history of JAMAICA

History
Main article:

History of Jamaica The original Arawak or Taino people from South America first settled on the island between 1000 and 4000 BC. Although some claim they became virtually extinct following contact with Europeans, others claim that some survived for a while. There is very little trace of the Arawak culture, and the Jamaican National Heritage Trust is attempting to locate and document any evidence of the Arawaks [1]. Jamaica was claimed for Spain after Christopher Columbus first landed there in 1494. Columbus used it as his family's private estate. The British Admiral William Penn (father of William Penn of Pennsylvania) and General Venables seized the island in 1655.

During its first 200 years of British rule, post Spanish rule, Jamaica became one of the world's leading sugar exporting nations and produced over 77,000 tons of sugar annually between 1820 and 1824, which was achieved through the massive use of imported African slave labour. When this was not enough the British imported Indian and Chinese indentured servants in the early 1800s that remained in Jamaica from then until present day. By the beginning of the 19th century, the United Kingdom's heavy reliance on slavery resulted in blacks outnumbering whites by a ratio of almost 20 to one, leading to constant threat of revolt. Following a series of rebellions, slavery was formally abolished in 1834, with full emancipation from chattel slavery declared in 1838. In 1945, Sir Horace Hector Hearne became Chief Justice and Keeper of the Records in Jamaica and sat in the Supreme Court, Kingston between 1945 and 1950/1951 before going on to become Chief Justice in Kenya. Jamaica slowly gained increasing independence from the United Kingdom. In 1958, it became a province in the Federation of the West Indies, a federation among all of the British West Indies. Jamaica attained full independence by leaving the federation in 1962. Strong economic growth averaging about six percent per annum marked its first ten years of independence under conservative governments led successively by Prime Ministers Alexander Bustamante, Donald Sangster and Hugh Shearer. The growth was fueled by strong investments in bauxite/alumina, tourism, manufacturing industry and to a lesser extent the agricultural sector. However, the initial optimism of the first decade vanished following a change in government (the PNP - People's National Party) in 1972, Jamaica lagged economically with its gross national product falling in 1980 to some twenty-five percent below the level previously obtained in 1972. Rising foreign and local debt accompanied by large fiscal deficits resulted in the invitation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) financing from the USA and others, and the imposition of IMF austerity measures (with a greater than 25% interest rate per year). Economic deterioration continued into the mid 1980s, exacerbated by the closure of the first (Alpart) and third (Alcoa) largest alumina producers, significant reduction in production by the second largest (Alcan), the exit of Reynolds Jamaica Mines Ltd from the Jamaican industry and reduced flows from tourism. During the 1980s Jamaica was still a prosperous country though increases in crime and petty theft began to weigh on the island. The former capital of Jamaica was Spanish Town in the parish of St. Catherine, the site of the old Spanish colonial capital. The Spanish named the town Santiago de la Vega. In 1655 when the British captured the island, much of the old Spanish capital was burned by the invading British troops. The town was rebuilt by the British and renamed Spanish Town. It remained the capital until 1872, when the city of Kingston was named the capital under questionable circumstances.
Economy Main article: Economy of Jamaica Jamaica is a mixed, free-market economy with state enterprises as well as private sector businesses. Major sectors of the Jamaican economy include agriculture, mining, manufacturing, tourism and financial and insurance services. Tourism and mining are the leading foreign exchange earners. Supported by multilateral financial institutions, Jamaica has, since the early 1980s, sought to implement structural reforms aimed at fostering private sector activity and increasing the role of market forces in resource allocation. Since 1991, the Government has followed a programme of economic liberalization and stabilization by removing exchange controls, floating the exchange rate, cutting tariffs, stabilising the Jamaican currency, reducing inflation and removing restrictions on foreign investment. Emphasis has been placed on maintaining strict fiscal discipline, greater openness to trade and financial flows, market liberalisation and reduction in the size of government. During this period, a large share of the economy was returned to private sector ownership through divestment and privatisation programmes. The macroeconomic stabilisation programme introduced in 1991, which focused on tight fiscal and monetary policies, has contributed to a controlled reduction in the rate of inflation. The annual inflation rate has decreased from a high of 80.2% in 1991 to 7.9% in 1998. inflation for FY1998/99 was 6.2% compared to 7.2% in the corresponding period in CUU1997/98. The Government remains committed to lowering inflation, with a long-term objective of bringing it in line with that of its major trading partners. After a period of steady growth from 1985 to 1995, real GDP decreased by 1.8% and 2.4% in 1996 and 1997, respectively. The decrease in GDP in 1996 and 1997 was largely due to significant problems in the financial sector and, in 1997, a severe island-wide drought (the worst in 70 years) that drastically reduced agricultural production. In 1997, nominal GDP was approximately J$220,556.2 million (US$6,198.9 million based on the average annual exchange rate of the period). Fishing boats and bauxite cargo ships share the waterways near Alligator Pond, Jamaica The economy in 1997 was marked by low levels of import growth, high levels of private capital inflows and relative stability in the foreign exchange market. Recent economic performance shows the Jamaican economy is recovering. Agricultural production, an important engine of growth increased 15.3% in third quarter of 1998 compared to the corresponding period in 1997, signaling the first positive growth rate in the sector since January 1997. Bauxite and alumina production increased 5.5% from January to December, 1998 compared to the corresponding period in 1997. January's bauxite production recorded a 7.1% increase relative to January 1998 and continued expansion of alumina production through 2009 is planned by Alcoa [2]. Tourism, which is the largest foreign exchange earner, showed improvement as well. In the third quarter of 1998, growth in tourist arrivals accelerated with an overall increase of 8.5% in tourism earnings in 1998 when compared to the corresponding period in 1997. Paul Pennycooke is now the Director of Tourism for the island. Jamaica has a wide variety of industrial and commercial activities. The aviation industry[3] is able to perform most routine aircraft maintenance, except for heavy structural repairs. Jamaica has a considerable amount of light manufacturing, including metal fabrication, metal roofing, and furniture manufacturing. Food and alcohol processing, glassware manufacturing, computer software and data processing, printing and publishing, insurance underwriting, music and recording, and advanced education activities can be found in the larger urban areas. Since the first quarter of 2006, the economy of Jamaica has undergone a period of staunch growth. With inflation for the 2006 calendar year down to 6.0% and unemployment down to 8.9%, the nominal GDP grew by an unprecedented 2.9%[4]. An investment programme in island transportation and utility infrastructure and gains in the tourism, mining, and service sectors all contributed this figure. All projections for 2007 show an even higher potential for economic growth with all estimates over 3.0% and hampered only by urban crime and public policies. In 2006, Jamaica became part of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) as one of the pioneering members.

JAMCO Advanced Solar Energy

JAMCO
Advanced Solar Energy
Technology for
the Caribbean Basin




Executive Summary



Goals

Our goal is to develop a profitable market in the domain of renewable energy, particularly solar energy. Jamco U.S. has negotiated an exclusivity agreement with a power generator British manufacturer who has developed a very advanced and competitive technology capable of producing both electricity and hot water.

Objectives

To implement Jamco in Jamaica as a ground base to develop the Caribbean market in establishing business, political, financial and academic relationships with the local personalities, including but not limited to the international organizations such as World Bank, U.N., Health Organization and, of course, any other organization such as U.S., British and Spanish Department of Commerce which have already their influence in the island. The U.S. Aid would also be a good opening.


Marketing and Business Strategy
To avoid any futile effort, our intent is to primarily target large customers in need of energetic resources that the Jamaican government cannot provide in an efficient manner, such as hotel, hospitals, dispensaries, churches, or other community buildings and/or any infrastructure requiring, such as military, police post or university facilities.
The tertiary target would be some industries/ small business located in remote and very poor areas regarding the power grid distribution.

Finally, or last target would be particular housing or individuals that can absorb the cost of our minimum sized unit capable of generating 10kw plus water. Following a brainstorm during the meeting with the manufacturer, we are envisioning, for our immediate marketing strategy, to develop a pilot-demo project which may grant some incentive in the form of discount, in order to accelerate the marketing process.

We are also envisioning, as part of our business strategy, to develop a strategic alliance with the manufacturer in England. This strategic alliance would emphasize in the technical collaboration to constantly improve the product performance in order to maintain a competitive level. During a meeting held with the manufacturer, we proposed to use Sandia National Laboratories (with which I am acquainted) to assist us in this endeavor. Such relationship would give us additional credibility in dealing with international organizations.
We are envisioning extending our strategic alliances with Spanish partners who may have strong business ties with Cuba. It is our intention tho create a pool of business interest strong enough to benefit from some European business assistance in developing the renewable energy market in the Caribbean basin.

Jamaican Business Potential and Brief Economic
Jamaica has a population of up to 2.6 million inhabitants in which 1 million is living in Kingston and its neighborhood. Close to 1 million live in the Montego Bay area, the rest of the population live in the remote areas of the island.

In addition, the island has a constant rollover of 2 million visitors a year increasing dramatically the demand of infrastructure, particularly electrical power. We should also mention that a few large tourism activity and its constant growth in foreign goods import, particularly appliances and automobiles, therefore fuel, the amount of the bill regarding the energetic resources jumped from 300 million USD in 2001 to 1.2 billion USD in 2006.
Renewable energy is becoming a necessity.

The Jamaican government has decided to encourage the development of the renewable energy business. A new law abolishing taxes in renewable energy related imports is on its way to be signed.
In addition, Jamaica benefits from the Kyoto accords in regard to CO2 carbon Credit which is a good incentive for developing renewable energy businesses.

Product: "Harmony"
Harmony is a type of solar concentrator, developed by Heliosystem in England producing both electricity and hot water. Its original concept- solar concentration based- makes the product very competitive.

The solar power generator can be sold by module of 10kw of electricity.
In addition, hot water is generated as the result of cooling the voltaic cell located at the apex of the concentrator. This hot water can then be used for domestic purpose.
Cost and benefits: a 10kw unit could be sold at up to 6,000 USD with a net margin of 15%. Although this unit is the perfect fit for small houses/businesses, it would not be part of our immediate marketing effort.

Immediate Efforts Each medium size hotel and /or tourist resort would require 1,000 to 100.000 Kw, which translates to an average of 1 million USD for this type of customer. We expect to sell roughly for 1 million USD the first year and for 3 to 4 million USD the second year. A that point (the second year) we will increase our effort to target medium size customers.

Company Infrastructure requirements in the U.S. and Jamaica.

It is to note that we are anticipating importing the whole solar unit the first year. As part of our agreement in representing the manufacturer, we will have the obligation to install and maintain the unit which would benefit the manufacturer warranty.

Therefore, we will need some warehouse facility and utilitarian vehicle to assume our sale services properly. We will then increase our facilities as our business volume grows.
In addition, we will need a spare parts rollover inventory of about 10% overall value of the unit we sell. The second-Third year, we envision manufacturing certain heavy metallic parts pertaining to the frame/structure of the concentrator, in order to diminish the overall cost of the unit.

 

NOTE: Attention to: Warrent Sattunyue. With regards to our conversation relating to solar energy that we had spoke about, my in involvement with implement solar energy to jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean's and the other countries, because of my connection with people in jamaica. the university of the west Indies and hotels and etc. we had a meeting with the manufacture from UK and here in the USA and was given the rights. When I had receive further information i will gladly pass it on to you.



Radcliff Reid Public Affair Liaison.