Dominican manufacturers move to make manufacturing pillar of economic growth

DMA president, Severin Mckenzie (center) with other DMA officials

Local manufacturers will be given an opportunity to exhibit their products for sale at a Pop-Up Shop next week as the Dominica Manufacturers Association (DMA) moves to position manufacturing as a major contributor to economic growth.

This activity will be held concurrently with the Dominica Manufacturer’s Association (DMA) symposium which is carded for Thursday 27th February 2020 at the Goodwill Parish Hall.

DMA officials say it is part of the first steps towards making manufacturing a pillar of Dominica’s economic growth and reversing the country’s unsustainable trade deficit.

“We will be setting up a Pop-Up shop at the downstairs the Goodwill Parish Hall where all persons who are in the production of local products can actually come in and display and sell. It’s not going to be an exposition; it’s really one where we are going to expose products for sale,” President of the DMA, Severin McKenzie, said during a press conference on Tuesday.

He said visiting Dominicans and the local population should be able to find anything local that they want at the Goodwill Parish Hall on that day.

Visitors and the general public are being encouraged to take advantage of the event as products will be at discounted prices.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the DMA, John Robin, said the association is seeking to boost the economy through manufacturing and increase the contribution of manufacturing to the GDP [Gross Domestic Product].

Robin, who is also the manager of  Benjo Seamoss, indicated that everybody loves products from Dominica and at his company  95% of what is produced is exported to about 22 countries.

“Because of our Nature Island image, people believe in Dominica’s products. They trust Dominica’s products and we are confident that if we are able to harness the amount of potential that is in manufacturing, we will do very well,” he stated.

Robin said the DMA is trying to tap into the creative and innovative potential of young people.

“We want to move away from the tendency of people just wanting to depend on a job and actually create a job,” he remarked. “And not only create a job for yourself but create a job for many more people.”

He said the DMA believes that Dominica has some very good products to offer and they are first trying to work with the companies that are export-ready and then with companies that are challenged.

Additionally, Robin stated, the DMA is also seeking to encourage and give support to new investments, “new persons with new ideas.”

Meantime, Mckenzie pointed to the three main areas within the manufacturing sector which the symposium will focus on.

He identified as the first area of focus (1) manufacturers, some of whom are already exporting but need to develop their products and their facilities to meet the necessary standards and the volume they would like to obtain in terms of export. The second target group, he said, are the manufacturer/manufacturers whose facilities are underperforming or still in rubble since Hurricane Maria, “and how we can get some of these facilities back into production” and the third area is to show how the association can attract new investors into the manufacturing sector.

“The only way we can do it is to show that manufacturing is still an attractive sector that can be profitable and we can actually contribute to job creation,” Mckenzie stated.

He said the main objective of the symposium is to begin the process of preparing a Strategic Action Plan for the DMA and the manufacturing sector in Dominica. The goal is to make manufacturing one of the main pillars of the Dominican economy by the end of the decade of the 20s, through increased production and quality products.

Dominica-born Dr. Peter Alfred, who is based in Jamaica, will present the feature address at the 2020 DMA Symposium. He has an MBA in Finance and a PHD in Economic Development Policy.

Short presentations will be made on fiscal incentives, collaboration, standards & packages and technical support.

A presentation will be made by a representative from the United States (US) Embassy in Barbados in which he will discuss access to the US markets with special emphasis on the situation in Dominica post-Hurricane Maria, how the DMA can get other products to the US and what are the requirements for meeting the US markets.

The symposium will be held under the theme: “Stepping up Production”.

John Robin

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8 Comments

  1. For Our Development
    February 22, 2020

    We have to start somewhere. I do hope that this is a genuine effort. It’s a lot more important than just buying local. It’s about meeting international standards so our locally made products can meet international standards. A barely 70,000 population where consumerism is limited because of poor salaries and cultural barriers, cannot sustain many businesses doing the same thing. They will put one another out of business… as we Can all see. Manufacturing as groups, that’s the way forward.

    • For Our Development
      February 22, 2020

      *Can compete at an international level 🤦🏾‍♀️

  2. BMB
    February 20, 2020

    Y’all think it’s ‘Love Of Country’ alone that’s going to drive people to buy local? I, for one, love my pocket more; sorry. Almost EVERY locally made product in Dominica, from pepper sauce to water, cost more than it’s regionally made/imported competitor; sometimes almost double. Go and pick up a packet of local coffee at the supermarket and look at the price tag and compare. What is hindering Dominica’s manufacturing sector is the high cost of doing business. None of the panellist touched on the high import duties placed on raw materials such a packaging, bottles etc.

    • Shaka zulu
      February 20, 2020

      That is an observation that cannot be ignored. What these folks need to do is see what is causing this and get tax relief, increase local production with local sources of raw materials. Set up contracts with farmers. They guarantee sale and they have to meet output and standards. The first thing is to try find practical ways of producing cheaper. That is what all these folks going get business degree should learn use. Having locally made goods at a higher price than imports is not necessarily a problem but you have to factor in volume, raw material source, quality and amount external market willing to pay. Many Jamaicans probably cannot afford to buy the blue mountain coffee for price sold. It is among the most expensive out there. Key is to have different standards. Gold, silver platinum.

  3. L C Matthew
    February 18, 2020

    My observation:I love the local cocoa. There are several small producers doing their own variety and selling on local market. What would be ideal is for all the cocoa producers to come together form a cooperation have one main processing plant where all cocoa in Dominica is processed into a variety of products under a unique nature island brand. The planters must have ownership in this venture. Employ young educated business, marketing and engineering folks to run the processing facility and to do sales and marketing of product. Enough product will be available for local, regional and international consumption. Farmers earn rev through sale of raw materials and their share in the enterprise. That way there is better control of quality and standard, packaging, volume and price. You can take that model with almost any raw material and location. A farmer should only worry about production and not have to fight get sale for produce while excess wasted. Processing reduces waste of excess.

  4. Real Talk
    February 18, 2020

    Allot of more talk from the DMA. Really the big companies in DMA have way too much say. They always the ones benefiting from these activities. When they say they are working first with export ready businesses, they are speaking about themselves.
    There are many persons engaged in small scale manufacturing who are not members of DMA because they have failed to attract the interest of these persons.

    The big guys hate small guys competing with them so they create all types of rules under false pretense.

    With all these export ready companies in DMA we have yet to have another DCP scale business. Some of them existing for donkey years at the same scale with all the export they say they making.

  5. Roger Burnett
    February 18, 2020

    If the end product relies on imported raw materials, rather then “home grown” raw materials, the enterprise will struggle to be viable.

  6. Mike
    February 18, 2020

    It great at least the DMA is trying something, this government does not understand how an economy works or have no interest in economic development. If all the money used for the housing revolution was put toward agricultural and industrial development Dominica would be doing much better, am very sure that benjo seamoss buys it seamoss from St Lucia, the soap makers buys their coconut oils from St Lucia, alot of the alcohol we sewo with and the mixers coke and Sprite comes from St Lucia, they export 27 containers of bananas every 2 weeks now that’s a real country with a real plan and no housing revolution. With all that money this government made there should have been 1.2 billon in AID bank to lend to the private sector, all the hundreds of millions of contracts going to foreign companies should have been given to locals so the money can stay here and go around a few times.

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