Above: the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica will be hosting its first-ever venture capital conference in September.

The conference, which is being launched by the Development Bank of Jamaica, will be hosted at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. It will take place on Sept. 9.

It will mark the beginning of the new Jamaica Venture Capital Programme, an initiative aimed at “developing the environment to mobilize long term equity funding to enable greater access to alternative financing sources for high potential, small and medium size (SME) enterprises, and entrepreneurs,” the government said.

The plan, which will cover a three-year period, is being supported by the Inter-American Development Bank.

The IDB will provide about $150,000 USD in grant financing under its Multilateral Investment Fund facility. The DBJ will put up counterpart funds totaling $128,000.

“I think that the Venture Capital industry represents an important plank in the thrust to grow the Jamaican economy, and all stakeholders, whether public or private, will be called on, in the course of this programme, to play their part,” said Joseph Matalon, chairman of the Development Bank of Jamaica.