JMEA Opens Second Term Under Kathryn Silvera with Five-Point Agenda

KINGSTON, Jamaica – June 24, 2026: The Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) today re-elected Kathryn Silvera to a second term as President at its Annual General Meeting at Summit Kingston, where she laid out a four-part strategic agenda for the term ahead: deepening industry data and intelligence, diversifying exports beyond raw agricultural commodities, closing the sector’s skills gap, and advocating on labour policy.

Silvera, who in 2025 became JMEA’s first-ever female president, returns for a second term alongside Deputy President Cecil Foster, Managing Director of FosRich Group of Companies, and Treasurer Damion Dodd, Chief Financial Controller and Corporate Secretary at Seprod Limited. Eight directors were elected to the JMEA Board: Mr. Dmitri Dawkins, Commercial Director at MC Systems; Mr. Aswad Morgan, Group Marketing Director at Morgans Group; Ms. Lisa Johnston, Corporate Affairs Manager at Jamaica Producers Group Limited; Mr. Marc Frankson, Director at Designs by Marc Limited; Mr. Conroy Rose, CEO of ARC Manufacturing Ltd; Ms. Tamii Brown, General Manager at Salada Foods Jamaica Limited; Mr. Archie Williams, Managing Director at Jamaica Flour Mills; and Mr. John O. Minott, Managing Director of Jamaica Standard Products.

FIVE STRATEGIC PRIORITIES FOR THE SECOND TERM

1. Deepening data and industry intelligence

JMEA will expand its planned Industry Intelligence Platform, developed with input from STATIN, Bluedot Insights, and Datanomi, to give government deeper, evidence-based input on tax policy, climate resilience, and export growth planning. Silvera said the effort depends on member participation. “When JMEA sends a survey, when we ask for your data, that is not bureaucracy, that is ammunition,” she said. “It is how we walk into a room with the Ministry of Finance, or the Office of Utilities Regulation, and make an argument they cannot dismiss.”

2. Export diversification into value-added goods

JMEA will push manufacturers to process, rather than simply export raw, premium agricultural products such as turmeric, ginger, and castor, where Silvera said Jamaica holds a natural advantage but is currently leaving value on the table. The Association also plans to pursue new export markets beyond Jamaica’s traditional trading partners and support MSMEs in scaling export capacity through digital tools and logistics support. “We will support our MSMEs in scaling their export capacity with real digital tools and logistics support, not just encouragement,” Silvera said.

3. Skills and inclusion, anchored by a new UTech scholarship

Silvera announced a new JMD$300,000 scholarship for a second, third or fourth year University of Technology, Jamaica student studying a manufacturing-related programme, calling it part of a broader push to close the sector’s skills gap alongside the Manufacturing Sector Skills Council and JMEA’s ongoing partnership with HEART NSTA Trust. “This scholarship is not just a financial award,” she said. “It is a statement of intent. It says that this Association puts its resources behind the next generation of skilled professionals who will carry this sector forward long after we have handed off the baton.”

4. Labour policy advocacy

JMEA will continue advocating on labour policy issues affecting how member companies hire, train, and retain workers, building on the skills and workforce development work already underway through the Manufacturing Skills Acceleration Programme.

5. Labour policy advocacy

JMEA will continue to build stronger partnerships across government, private sector organizations, academia, and development agencies to ensure that Jamaican manufacturing remains a key driver of national growth.

A FIRST TERM THAT TESTED THE SECTOR

Silvera said the second-term agenda builds directly on a first term she described as a test of the sector’s resilience. “Our sector did not retreat,” she told members. “It adapted. It organized. It innovated. It showed up for each other.”

That resilience was tested most directly by Hurricane Melissa, which damaged production sites, disrupted utilities, and affected supply chains across the membership. JMEA responded immediately with a $10 million grant relief fund and, together with the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) and the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, helped to establish a joint relief effort that raised over $35 million. This collaboration combined resources and amplified the private sector’s response in the storm’s aftermath.

The storm landed on top of two new tax measures squeezing manufacturers’ margins further: a Special Consumption Tax on sweetened beverages and a proposed increase to the Environmental Protection Levy. Working again with the PSOJ and the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, JMEA pushed the Ministry of Finance to soften the impact of both, including a successful push to delay the levy increase, from 0.5 to 0.85 percent, to allow further consultation.

Electricity costs proved the harder fight. JMEA’s Energy Committee surveyed 47 member companies and emerged with a six-point platform Silvera said the Association will keep pressing in the term ahead: bringing electricity costs to between US$0.18 and US$0.20 per kilowatt-hour by 2032, securing four-to-six percent government-guaranteed loans for renewable energy investment, cutting GCT on manufacturers’ electricity bills to 7.5 percent, forcing a 12-month deadline on long-delayed wheeling charges, and pushing government to formally study nuclear power as part of the island’s energy mix. “This is not a wish list,” she said. “This is a roadmap, built from your data.”

Not every story this term was about absorbing damage. JMEA’s Tourism Linkages Network scaled sharply: 110 manufacturers met 30 tourism-sector buyers in pre-scheduled meetings at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in May, and a new Road to Retail initiative paired 55 manufacturers with 14 distributors and retailers, including Fontana, Facey Commodity, and Lifespan. With Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett moving forward with a new Tourism Authority Act under the broader Tourism 3.0 strategy, Silvera said the Association intends “to be at the table as that legislation takes shape.”

About JMEA

The Jamaica Manufacturers & Exporters Association (JMEA) is Jamaica’s leading industry association, representing exporters, manufacturers, service providers, and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The Association supports its members through advocacy,

partnerships, export development, research, capacity building, and access to opportunities that strengthen business growth, competitiveness, and Jamaica’s economic development.