Jamaica Venture Capital Program (JVCP)

The initiatives undertaken in this program have been aimed at ecosystem development, coordination and mapping. The ecosystem development initiatives include; education, training and knowledge sharing through workshops, executive training, business model competitions, seminars and conferences.

Under the guidance and leadership of JVCP, the Caribbean Business Enablers Network (CariBEN) was created in 2016.

The major imperatives of the JVCP are:

Pleasant Consulting

Developing a venture capital ecosystem to create an environment conducive to the establishment of a dynamic private equity/venture capital (PE/VC) industry to include legal, taxation and regulatory changes as well as significant training of local investors, fund managers and entrepreneur.

Trusted Services

Fostering the establishment of new venture capital and private equity funds through public and private sector collaboration with local and international fund manager.

Well-experienced

Building strong linkages with our international development partners (IDPs), the Jamaican Diaspora, as well as our Latin American and Caribbean neighbours.

Private Equity Funding

Objective: To increase access to finance to SMEs by (DBJ) being an anchor investor in Venture Capital/Private Equity funds. This then creates a pool of funds that offers non-traditional financing options for long term investment in businesses.

Features:

Fund managers raise capital from local, international and institutional investors, as well as pension funds to provide equity financing. This provides the capital which is then deployed to entrepreneurs, based on their investment strategy.

The DBJ has invested in six funds over the last five years.

Angel Investor Networks – These are, FirstAngelsJa and Alpha Angels. These investors continue to play their role in providing access to finance for early-stage businesses.