August 16, 2019: Trade and Industry Minister, Senator the Honourable Paula Gopee-Scoon, presented entrepreneurs Mrs Claudette Bridgewater and Mr Michael Nelson, of TrinJam Home Foods Limited, with a grant to assist their company with acquisition of equipment.
The Grant Fund Facility (GFF) which was launched in 2017 was accessed by TrinJam Limited to expand and support exports. The company manufactures a range of products including seasonings and sauces, frozen food products, bread and pastries and freshly baked and frozen Jamaican-style patties using all local ingredients. TrinJam Limited is targeting specific CARICOM and Latin American markets, but required an injection to fully automate its manufacturing process to increase its competitiveness, improve overall efficiency and further diversify.
Minister Gopee-Scoon congratulated the company’s Directors for their business acumen as a Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) stating that “the company demonstrates the potential to develop a substantial export base. It provided the Ministry with a well prepared marketing and export plan which weighed heavily in our decision to approve the grant. The plans cited reasonable markets and practical niches to fill with a realistic and attainable production capacity based on predetermined performance.”
SMEs remain strategic beneficiaries of Government interventions including the Grant Fund Facility which has drawn the interest of over 300 firms. To date TT $1 million has been awarded to producers across varying sub-sectors of manufacturing and agro-processing including food and agro-processing; cocoa processing including the manufacture of chocolate; printing and publishing; manufacturing of packaging materials; and fish processing.
“The Government,” Minister Gopee-Scoon added, “stands ready and willing to assist these entrepreneurs and work in tandem to grow our economy’s competitiveness through the expansion of our export base or through import substitution activities.” SMEs are the backbone of the economy and if properly incentivised and harnessed, can be a vital engine for growth providing employment and spurring on economic activity.
Mrs Bridgewater Director at TrinJam expressed gratitude for the confidence placed in the company by the Ministry. She emphasised to the Minister and exporTT representatives that the grant would go a long way in supporting the growth of the company as an SME.
The GFF offers up to a maximum of $250,000.00 to producers of export-oriented/import-substituting products. For further information on the Grant Fund Facility please visit: https://tradeind.gov.tt/application-approval-grant-funding/
