YANEEK PAGE | RESOLUTIONS FOR STARTING A BUSINESS IN 2017

If starting a business is one of your resolutions for 2017, you certainly won’t be alone. In a country that is known for ambitious risk-takers who are eager to take control of their financial future, it should come as no surprise that nearly one half of all adults have the desire to be their own boss.In fact, unlike the USA, which has been seeing a steady decline in entrepreneurship activity in recent years, Jamaica has one of the highest levels of business start-ups in our hemisphere, and the Companies Office of Jamaica has been reporting consistent increases in new business registrations over the past several years.The fact that so many Jamaicans have a strong conviction to start, business is great news. However, the not so good news is that most Jamaicans who do start businesses are largely unprepared and end up failing within the first few years. While failing is sometimes inevitable and even necessary for the best business ideas to come to fruition, there are some basic resolutions that when put into practice can catapult entrepreneurs up the learning curve and drastically improve their chances of succeeding with great business ideas.