Business opportunities in Jamaica.

IT'S A FAMILIAR SIGHT AT MOST JAMAICAN families' Sunday dinners: rice and peas, ox tails, yam, curry goat, callaloo, ackee and salt fish -- and some sorrel to wash it all down. While a huge number of Jamaicans have migrated to the States, being away from home certainly hasn't stopped them from enjoying the taste of home.

But the process of getting those ethnic foods to America involves more than just packing a barrel -- it's serious business. "The importing process is a weekly thing. Food is flown in at times or shipped -- it depends on the quantity," says Mike Chin, co-owner of Sweet-N-Spicey Foods Inc., a Baltimore-based wholesale distributorship business. "We put the orders together and then call the suppliers by Monday. By Tuesday of every week, the goods are flown in from either Kingston or Montego Bay to the Baltimore-Washington Airport."

Sweet-N-Spicey imports vegetables and 200 different dry goods from the Grace Kennedy and Butter Kiss lines, including yams, callaloo, peppers, thyme and certain meats. "Sometimes one supplier is not able to get certain things, so it's good to have more than one," says Chin, who's been operating Sweet-N-Spicey with his stepfather, Keith Cummings, for over 10 years.

Once in the States, the food is trucked to over 200 customers, from grocery stores to restaurants and carry-outs in the Washington, D.C./Maryland metropolitan area. Chin estimates that Sweet-N-Spicey spends approximately $1,000 a week importing food not only to West Indians but also to Hispanics and African Americans.

Intangible products can also be imported and exported. Vosa Rivers, an international events promoter and producer responsible for the acclaimed South African play Sarafina, has developed a strategic alliance to promote cultural events in Jamaica and export Jamaican talent to the U.S.

The deal has River's Voz Entertainment Group teaming up with Byron Lewis, CEO of advertising powerhouse UniWorld Group, and Jamaican businessmen Ronnie Nasralla and Stephen Hill of Nasralla Promotions Ltd. Working with a budget of $5-$10 million, the first project on their lineup was the Negril Music Festival, slated for March 14-16, which MTV agreed to broadcast to the States. Intermission, a dramatic play that had a box office run in Jamaica, makes its U.S. debut in May, and the successful Jamaican television shows Oliver and Lime Tree Lane are also scheduled to air in New York City and Miami this spring. The alliance, says Rivers, will have "a spin-off effect that will help a number of businesses -- from black-owned hotels to local transportation providers. The entire country benefits."

According to industry insiders, there's a void to be filled with such products as basic foods, clothing, pharmaceuticals, medical technology, cosmetics, skin and health care products. There's also a demand for luxury items, electronics and automobiles. The key areas for investments in Jamaica are: minerals and chemicals, services and technology, entertain-ment and tourism, and agriculture and manufacturing.

Claudette Chin, vice president of marketing for JAMPRO (Jamaica Promotions Corp.), the government's agency for economic development, says that opportunities abound for joint ventures. "Many factories in Jamaica are producing excellent products and have won prestigious international awards in several sectors," Chin says. "What some of our entrepreneurs need," she continues, "is to marry their keen business acumen, expertise and competitive advantage with foreign capital, technology and market access." Chin cites the production of jams, jellies, condiments and sauces as an area open to joint ventures.

With over 300 garment factories (the U.S. and Jamaica have a bilateral tetile agreement), oppotunities for management contracting and subcontracting exist. Manufacturing -- mainly assembling -- contributed 18.2% to Jamaica's gross domestic product in 1995 -- with more than 90% of the apparel exported to the U.S.

Gloria Hartley, professor of fashion buying and merchandising at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, says business owners can take their expertise to Jamaica and work with the economic development center on targeting the American market in the areas of design and marketing: "The manufacturer overseas has to understand who the customer is -- their psychographics and demographics. They have to understand the needs of the customer first and foremost."

If your interest leans toward the grassroots level, you can get in on the ground floor of horticulture as an investment opportunity. Tropical flowers, ornamental fish and fruits like papaya offer limited export opportunities. If you lack the knowledge of flora but have an interest in Jamaica's topography, you can explore possibilities in tourism. Growing areas include heritage tourism (exploring tourism.

Once you've gathered your research data and selected an area of exploitation, gear up for a lesson in cultural nuances. It's an American fallacy that Jamaicans are not serious about conducting business -- having a come tomorrow attitude." To avoid confusion over cultural differences, determine if the person you're planning to barter with truly understands your business position as it relates to the competition. If you're making' comparisons, clarify which standards apply, Caribbean or American.

ECONOMIC CLIMATE

What makes Jamaica particularly attractive is that its government has a fairly liberal business incentive policy. There are no duties imposed on raw materials, no price controls and few import/export restrictions. Numerous tax acts have been passed to provide relief from company and income tax, including free zones where investors are also exempt from profit taxes.

In addition, a stable political and economic environment now engulfs Jamaica. According to the PRS Group, a Syracuse, New York-based strategic global planning firm, inflation in Jamaica, which was at 77.2% four years ago, has plunged to 22.5%. While the unemployment rate looms at 17.6%, there's still a large pool of skilled workers (Jamaica has a literacy rate of 98%).

When doing business in Jamaica, there are a number of constraints to consider. Electricity costs are high, running upwards of 13 cents per kilowatt. Markets for available land and natural resources are small, and the government struggles withbureaucratic issues, such as reducing the time it takes to approve permits. Environmental factors such as hurricane season, which causes massive destruction, also pose a serious problem.