 'fragmented' structure. It addresses the "duplication of effort, duplicate oversight, and sometimes coordination challenges."

"The natural institutional silos that emerge detract from the nimbleness needed to regulate financial groups comprehensively," Minister Clarke said.

Elements of the financial sector have complained repeatedly about varying guidelines from BOJ and their regulator, the FSC, particularly concerning foreign-currencydenominated holdings, an area in which BOJ's word is supreme as manager and regulator of the foreign exchange system.

Stocks and Securities did not fall into the category of financial conglomerates. Still, like the other 37 Securities dealerships licensed by the FSC, it was not required to make its accounts public, so investors had no way of tracking whether the company was in sound financial health.

Now all licensed Investment Companies will be required to disclose their financial accounts, something that Banking Institutions and Insurance Companies already do as regulated entities.

The FSC was created back in 2001 to tighten regulation of the non-banking financial sector. It merged the functions of the former Office of the Superintendent of Insurance and the Securities Exchange Commission into a more robust oversight body created in the aftermath of the mid-1990s banking and financial sector crash.