PIOJ Growth-Inducement Strategy - Planning Institute of Jamaica

The Ben Franklin Institute, through a number of centres across Pennsylvania, provides
services to early stage/seed enterprises and entrepreneurs as well as established
companies. The services provided include:
For Entrepreneurs, Early Stage, Start-ups:
Entities at this stage need business advice, technical assistance and capital. The
entrepreneurial centres provide a network of support, business and technical expertise,
access to incubators. Links are provided with angel investors, other sources of capital,
including grant funding that eventually links to seed funding and venture capital.
For Established Companies:
Companies with promising growth prospects are provided with access to academia,
technology and business experts to improve processes, adopt new technology and
innovations, leading to improvement in competitiveness, capital structure and
management and governance structures.
Other advantages noted by the Ben Franklin Institute include the linkages which are
established with successful ‘alumni’ entrepreneurs who have benefited from the services
and who can provide invaluable feedback based on actual experiences.
Additionally, in undertaking investments in venture funds, the presence of the Ben
Franklin Institute as an investor, serves to attract other investors, as a result of its
reputation for its due diligence ability and professionalism.
3.0 Towards the Development of a Jamaican Model
The Jamaican model envisages the creation of a dynamic venture capital sub-system – an
Entrepreneurial Development Hub - comprising technology and research centres, linked
to the University of Technology, University of the West Indies and other Universities
throughout the island, as well as the Scientific Research Council, and providing support
for entrepreneurs and start-up enterprises, through incubators, business service providers,
mentors, angel investors and public-private sector seed capital funding available for
support of new ideas and new ventures.
In keeping with the YOZMA and Ben Franklin Institute models, the Entrepreneurial
Development Hub would achieve the following objectives:
Development of a core of expertise, which creates the advantage of speed and
efficiency through established linkages.
Creating brand awareness and development of a network of angel investors,
industry-insiders, lawyers, consultants, government agencies, press and academia.
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