20 Jamaican companies to undergo Amazon seller training Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Twenty micro, small and medium-sized (MSME) businesses are to undergo training to become top sellers on online retail giant Amazon in a move that could result in millions of dollars in exports from Jamaica.

The Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) companies will train for eight weeks under Project Amazon, sponsored by the Development Bank of Jamaica and the EXIM Bank.

JMEA president John Mahfood said it was difficult to grow business from Jamaican products through the traditional route of going to supermarkets in the US.

Mahfood said this was because supermarkets in the US dedicated only a part of one aisle in their establishments to Jamaican products.

“If you are not already there (in American supermarkets), you’re not going to get there”, said Mahfood, who is also the CEO of Jamaican Teas.

He was speaking at the launch of Project Amazon at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Wednesday, August 31.

Home Choice Enterprise CEO Kareema Muncey, in welcoming the initiative, said it was expensive for MSMEs to ship products in bulk.

“Having a platform where we can ship our product to one place will be beneficial. There is also the elimination of all the barriers you have when shipping small. It will eliminate warehouse cost and inventory tracking”, she said.

Meanwhile, Kurt Dewdney, logistics consultant to Amazon who will be conducting the training, described the culture at Amazon as “very casual and very fast-paced”.

“The environment is very dynamic – things change monthly, weekly, daily and even hourly. They (at Amazon) are expecting you to get with it immediately”, he said.

Dewdney said since COVID, there were “no more peaks and valleys” when sales fluctuated, but business was high throughout the year.

The training will provide “clear and accurate information to remove the speculation on how to do business on Amazon”.

Meanwhile, guest speaker at the launch Professor Rosalea Hamilton said the initiative “had the potential to transform the entrepreneurship and MSME landscape in Jamaica”.

She noted that Amazon was the second largest retail platform in the world with 310 million customers, accounting for 40 per cent of the US e-commerce market.

Amazon recorded revenue of US$470 billion in 2021, an average daily sales of US$1.3 billion, and a net income of 3.6 billion in 2021.

Some of the products made by the 20 companies to benefit from Project Amazon include health foods, pepper products, sorbets, salad dressing, textiles, books, personal care items and herbal teas.

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