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The Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO) is celebrating Intellectual Property (IP) Week from April 23 to May 2, with several activities. “Each year during the last week of April, JIPO highlights the importance of intellectual property rights to national growth and development by observing IP Week. The week coincides with IP Day (April 26) and is observed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO),” Deputy Director and Legal Counsel of JIPO, Dr. Marcus Goffe, noted. Dr. Goffe was speaking at a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’, held on April 23 at the agency’s head office in Kingston. He pointed out that activities for this year’s celebration will be primarily virtual, and will be staged under the theme: ‘Intellectual Property (IP) and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs): Taking your Ideas to Market’. On April 23, JIPO held a webinar that focused on access to copyright works by the disabled community, in keeping with the Marrakesh Treaty. It was also observed as UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day. On Sunday, April 25 there will be a church service to commemorate the Week and on Monday, April 26 (World IP Day) the entity will host the official launch of IP Week 2021. Dr. Goffe said guests at the virtual launch will include Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Hon. Audley Shaw; WIPO Director General, Daren Tang; and Executive Director of the European Union Intellectual Property Office, Christian Archambeau. JIPO will also be launching its Youth Essay Competition on that day. “After the launch, we will have the day’s webinar focusing on the theme for IP Week, with presentations from the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) new Executive Director, Simara Howell, and Principal Director in the MSME Division of the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Oral Shaw,” Dr. Goffe said. He informed that all webinars hosted for IP Week can be viewed on JIPO’s YouTube page and interested persons can follow the entity on social media for updates. “The week’s celebration will continue on Tuesday, April 27 with ‘Design Day, focusing on the design industry and the IP rights which can protect the industry. On that day we will highlight that the nation is poised to sign The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, which will facilitate the international registration of designs by MSMEs through a procedure at JIPO,” Dr. Goffe shared. “On Wednesday, April 28 we will have ‘Patent Day’ with a special focus on scientific endeavours and how to protect them. The panel will comprise local and international speakers who have successfully patented their products, including Dr. Patricia Yap and Professor Daniel Coore,” he added. For Thursday, April 29, JIPO will focus on IP enforcement and host a virtual shopping experience with select MSMEs. “On Friday, April 30, we will focus on IP valuation and financing for MSMEs and we end the week with a supplement in the Sunday Gleaner on May 2,” Dr. Goffe added. He emphasised that IP is critical to industries as it encourages and inspires innovation, and encouraged all stakeholders to participate in the week of activities.

Approximately 4,710 kilograms of mangoes were shipped to the United Kingdom (UK) from the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston on Thursday (April 22). The mangoes were exported by local fresh food producers Native Nature, Dussard Trading, Tropical Foods, Carita Jamaica Limited and Wah Gwaan Foods (Yam Man) Jamaica Limited. The shipment, comprising 320 boxes of Julie and 172 boxes of East Indian mangoes, is the second to the UK this month, following a seven-year absence from the market. On April 1, Wah Gwaan Foods shipped 13 boxes of East Indian and 74 boxes of Julie mangoes, totalling 609 kilograms to the UK. Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green, who was at the airport on Thursday to witness the loading of the mangoes, commended the five local exporters. “Today is a very big day for us here in Jamaica as we continue to target exports and to ensure that our fresh produce gets to the rest of the world,” he said. Minister Green said that mangoes being shipped overseas go through detailed inspection to ensure that they are free from pests. Jamaica had stopped shipping mangoes to the UK in 2014 based on a self-imposed ban due to fruit flies. “We do detailed inspections of every shipment to ensure that there are no fruit flies being sent abroad. The team works very, very hard… and this is critical to ensure that we keep the markets open,” he pointed out. Minister Green said that mango exports to the United States will resume “very shortly”.

Viking Cruises has joined the Norwegian Cruise Line in ‘home-porting’ one of their vessels in Jamaica. Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, announced on Tuesday (April 20), that Viking Cruises will have a Jamaican itinerary starting August. Viking joins the previously announced Norwegian Cruise Line, which is scheduled to begin service from Montego Bay that same month. “They (Viking Cruises) are scheduled to start home-porting also in August from Montego Bay… so they will start in Montego Bay, they will go to Falmouth, then to Ocho Rios, then to Port Antonio and then to Port Royal and then back to Montego Bay for the next round,” he said. Mr. Bartlett said this arrangement is “something that we have been talking about for a while and we really want to bring out that Jamaica can have its own itinerary and we have to look now at how we improve the ports”. He was opening the 2021/22 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives under the theme ‘Building Forward Stronger: Tourism 2021 and Beyond’. As it relates to the Norwegian Cruise Line, Minister Bartlett told the House that arrangements have been finalised for service to begin. “They will originate in Montego Bay… stop in Ocho Rios, provide support in the Ocho Rios area and then head on to the other [countries] but they will be taking all their supplies here in Montego Bay,” he said. In the cruise industry the term “home port” refers to the port where a ship takes on/changes over the majority of its passengers while taking on stores, supplies and fuel. “The importance of home-porting is that it offers opportunities for supplies, it enables jobs, it provides purchases of not just fuel but also water, and critical to it all, it also provides accommodation for stopover visitors who come into the island,” Minister Bartlett said. He informed that Norwegian Cruise Line has also provided US$1 million to utilise in the COVID-19 recovery programme, particularly for small players in the industry. “But it is not only Jamaica because they are also giving to Dominican Republic,” he said. Mr. Bartlett said cruise has had the highest casualty of all the tourism activities in the Caribbean region. “As at March 2020, zero cruise arrivals have been in the country and zero dollars have been driven by cruise activities,” he pointed out. With operating headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, Viking Cruises has a fleet of more than 70 state-of- the-art vessels offering cruises along the rivers and oceans of North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Russia, Egypt, China, and Southeast Asia. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. is a leading international cruise company that operates several brands, including the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. With a combined fleet of 28 ships with approximately 59,150 berths, these brands offer itineraries to more than 490 destinations globally. The Company is slated to introduce nine additional ships through 2027. The Jamaica Vacations Limited has responsibility for the Ministry’s cruise portfolio.  

As the global pandemic forces many established businesses to reassess their modus operandi, Trafalgar Travel Limited (TTL) has launched a new division offering a service for Jamaicans who shop online and intend to send their purchases to Jamaica, called PeliPak. When the effects of COVID-19 forced a re-examination of the way they operated last year, TTL explored starting its own full-courier service. They learnt the existing inefficiencies in the business locally and decided that if TTL were to offer a competitive international courier service, they would have to eliminate those inefficiencies. “Even if travel returns to pre-COVID numbers, PeliPak will remain as a way of life for the future. There are many brands doing the service now, but with our 26 years dealing with carriers and our very strong relationship with them, we plan to exploit that connection that we already have with them,” Conrad Graham, chief executive officer, TTL, said. These include twinning both travel and courier business so that customers will benefit and their shopping experience will be greatly enhanced. Once customers register on the site, they get a mailing address and can direct the supplier to drop/ship their packages at the PeliPak address in Florida. Packages can be sent to Florida from anywhere in the United States of America. “The supplier of the purchase item usually determines the cost of shipping but some offer free shipping; usually it is not a significant sum. From our warehouse, packages are shipped to Jamaica and we clear them, and they can be picked up at any of our network of branches islandwide,” Graham explained. The cost of the service is comparable to others in the business and there are no hidden charges. Large bulky items will be brought in by ship, which will take a longer delivery time. Once the pandemic is over and flights return to normal, packages will be brought in daily. THE LAUNCH PeliPak will now give TTL’s customers another excellent service that is guaranteeing less hassle in the process. The recent launch took place among staff and family members, who tested the system to ensure all was well. All existing clients will now be invited to come on board, and then it will be rolled out to the general public in April. The operation will in future be twinned with travel so it will benefit travellers whose packages will get to destinations hassle-free. They will be able to shop online, direct their packages to PeliPak’s Florida-based warehouse and then collect them in Jamaica. Trafalgar Travel will also provide dedicated parking spaces for customers who prefer curb-side pickup. STAFF CUTS Like other businesses, the pandemic has caused staff cuts, but Graham is confident that the company will rise again. At the start, Graham said they approached all their creditors for moratoriums; places like the banks, landlords, and even government in terms of taxes, who were asked to give some form of relief, given the circumstances. The process was successful and like everyone else, they are waiting for the vaccines to be administered to the population, Graham said.

Jamaica has facilitated repatriation and crew changes for more than 3,700 seafarers since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, through a successful inter-agency effort. This was disclosed by Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, as he addressed the virtual launch of Jamaica’s bid for a seat on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) 40-member Council on April 15. Mr. Holness said Jamaica is proud to be among the first IMO Member States that responded positively to initiatives and calls for action made by the United Nations and its agencies, among others, to designate seafarers as “key workers”. “We did so in law by including a specific and unique scheme to facilitate seafarers’ transit through our air[ports] and seaports” the Prime Minister explained. Mr. Holness said Jamaica’s actions are in solidarity with this year’s IMO theme ‘Seafarers: At the Core of Shipping’s Future’. These actions came against the background of seafarers being stranded at sea as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded. “Very early in the pandemic in 2020, we had to grapple with and resolve challenges, which impacted a range of critical sectors, including shipping, and notably, the repatriation arrangements for our own cruise-ship workers,” the Prime Minister pointed out. He further said: “We remain concerned, however, about the hundreds of thousands of seafarers stranded, not able to join or leave ships to effect the crew changes which are so vital to the functioning of the global supply chain.” In outlining the process that Jamaica has undertaken, Director of Legal Affairs at the Maritime Authority of Jamaica (MAJ), Bertrand Smith, explained that Jamaica is one of if not the only Caribbean country to effect the necessary changes to legislation to facilitate seafarers. He said seafarers’ contracts of employment are usually for a period of four months and that according to the Maritime Labour Convention, to which Jamaica has signed, crews should change every four months. Seafarers have a right to repatriation at the end of their four-month contracts and are, therefore, entitled to go home. At that juncture, a replacement crew would have to join the ship to continue the voyage. This has, however, not been happening as it should as a result of the closure of several borders arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, rendering many seafarers “trapped at sea” beyond their contract periods. Mr. Smith noted that this could potentially suspend or stop global trade, adding that “the IMO along with other industry groups basically pleaded with governments to at least open their borders to seafarers who are non-nationals. The Legal Affairs Director explained that countries were being asked to designate seafarers as essential service providers and to allow them to leave the country for the purpose of repatriation and enter the borders for the purpose of joining ships. In response to this request, Jamaica, in June of 2020, passed the relevant Disaster Risk Management Order that designated seafarers as essential workers and created a regime to facilitate approved personnel transiting Jamaica for the purpose of joining a ship or leaving a ship for the purposes of repatriation. The Maritime Labour Convention was incorporated in Jamaica’s Shipping Act in December 2020 to ensure that the legislation supported these actions in providing solutions to the plight of seafarers at sea. The process is being managed by the Maritime Authority of Jamaica in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency and the Shipping Association of Jamaica.

Mr. Milverton Reynolds, Managing Director of the Development Bank of Jamaica Limited (DBJ), has announced that Actus Partners Ltd., a management consultancy firm focused on alternative private equity & venture capital solutions, based in London, England, has been selected to establish and manage a new Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) Fund, based in Jamaica. The company was chosen to be the sole manager after a recent ‘Call for Proposals’ from local and international private equity funds for fund manager(s) under the World Bank Access to Finance for Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Project (A2F) for which the DBJ is the implementing agency. Actus Partners’ team, which has more than 100 years of combined experience in global private equity, has established the Jamaica Actus Small & Medium Enterprises Fund I (JASMEF) which will provide growth and risk capital financing to invest in high-growth SMEs in Jamaica, in addition to other investments undertaken in the Caribbean. JASMEF will receive an investment of US$5 million from the DBJ, through a financing facility provided via the World Bank Group’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and will be required to raise additional funding of a minimum of US$10 million, in order to meet the DBJ’s objective of having a minimum level of funding dedicated to Jamaica-based SMEs. According to its Managing Partners, JASMEF’s overall target is a fund size of up to US$100 million, investable in Jamaica and other eligible countries of the Caribbean region. The Fund’s objectives are aligned with the long-term vision of the Jamaican Government and the World Bank to encourage private equity investors to address the financing gap that is a significant challenge to local SMEs by increasing the supply of available long-term equity financing. JASMEF will invest in sectors that particularly promote strong economic growth and development which include key sectors such as technology, climate & renewable energy, agriculture & food security, health & hygiene, tourism, logistics, light manufacturing, FMCG and business services. In addition to generating superior returns, the Fund also has the key objective of achieving measurable impact targets that support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including an emphasis on decent work, economic growth and gender equity. The Fund will take a hands-on partnership approach with clients, which will entail the provision of technical assistance, where needed, to SMEs that have typically struggled in obtaining access to risk and growth capital. Ugo Ikemba, JASMEF co-Managing Partner, said: “We are honoured and extremely keen to partner with the DBJ and our network of international and Caribbean institutions to invest growth capital in Jamaica and the pan-Caribbean region. We strongly believe that we will get the best results by coupling our global and local expertise in private equity, impact investing and capacity-building gained from partnering with numerous SMEs, with our rigorous approach to analysis, transparency and teamwork.” Murat Taşçı, Founder of Actus Partners Ltd. and JASMEF co-Managing Partner, said: “The Actus Partners team has a strong background in private equity investing with a focus on ESG initiatives. We seek to ensure that the JASMEF portfolio of SMEs is actively guided to institutionalize their operations through digitization and corporate governance. JASMEF will provide equity financing for SMEs to achieve their growth objectives. Actus will introduce its international networks to Caribbean SMEs to help them expand their footprint across the wider region, North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and beyond, in order to become regional or global champions.” Zhan Li, Head of JASMEF’s Strategy & Impact Committee, said: “Just as our success in this selection process is a joint achievement with our local team members, we are looking forward to creating positive impact on the ground and enhancing how SMEs improve Caribbean communities, all in close collaboration with local experts and advisors.” The Fund is expected to begin operations in the third quarter of 2021 and will employ a variety of marketing tools to inform business projects and entrepreneurs of the availability of its financing. In welcoming Actus Partners Ltd. to the DBJ’s growing group of fund managers, Mr. Reynolds pointed out that JASMEF is the sixth fund in which the DBJ has invested and represents the continued expansion of the local private capital ecosystem, the growth and development of which was established under the Bank’s Jamaica Venture Capital Programme. “I am very pleased, not only that we have been able to conclude these arrangements satisfactorily but also that the DBJ has demonstrated once again that we are dedicated to the development of the Jamaican entrepreneurial class that will grow our economy and improve our standard of living and quality of life,” he said. “Of course, we could not have done it alone and I must pay tribute to the team members at the World Bank who have worked closely with us to develop the A2F Project and its SME Fund; and the Jamaican Government which gave the DBJ the opportunity to prove that we are equipped and fit for the task. I welcome Actus Partners Ltd. and fully expect that our partnership will be long and fruitful.”

The Caribbean Climate Innovation Center (CCIC) is encouraging prospective entrepreneurs with clean technology (cleantech) ideas to participate in the upcoming ClimateLaunchpad initiative. The engagement is deemed potentially capable of transforming promising ideas that address climate change into impactful businesses. ClimateLaunchpad is one of the world’s largest green business ideas competition and is designed to assist prospective entrepreneurs with innovative cleantech solutions Clean technology is any process, product, or service that reduces negative environmental impacts through significant energy efficiency improvements, the sustainable use of resources, or environmental protection activities. It includes a broad range of technology related to recycling, renewable energy, information technology, green transportation, electric motors, green chemistry, lighting, and grey water. The CCIC, in partnership with the ClimateLaunchpad, Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and Scientific Research Council (SRC), is calling for next-generation innovations from local creative thinkers. Chief Executive Officer of the CCIC, Carlinton Burrell, is upbeat in anticipation of this renewal of the initiative. “We are looking forward to seeing some great innovative ideas and enthusiastic individuals to be a part of the programme. This is the third consecutive year CCIC is partnering with ClimateLaunchpad and we have had two very successful years previously, producing entrepreneurs such as Awganic inputs, Red Diamond compost and Uma cosmetics that are that are utilising organic products and methodologies to introduce climate-friendly solutions within new markets, not just locally but regionally,” he said. Selected participants will undergo rigorous training, incorporating an intensive digital boot camp and coaching sessions to prepare for the national finals. The top-three participants in each country will pitch their ideas at a regional final, with the winning teams advancing to the grand global final in October 2021. Mr. Burrell expressed gratitude for the support from their local partners, the DBJ and SRC, noting that not only have they endorsed the initiative but have pledged their continued support for the programme. “It is this kind of support that fosters more active and innovative ecosystems,” he added. . The ClimateLaunchpad initiative has produced world-class entrepreneurs who are making significant strides in climate change mitigation/adaptation efforts. The start-ups benefit from the green network, which sets them up to move forward to create climate impact. Persons interested in entering the competition can download forms at https://climatelaunchpad.org/application-form/ .