The project to create a social stock exchange in Jamaica will be executed in two phases, the second of which requires the passage of legislation.

That, however, will not stall the launch of the project in January when the first component – the Jamaica Social Investment Exchange, or JSIX – which will facilitate fundraising by not-for-profit enterprises through an online platform, will start to operate.

The social exchange is the latest platform developed by the Jamaica Stock Exchange to facilitate the listing and trading of shares and other securities. The JSE’s last project of this scale was the junior stock exchange, which was also backed by legislation to incentivise listings through tax waivers.

As a snapshot on the prospective market, JSE cites data that values the not-for-profit and NGO sector at around 3.5 per cent of Jamaica’s US$17-billion economy – which would be about US$600 million.

People, planet and profit

The JSE, through its main, junior and USD markets, currently facilitates trading in stock market wealth of $1.5 trillion or US$11.7 billion, and growing.

The exchange’s documentation on the new project defines a social enterprise as a business whose focus is on the triple bottom line of people, planet and profit, and whose mission is to solve social, cultural, economic or environmental problems at the community or national level. The legislation being drafted will adopt this definition, which has already been incorporated in the Government’s MSME policy.

A working group is currently engaged in fact-finding with various interests to make recommendations on what elements the legislation needs to include; but as to when they are to wrap up their findings, JSE Managing Director Marlene Street Forrest said that date has not yet been pinned down.

Under the first phase of the project, organisations can apply to list their projects on the JSIX website for donations to finance their start-up or to expand. Projects listed on JSIX will be able to raise anywhere from $5 million to $25 million per project.

Prospective investors will be given access to the JSIX website to select the project they wish to invest or hold shares in, and donate through the platform. In turn, they will receive ‘social shares’.

Donors will be issued with receipts for tax purposes, or, where applicable, to facilitate refund of their donations.

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