The Honey Bun Foundation and the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, recently signed a historic memorandum of understanding (MOU), creating added value for Chamber members. 

For 2023, the Chamber will be offering The Honey Bun Foundation’s Advisory Committee model to its members, which facilitates a structured arrangement for businesses to access guidance from a team of expert advisors.

Speaking at the signing at the Chamber’s Fairview, Montego Bay, St James office, founder of The Honey Bun Foundation and CEO of Honey Bun Ltd, Michelle Chong, said: “This partnership represents the type of collaboration that we feel is critical for the various associations so that we can get the needle moving.”

Conrad Robinson, chairman of the Business and Entrepreneurial Committee at the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, agreed.

Said Robinson: “This is a partnership which we believe will go a long way in creating successful businesses, which is a part of our mandate here at the Chamber.”

The Honey Bun Foundation’s Advisory Committee model will see the Chamber assigning three advisors each to qualified members, for 12 months, to work on completing their strategic roadmap and profit-and-loss projection, using templates designed by the Foundation. The model, which was tested in 2019-2021, launched with its first cohort of nine small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in 2022. It is the third model from The Honey Bun Foundation which was launched in 2019. The other two models are a national training calendar and a free-for-download business diagnostic tool, the GAPP App.

Robinson noted: “Our members will benefit from the expert advice of these experienced advisors as they will act as a sounding board for new ideas and help the SME achieve the objective of their strategic roadmap while adopting good corporate governance practices. As such, the Chamber is pleased with the signing of this MOU and looks forward to the successful implementation of this programme.”

He added that it would provide the kind of support and advice SMEs need to be successful.

“This model that The Honey Bun Foundation is proposing, gives them this opportunity. We also see that through this approach, the SMEs will be exposed to best practices and networking opportunities which will be of benefit to the success of their businesses.”

Chong noted that her hope for this partnership and others to come in the future, was for, “many, many SMEs to be supported through their critical years to make a difference to Jamaica’s economy!” 

Also speaking on the partnership, Robinson said it was the first of its kind for the Chamber but, “I would encourage other business support organisations to join forces. If we are going to grow the Jamaican economy and develop the entrepreneurial culture in Jamaica which is anchored in the foundation of good corporate governance, then this is one way of doing it – the sharing of knowledge, the giving of guidance and the promotion of best practices”.