About 15,000 Jamaican youths to benefit from digital employment opportunities

Tue, Jul 22, 2014

About 15,000 young Jamaicans will benefit from training, digital work opportunities and seed investments to boost the digital and animation industries in Jamaica as a result of a US$ 20 million loan for a Youth Employment in Digital & Animation Industries Project approved on July 21by the World Bank Board of Directors.{{more}}

“This project facilitates Jamaica’s linkage into one of the fastest growing sectors in the global economy,” said Jamaica’s Minister of State for Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Julian Robinson.

“It is our strongest national thrust to date to mobilise the considerable creative and entrepreneurial talent among our youth towards earning our way to a brighter future.”

Global animation is a growing industry currently valued around US$ 220 billion per year. International companies are increasingly looking at Jamaica as a country of choice for outsourcing animation production. As part of its Vision 2030 Jamaica plan, the government is looking at the information and communication technology (ICT) sector as playing a central role in the transformation of the country over the next two decades, moving Jamaica from being a consumer to also become a producer of digital platforms and content.

“Youth unemployment in Jamaica is about 30 percent. This initiative spearheaded by the government is about providing opportunities for new talents to get new skills, find jobs or become entrepreneurs,” said Sophie Sirtaine, World Bank Country Director for the Caribbean.

“For the technology sector to become an engine for growth and employment, it requires the right environment with training opportunities and the right partnership between governments, private sector and young people,” she added.

This project builds on successful pilots in Digital Jam 2.0 and 3.0 and KingstOOn which helped create new startups and position the Caribbean as a potential hub for the tech industry, linking the regions youth with digital entrepreneurs, angel investors and centres of excellence in the Silicon Valley and across Latin America. Recently, a number of Jamaican tech-savvy entrepreneurs also embarked in a 100-day accelerator programme supported by the World Bank and the Development Bank of Jamaica.

Specifically, the Youth Employment in Digital & Animation Industries Project will:

Provide training and coaching to 2,000 young Jamaicans, to enhance

entrepreneurial skills and employability;

Create about 150 startup companies in Jamaica;

Establish Startup Jamaica, a physical hub for tech entrepreneurs; and Mobilise up to US$ 7 million seed funding for tech entrepreneur startups.

This project is financed by an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) loan of US$ 20 million with a final maturity of 29 and a half years and a five and a half year grace period. It falls within the commitment of a four-year package of support by the World Bank Group to the government of Jamaica under the Country Partnership Strategy approved on April 2014.