he 2010 Internet Telecommunica-tions Union (ITU) Internet Usage

and Telecommunications Report shows that Jamaica’s current internet penetration rate is 55%. Separate research carried out by the Mona School of Business (MSB) shows that 24% of local households have access to a computer and 15.6% have in-ternet access at home. Our CEO, Tyrone Wilson, commends the MSB on this valu-able research, which provides us with in-formation on internet activity in Jamaican homes. However, he believes we should focus on the number of people who are actually accessing the internet as opposed to home usage.

“Currently, the internet is accessed at oth-er locations besides the home, such as at schools, internet cafés, workplaces, wi-fi hotspots and other public locations,” Wil-son points out. “People who want to use the internet know where to go to get ac-cess even if they don’t have it at home.”

While this is so, Wilson, as the founder and CEO of an online media company, knows the importance of regular internet access. As such, he wants to see more being done to improve Jamaica’s inter-net penetration rate. “Presently, a lack of competition in the market and high cost are the major impediments to home ac-cess for many Jamaicans,” he says, calling on both the government and private Inter-net service providers to work together to create a more competitive environment that would encourage more people to purchase internet service for their homes. “I would also like to highlight that Digicel is doing tremendously well in providing internet access to areas of this country

that never had this privilege before,” he added.

Here are some of Wilson’s recommenda-tions to increase Internet access for aver-age Jamaicans:

Lower the cost for Internet servIce

set up more wI-fI hotspots In pubLIc LocatIons

estabLIsh more Internet cafes, especIaLLy In Inner cIty communItIes

For the latter, existing community centres can be used instead of building new facili-ties, Wilson states.

yourmoney ezine

Home Access Not A true meAsure of LocAL INterNet use

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CEO’s Think Tank is a weekly discus-sion between Your Money reporters and our CEO, Tyrone Wilson. It will focus on pertinent business issues that are discussed on a regular basis among cor-porate executives, entrepreneurs, small business owners, political leaders and other key leaders in our society.

ceo’sthink tankbyTracey-Ann Wisdom

Tyrone WilsonCEO of eZines Limited

Real Business. Real Talk.

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Business Lounge

sk any entrepreneur what is the number one challenge in getting

his business from idea to implementa-tion and the response will most likely be accessing start-up capital. Banks are generally reluctant to finance new busi-nesses because they are ‘risky’ – statis-tics show that most of them fail within three years. The criteria for a bank loan are usually restrictive to the average would-be entrepreneur, especially if his venture is not in a ‘traditional’ industry. It was this gap in the finance market that prompted Marcus James to go into the business of funding new enterprises, starting his own company, Access Fi-nancial Services (AFS) in 2000.

“I found out that a company called De-velopment Options had established a line of credit for people who wanted to get into lending microloans, so I ap-plied and was successful in getting the line and that is how Access was born,” he said. “We recognized that there was a whole subset of the business commu-nity that couldn’t get access to financing because the banks deemed them as be-ing too risky and microfinance has really come in to fill that void.”

The local microlending industry has blossomed over the years as other agen-cies have gone into operation and tradi-tional banks have developed their own microloan facilities. For micro and small enterprise (MSE) operators and those who want to start their own companies in this sector, agencies like AFS are a lifeline. “We offer a certain amount of flexibility that is not typically offered by traditional financial institutions. What we place emphasis on is really trying to get an understanding of the client, of their integrity, of their business and use

that as the primary driver of the loan decision as opposed to looking at se-curity, which is usually the hurdle that’s difficult to overcome,” James explained. “We’ve had customers that have start-ed with us at a very small level and have expanded their businesses into reason-ably large establishments and you can see the growth in the clients and their businesses and their whole lifestyle over time.” AFS provides two types of loans: MicroBIZ, which lends between $5000 and $350,000 and MegaBIZ, which lends between J$350,000 and J$3 million. “Our portfolio is really a mirror of what you see in the wider economy. Our customers primarily come from the trading sector, but we lend to people involved in the service, manufacturing and agriculture sector as well,” James stated.

As one of Jamaica’s premier microfi-nance companies, AFS has recorded steady growth since its inception, at-tracting a J$38-million investment from Mayberry Investments Limited in 2006 and becoming the first company to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market in 2009, with its J$100 million IPO being fully subscribed within two days. ASF has expanded to 13 retail loan outlets and four money services branches island-wide, serving approxi-mately 10,000 customers with per-sonal, auto and business loans and also offers cambio services. About 3,000 members of the customer base are business clients. Last year, the company recorded net profits of J$147.2 million. Its current loan portfolio is J$547 mil-lion.

Despite the strides made and the visible growth within the sector, James argues that there is still room for further devel-opment: “There’s still a void in people getting money to start a business. A lot of facilities exist if you’re in business al-ready, but there is no real venture capi-tal available.”

On MICRO FInAnCIng FOR SMALL BUSInESS DEvELOPMEnT

yourmoney ezine

mArcus jAmes

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“We recognized that there was a whole subset of the business com-munity that couldn’t get access to fi-nancing because the banks deemed them as being too risky and microfi-nance has really come in to fill that void.”

business lounge

Marcus James (Founder and Managing Director of Access Financial Services) talks about being an

entrepreneur.

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yourmoney ezine

insights

plethora of new technological applications are created almost

daily, many of them completely revo-lutionizing the way we live and offering infinite scope for economic benefit. This is the age of the information super-high-way and many countries are cruising in the fast lane, driving fiscal development and improving the lives of their citizens. However, as with many international phenomena, Jamaica again finds itself behind the curve, recording yet another low ranking on an international devel-opment index. The 2010-2011 global Information Technology Report, pub-lished on April 12 by the World Eco-nomic Forum (WEO), has ranked Ja-maica 73rd out of 138 countries based on its poor networked readiness index (nRI). In fact, it is among the 10 coun-tries that have recorded the worst de-cline over the last five years, falling seven places since last year and 28 places since 2007.

The nRI measures the degree to which countries use information and commu-nication technologies (ICT) to enhance global competitiveness. It ranks coun-tries based on three components: the environment and infrastructure for ICT within the country, the readiness of the key stakeholders (individuals, business-es and governments) to use ICT and the actual usage of ICT amongst these stakeholders.

According to a recent survey on access to and use of ICT conducted by the Mona School of Business (MSB) at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, only 24% of the population has

access to a computer at home and only 38% use the internet at least once per day. These figures are unacceptable in today’s highly-networked world where ICT is perhaps the industry with the greatest potential for creating employ-ment and entrepreneurial opportunities for the population. greater ICT satu-ration island-wide will enable develop-ment in more areas of the country as more people will be able to work where they are and not have to relocate to the metropolitan areas to seek employ-ment. Additionally, technology drives in-novation, so new products and services would be developed as people discover and create new technologies. It could also revolutionize traditional industries, making the work more timely and cost-efficient.

It is important to note that most of the technological innovations we see around the world have come from young people, many of whom devel-oped their ideas while in school, like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame. It

is therefore imperative that our nation’s children are exposed to ICT as much as possible. There have been some great strides in incorporating technology in education, such as the e-Learning Jamai-ca project and entrepreneurial ventures like go-gSAT. However, many schools still don’t have the necessary resources to develop their own programmes for students.

There seems to be several develop-ments underfoot as local telecommuni-cations companies have taken steps to introduce new technologies to the mar-ket, including 3g, 4g (wimax) and fibre-optic internet service, for both business and personal use. Hopefully, the com-petition generated among these com-panies will make internet service more affordable to more Jamaicans so we can move up the rankings on the nRI and be more competitive globally.

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Additionally, technology drives inno-vation, so new products and services would be developed as people dis-cover and create new technologies.

byTracey-Ann Wisdom

to Be more competItIveJamaica must improve ict rating

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start upsRead. Believe. Succeed

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Small Business Banking

ecord keeping simply means maintaining accurate accounts of all your company’s trans-

actions. There are several benefits to keeping up-to-date financial records, including: having a clear picture of how well your business is doing; greater con-trol over spending, which can help you lower operational costs; improving your chances of securing loans as you will be better able to outline your company’s performance to lending institutions and, of course, greater ease when filing tax-es.

It might seem like a daunting task, es-pecially for first-time entrepreneurs and those who don’t have a background in finance or accounting, but you don’t have to hire a full-time accountant, an additional cost you might not be able to afford initially. Whether you are just

starting out or have been in business for a while, here are a few tips that can help get your finances in order:

• expenses: Record all receipts, in-voices and bills so you know how much money is being spent and where. Ac-cording to microfinance organization Accion USA, it is also advised that you open a chequing account for your busi-ness, which will track expenses incurred monthly as well as the exact dates of these transactions.

• Income: Similarly, note all incoming finances such as payments for goods or services, or the sale of an asset. Record the type of payments (cash or cheque) and the dates received and the source of payments.

• Inventory: This gives you an accu-rate picture of what you have in stock versus what you need to purchase and also helps you determine how sales are going. Keep records of the purchase date of the items in stock, purchase price, sale price and sale dates.

• payroLL: If you have employees, keep track of all personal information, hours worked and wages paid out.

• paper or software: It is not imperative to keep your records on the computer. You can still use the tried-and-true ledgers, journals or other account-ing stationery. However, if you find us-ing the computer more convenient, you might consider software like Quicken by Intuit or Microsoft Money for single-en-try accounting, or Quickbooks from In-tuit or Peachtree Accounting from Sage Software for double-entry accounting.

• catchIng up: It is not too late to start keeping track of your finances, but it will take some time to set things in order. Accion recommends breaking the task down monthly so you don’t get overwhelmed. Devise a system that works for you, such as updating this month’s records and working your way backwards monthly or starting from the earliest month for which no records were kept and working chronologically.

• get heLp: If you find it all too much to handle, seek assistance from a pro-fessional. You can hire a part-time or freelance accountant for a few hours per week or month, as the need arises.

AccurAte FinAnciAl recordsHow to Keep

yourmoney ezine

start ups

R Devise a system that works for you, such as updating this month’s records and working your way backwards monthly or starting from the earliest month for which no records were kept and working chronologically.

byTracey-Ann Wisdom

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