The Editor, Sir:

I find a report carried recently in the local media and attributed to Dr. Wesley Hughes, director-general of the Planning Institute of Jamaica, very offensive, disappointing and detrimental to Jamaica's future, considering his position and area of responsibility.

Dr. Hughes is reported to have said in an address at the launch of a new money management company in Jamaica that "capital was no longer the main barrier or constraint to investment from a national perspective".

He is quoted: "The problem is that we have the money, we have the land, we have the labour, but to put that together in terms of being inventive, innovative, and entrepreneurial is where we lack the talent."

Insult to entrepreneurs

This is an insult to the thousands of entrepreneurs throughout Jamaica and the Jamaican diaspora, who have been denied equity financing or access to affordable loans to start or grow their businesses.

For years in New York, I have met several entrepreneurs who had come to Jamaica with creative and pragmatic projects seeking government and private sector assistance, and were forced to abandon their entrepreneurial goals that could have been very beneficial to Jamaica because of too much bureaucracy and lack of access to low-cost financing.

I have even heard of instances of entrepreneurs, who were denied financing, later saw projects similar to theirs in operation, financed or partially-owned by the same bankers they had gone to for capital.

I have, since 2004, been spending most of my time in Jamaica pursuing business interests, and have encountered scores of frustrated entrepreneurs, some of whom have given up or are seriously contemplating abandoning their entrepreneurial dreams and goals because of the difficulty securing the financing to keep doing profitable business.

Dr. Hughes must be hanging out with the 'wrong' crowd, seeing things from a rosy but unreal perspective. His assessment appears to come from one out of touch with the economic reality of the land.

And if this is so, it means Jamaica is in a worse position than I had thought because Dr. Hughes holds the very crucial position of making proper economic assessment and advise policymakers on policies that are in the best interest of the country.

Capital is undemocratic

Talk to the hundreds of small farmers and small manufacturers unable to present titles to land they operate on, and, therefore are unable to access loans from any quarters in Jamaica.

Talk to the entrepreneurs who do not have any connection to any big name person in Jamaica that would give them access to financial institutions. Or ask yourself if capital was as available to entrepreneurs in Jamaica as Dr. Hughes would want us believe, how come there is not one venture capital company operating today? And the one that started in the 1980s and was instrumental in starting JMMB seemed to have ended then.

The truth is that the problem is not the lack of entrepreneurs. It is that finance capital is undemocratic in Jamaica.

I am, etc.,

JULIAN 'JINGLES' REYNOLDS

Kingston 10