JM Youth Employment in Digital and Animation Industries

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The development objective of the Sustainable Youth Employment in Digital and Animation Industries Project for Jamaica is to support youth employment in the digital and animation industries in Jamaica. The project comprises of five components. The first component, skills and capacity to enhance employability and entrepreneurship will build capacity and skills of Jamaican youth to improve employability in the growing animation industry and in the global online labor market, and provide critical skills to young tech entrepreneurs to bring ideas to market. The second component, establishment of startup Jamaica will make provisions for the establishment of a physical hub to strengthen a viable tech entrepreneurship ecosystem. The third component, early stage investment for tech startups will double the annual amount of private sector investment in early stage growth companies by: (a) establishing and supporting the growth of a vibrant angel investor network; (b) studying, promoting, and possibly leverage diaspora investors to establish a royalty-based equity loan fund; (c) studying and supporting the establishment of pre-purchase and equity crowd funding platforms; (d) a public awareness campaign on early stage investments; and (e) a targeted program to build trust networks among investors and early stage companies. The fourth component, support to science, technology, and innovation will focus on supporting researchers with entrepreneurial aspirations who have developed research, development, and innovation (R and D+i) applications that have commercial potential. The fifth component, project administration will support program management through: (a) financing the carrying out the financial management and procurement requirements under the project; (b) financing the monitoring and evaluation of project activities; (c) providing equipment and training for the project implementation unit (PIU); (d) hiring a dedicated management team that includes a project manager, and two technical specialists (animation and tech entrepreneurship); and (e) financing operating costs.