KINGSTON, Jamaica — Strong unmet demand for accessible small and medium enterprise (SME) financing has pushed National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCBJ) to expand its dedicated SME Growth Fund from the original $1 billion to $2 billion, after the initial allocation was completely exhausted by eager borrowers in 2024. The newly launched second iteration of the fund, dubbed SME Growth Fund II, will extend individual loans of up to $35 million per borrower at starting interest rates as low as 9.75 percent. Funding from the program can be used to cover core working capital needs, purchase new equipment and machinery, acquire heavy-duty business vehicles, and finance a wide range of business expansion projects.
Speaking at the official launch event held Thursday at Kingston’s AC Hotel, NCB’s SME Portfolio Manager Khason Morgan noted that the original $1 billion fund was drawn down far faster than bank leadership projected. “The depletion in funds last year happened so quickly that we broke that record, and my team would have had to make the decision around doubling the funding or extending the promotion,” Morgan explained. Bank officials confirmed that the expanded capital pool is designed to widen access to affordable financing for Jamaican SMEs, though they acknowledge that strong market demand could lead to the full $2 billion being subscribed much faster than the official timeline allows.
Unlike the first Growth Fund, which operated without a fixed closing date and remained open to applications until all capital was disbursed, the new facility will run for a fixed application window between April 2024 and June 2026. The fixed timeline was directly shaped by the unexpected speed at which the first fund was exhausted. The initial program, originally scheduled to run from March to July 2023, closed fully disbursed in June, with 30 percent of its original allotted timeline still remaining unused. That first fund supported roughly 100 small and medium business owners across Jamaica. For the second iteration, the bank has set a baseline target of supporting at least 57 businesses, though officials note that smaller average loan sizes could open the door for many more micro-enterprises to access support than the initial target suggests.
Garfield Holness, NCB’s Manager of Product Delivery & Portfolio Management, told local outlet Observer Online that post-disaster recovery needs reinforced the already strong demand for SME financing in the region. “We saw there was a distinct need in the market for financing for our SME clients, particularly after Hurricane Melissa, where we saw several businesses would have been impacted. We saw there was a need for capital,” Holness said. While interest rates for the new facility are variable by borrower risk profile, the bank has guaranteed that all approved borrowers will lock in the rate they agree to at the time of approval, in compliance with standard notification requirements set by Bank of Jamaica. Morgan emphasized that this rate lock guarantee, paired with the fixed application window, makes timely submissions critical for interested business owners. “The rate you apply for is the rate for the facility; that’s why it’s very important to put in, in this definitive time period, your application to be a part of it,” Morgan said.