Upgrading: Jamaica National Small Business Loans Limited: Institutional Strengthening

Jamaica National Small Business Loans Limited (JNSBLL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Jamaica National Building Society, a cooperative financial institution. JNSBLL is the largest microfinance provider in Jamaica with a share of more than 50percent in the domestic microfinance market. JNSBLL has 35 branches, 190 employees, and a loan portfolio of USD 8 million with a PAR>30 of about 8percent.

The project started in February 2010 and the first phase – scoping – lasted until May 2010. The objective of the assignment in the scoping phase was:

• to assist JNSBLL in financial modelling and strategic planning;
• to thoroughly assess JNSBLL’s microlending operations, to design short-term measures for improving operations, and to prepare a medium-term institution building programme to increase the operational efficiency of JNSBLL’s microlending operations;
• to evaluate and improve loan officer training.

The main outcome of the scoping phase was a Business & Action Plan for the implementation of best practice microlending operations and the overall institutional development of JNSBLL. The second phase of the assignment (implementation), which started in January 2011 and ended in Januar 2012, concentrated on the implementation of best practice microfinance operations at JNSBLL.