The Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) is inviting groups of businesses, operating as clusters, to apply for grant funding of up to US$250,000 over the next six weeks from the Jamaica Business Fund (JBF).

The JBF is an initiative under the DBJ’s Boosting Innovation Growth and Entrepreneurship Ecosystems (BIGEE) programme that supports two types of groups, namely Horizontal Business Alliances and Vertical Business Alliances. For this grant product, a Horizontal Business Alliance comprises at least four companies that have come together to improve their productivity and competitiveness through economies of scale. A Vertical Business Alliance is a group consisting of an anchor firm (main buyer) and its suppliers seeking to implement a project that contributes to the improvement of productivity, thus improving the competitiveness of the value chain.

“In this, the seventh, cohort of the JBF grant funding programme, the DBJ remains committed to fostering sustainable economic growth and development of all Jamaicans. This cycle is targeting projects seeking to strengthen the climate resilience of micro, small and medium-sized businesses, while simultaneously increasing their productivity through strategic investments in knowledge, equipment and technology, so that they may thrive in an evolving global economy,” stated Edison Galbraith, acting managing director of DBJ.

The call for proposals opened on February 10 and will close on March 19. Key features of this cycle of the JBF include a requirement for each cluster to have a minimum of four beneficiaries, submission of proof of counterpart funding (with the grant covering 70 per cent of the total investment), and a focus on projects aimed at increasing productivity, expanding into new markets, boosting exports, or promoting import substitution. DBJ will also target project that prioritise climate resilience.

According to Christopher Brown, programme manager, BIGEE at the DBJ, “Given the current challenges facing the Caribbean and the world, the Jamaica Business Fund prioritises climate resilient solutions, recognising that adaptation and mitigation innovations are essential for Jamaica’s sustainable economic growth. We encourage persons to apply by completing the application form online at www.thinkbigee.com, where the application window will remain open until March 19th.”

Since the inception of the JBF, the Government of Jamaica, has invested $957 million across four cycles. In 2023, the DBJ replicated the model under its BIGEE programme and invested a further $513 million across two cycles.

The DBJ is the executing agency for a Government of Jamaica, IDB and European Union-funded programme known as Boosting Innovation, Growth and Entrepreneurship Ecosystems (BIGEE) which is focused on growing the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems in Jamaica.