KINGSTON, Jamaica – The JAMPRO, JMEA, and JBDC export development initiative, Export Max III, is reporting significant progress, despite the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Launched in 2011, the programme, now in its third staging, is currently connecting medium and small enterprises with new markets to increase Jamaica’s export sales. The partners hope to build on the programme’s previous success, where the Export Max II cohort achieved a stunning 213.4% average growth in export sales.
The participating 48 companies are well on their way; a total of 30 exporters have new contracts or orders since Export Max III’s launch in September 2019, and they have received training in areas such as understanding market intelligence.
Also, as e-commerce is rising as an important part of doing business, Export Max is helping its participants to access online platforms to distribute their products and services to new markets.
Manager of JAMPRO’s Sales and Promotions Support Unit, Ricardo Durrant, has assured that the initiative is undeterred by the challenges of 2020. He noted that the exporters will continue to move forward with their plans to bring Brand Jamaica to new shelves across the globe.
Durrant said, “We have been supporting the cohort during Covid-19 by providing information, guidance and connections to opportunities in international markets. The programme has made significant progress with the diagnostic assessment phase, as we aim to create targeted enterprise development plans that will boost the participants’ overall performance. Export Max has also engaged the cohort in online training and workshops, as strengthening of enterprise operations is a key goal.”
These and other activities are taking place to assist the companies with meeting the programme’s major targets, which include 50 per cent average growth in export sales over three years, 15 trade leads generated per company over a 3-year period, and 100 per cent of exporting companies accessing one new export market, amongst others.
COVID-19 leading to change in export approach
Mr. Durrant says that Export Max has made modifications to its overall structure to adapt to new realities caused by the Coranavirus’ rapid spread. He said, “The pandemic has caused a paradigm shift in how we target buyers and distributors in external markets. We have embarked on a strategy of getting our companies to market via virtual trade shows and virtual B2B meeting platforms, engaging potential buyers, retailers and distributors.”
A digital strategy will be activated to develop e-commerce strategies, digital marketing campaigns, and digital content and collateral creation. This will involve penetrating new markets and channels of distribution via online channels, the creation of a website, and identifying virtual platforms to facilitate online business-to-business interactions.
The Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO)’s mission is to drive economic development through growth in investment and export. JAMPRO is an Agency of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries.
