Competencies Needed for Small Business Success: Perceptions of Jamaican Entrepreneurs

COMPETENCIES NEEDED FOR SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS: PERCEPTIONS OF JAMAICAN ENTREPRENEURS Jamaica is a 4,244-square-mile island nation in the Caribbean. About two million people inhabit Jamaica, which is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, and approximately 750,000 people live in the urban center of Kingston. This article discusses a study of Jamaican entrepreneurs' impressions of competencies needed to successfully operate small businesses in Jamaica. The findings should help promote the trend toward entrepreneurship in Jamaica and other developing nations. In the 1980s, Jamaica experienced serious unemployment problems. From 1984 to 1986, government employment declined by 21.3 percent, causing the national unemployment rate to reach 20.8 percent (Private Sector Organization of Jamaica 1987). The government also reduced its output of goods and services during the 1980s, transferring this responsibility to private individuals. According to the Planning Institute of Jamaica (1987), funds allocated for government services declined in the 1980s from $370 million to $323 million. This policy change not only affected the unemployment rate (now 16.8 percent), it also created many opportunities for the small business sector (Planning Institute of Jamaica 1989). Small Business in Jamaica Small businesses dominate five sectors of the Jamaican economy--domestic agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, fast food services, and entertainment. To a lesser degree, entrepreneurs also participate in the construction, transportation, public utilities, and communications industries (Trevor Hamilton and Associates 1989). In the Kingston metropolitan area, most small businesses operate garment manufacturing, handicraft and furniture industries, or personal care and hospitality services. Small businesses in rural parishes consist mainly of farms that produce food and livestock for the domestic market. In 1987, about 353,000 people (41 percent of the national work force) were self-employed. In 1987, these small businesses generated employment and income accounting for $508.3 million, or 26 percent of the country's gross domestic product. This sector also registered the highest rate of growth in the economy (2.6 percent), compared to a national growth rate of 0.5 percent and a growth rate among large businesses of 1.8 percent (Trevor Hamilton and Associates 1989). This proliferation of small businesses in Jamaica could be attributed to promotion and assistance by such public and private entities as the Small Business Development Center, the National Development Foundation, the Small Business Development Section of Jamaica Promotions Ltd., and the Jamaica Office of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture. Possibly also having an impact were a joint project of the Jamaican government and the U.S. Agency for International Development that produced an entrepreneurship curriculum guide for use in high schools, and a College of Arts, Science and Technology's entrepreneurial skills development program started with help from the Canadian International Development Agency. As a result of these influences and many other factors, entrepreneurship has increased in Jamaicia. However, little empirical data exists to identify competencies necessary for successful self-employment in Jamaica. In fact, only limited sources of data on entrepreneurship in developing nations is available (much of it from international agencies such as the Peace Corps, the Foundation for International Training, the Canadian International Development Agency, and the International Labor Organization). One researcher of entrepreneurship in developing nations (Dana 1988) noted that programs and strategies that have been successful in one country may not work in another because cultural and governmental differences may require a different approach. Also, Nehrt (1987) pointed out that the national environment in developing countries is far different from that of the United States; therefore, entrepreneurship education curricula in developing countries must be tailor-made to fit local environments. …