New Market to host SDC business fair

The Social Development Commission (SDC) will be staging its New Market Business Fair tomorrow. New Market is a small town in North West St Elizabeth.

Some 19 groups and individuals will be out to showcase their products. The day’s activities begin at 10 a.m. and end with a cultural concert.

Damian Lowe, SDC’s local economic development coordinator, gave the details of one of the parish’s “main activities for the year.”

“It’s under the local economic support programme where we gathered communities under our local economic initiative within a space to showcase and market their products,” Lowe told CENTRAL STAR. “We have worked with these groups over the years, and we have built their capacity. For some of them, we have registered them through the Companies Office of Jamaica.”

Lowe said the SDC wanted the groups to have their products in the supermarkets, “but we have to walk them through a process”.

This will first involve engaging communities on the major thoroughfare and testing their products.

“Some have already registered with the bureau (Bureau of Standards of Jamaica), so their products have been tested and certified,” he said, while adding that they are also helping them to package their items correctly.

Some of the things that will be showcased at Thursday’s event are honey, pineapple juice, slippers, pots, wine, jams, and clothes.

“We are looking at each space hiring one more person. In other words, we are focusing on the growth agenda. We are focusing on getting people meaningfully active and at the end of the day earning something,” he said.