Andre Hamilton of The Print Centre, King Street Kingston checks the quality of a just completed print job. His business is one of many struggling small businesses in Jamaica.- Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

THESE ARE tough times and small and micro enterprises are not feeling just a pinch; they are experiencing a wicked severing of a few pounds of flesh caused by the worsening recession.

The buck just does not go as far as it used to, people are losing jobs and many small businesses have been forced to the edge.

Andre Hamilton knows first-hand the recessionary pain being experienced in the country. He operates a printery in Kingston. His clientele is disappearing, not because of the quality of his work but because many people can no longer afford to do business with smaller, less efficient companies.

"There was a time when the bigger printers were not doing certain small jobs but now they are taking every, single one," Hamilton told The Sunday Gleaner.

"The bigger printers are squeezing the smaller ones...these printers sometimes import their materials, they sometimes have better equipment and they can offer a better price," Hamilton said.

The loss of business is a problem with which many small businesses have been grappling. No wonder they saw the facility created by Government to allow them to benefit from 15 per cent of all state contracts as a lifeline.

Hamilton, while not successful in getting jobs through this special facility, told The Sunday Gleaner that he has had so many bad experiences with government agencies in the recent past it is sometimes not feasible to do work for state agencies.

The businessman notes that "getting the contract is one thing, getting paid is another."

He points to three recent instances where he was forced to wait for at least four months to get paid for his services.

not enough work

"If you are fortunate enough to get the contract, when you do the job you still can't get paid. Right now, I can't even collect from some of the people I do work for ... . I don't have enough work to even pay my overhead expenses," Hamilton.

He added: "It is not encouraging ... there are times when I thought of coming out of the business. It is a struggle."

"Nothing is happening in business. I had a staff of 16 and now I am down to seven. I had to send them home ... . I now have my staff working two days and three days," Hamilton said.

Meanwhile, in western Jamaica, a small business operator has lamented that he, and other persons of similar standing, have not been able to benefit from construction in the hospitality sector.

"There are so many hotels being built in Montego Bay and getting jobs is highly political in most cases," Curtis Hylton told The Sunday Gleaner.

Hylton, who has a one-stop shop construction, architecture and surveying company, said that he had been looking forward to reaping "sweet rewards" from the stimulus package but nothing of the sort has come his way.

"The stimulus package is rubbish ... . I have not benefited from the so-called stimulus package that the prime minister mentioned. When it was announced I thought that it was going to help the small business but I am so disappointed, it is not funny," Hamilton said.

This contractor told The Sunday Gleaner that he has submitted bids on two government projects this year. He said that he has not recieved any response to his bids.

Having failed to land a contract since January, Hylton fears the worse for his company's continued existence but he said he was committed to push on.

At present, his eyes are fixed on the multimillion-dollar convention centre which is to be constructed in Montego Bay. He said many persons are looking to the project for employment and contracts and has warned that an oversupply of Chinese workers on the project, at the expense of locals, could result in a riot.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com